top cap removal and transon repair?

[dswank]

hello all, new to the site and looking for ANY advise. My dad left me his 84 17' charger foxfire that has been sitting up for years. to my suprise the 150 evinrude fired right up but after looking at other posts decided to look little deeper into the boat. removed the aluminum cap over transom and descovered the wood rotten under glass. how hard is it to remove the top cap and is it possible to do it right but learn as i go? i have minimal knowledge in boat resto. Thank You

[cart7]

You may not have to pull the cap.

Go here http://www.transomrepair.com/

The Seacast system allows you to do a transom repair from the top of the transom cap.

I'm planning on doing this later on.

[Kevin R.]

I learned how to do it as I went. It's a learning experance. I took my time and read up on this site and on others. I took the topcap off and redid it with wood but better well protected. I looked at the seacast and thought about it but the floor had to be redone also, so I did the hard way. I have read up on the seacast and think it should work as long as you do it right and get most of the old wood out first. I had a link on here a ways down that shows how I did mine. Good luck.

[T-rex]

I replaced my transom last fall with Seacast and couldn't be happier with the results. I just had my test run last monday and it's better than the original. Plus, IT WILL NEVER ROT AGAIN!

The hardest part was getting the wood out, but after that it was all down hill. You can speak to Mr. Unger directly and will direct you through the whole process.

[dswank]

ok ive decided to go ahead and take the top cap off and go with the seacast system. ive removed the 150 evenrude and learned already those damn things are HEAVY! I'll be going with new controls and new steering so saving those wasnt an issue. any advise on the top cap removal? thanx again guys member for only a day and already been BIG help.

[Kevin R.]

I would take all the stuff off to save some weight on the topcap and try to keep it as level as possible. If not it could get cracked at stress points. Good luck.

[merklerob]

there's another option here.

http://www.hydrostream.org/Art...m.htm

i did the remove the motor well approach but should have done this method.[ look thru the site for voyage transom repair]

you now have a choice.

[dswank]

Ok, Everything including all deck material, seats, controls, deck lids, i mean everything has been removed including side rub rails and the 10,000 screws that hold the top cap on. what is the best technique to seperate? Already can tell i have to replace the floor also. thanks

[Skeet'r89]

It would be a good Idea to look at all of the posts at the top of the restoration page. There are a lot of good pictures and some good reading in them. Good luck on your project. Oh, here have a couple of these alond the way.

[dswank]

had one or ten tonight!!! I work EMS full time and used to stress but i believe i just bit off a hobby that could get the best of me!

[Skeet'r89]

There is a lot of hard work involved in rebuilding one of these things. If you do it right you will be very proud when it is finished. You will not believe how many people will be impressed when you are finished. Take lots of pictures alond the way. Especially taking it apart. That way you can look back at where things were located and went together and such.