Enlarged bolt hole.

[rad]

Was out on Sat. and had a little water leaking into bilge compartment. Was going to reseal bottom motor mount bolts. Discovered that one of the holes is enlarged. Looks like a new hole was drilled next to the existing hole, it was hidden behind the washer on the mounting bolt. It was filled with silicone, and I couldn't tell that it had been leaking. Iwant to do a more permanent fix, whats the best thing to use? Marine tex? Some kind of epoxy? Should I put the bolt in and fill in around it, or completely fill it in and redrill the hole. Any help would be appreciated.

[old373guy]

sounds like a job for marinetex.

[BASSCAT7]

What size motor are you talking about ? Jackplate ? Transom material ?

[rad]

Sorry about leaving this out. 86' Champian, Yamaha Prov 150. Wood tramsom, with a metal plate for extra support. Wood doesn't appear to be wet. Will have to make fix from the inside, while standing on my head. Do you think it would be best to completely fill the the hole, and redrill?

[BASSCAT7]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by rad &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Sorry about leaving this out. 86' Champian, Yamaha Prov 150. Wood tramsom, with a metal plate for extra support. Wood doesn't appear to be wet. Will have to make fix from the inside, while standing on my head. Do you think it would be best to completely fill the the hole, and redrill?</td></tr></table>

Yes. Completley fill the holes and re drill. Leave it open a few days to dry out before filling. You can fill with resin/epoxy mixed with glass fibers for strength.
Seal with 3m 5200.
Depending on how large and close the 2 holes are you should strengthen the area.
Large holes could be semi filled with a wood plug that leaves 1/2" on both sides to fill with epoxy mix, coat the wood plug with epoxy/resin. Could also use an aluminum transom support on the inside that spans both sides of the bolts to balance the torque some.


Modified by BASSCAT7 at 8:54 AM 9/23/2010

[rad]

Good suggestions. I was going to use larger washers after I fill the hole, but I like the idea of the trasom support better. I,ll be looking into getting one Sat. Thanks for the help.

[ranger230v]

Basscat7 knows alot more about this stuff than I do, so I would give him the final say so, but..... It seems to me if you have a leaking bolt going thru a wood transom then your transom will be wet. It may not be rotted yet, but if it is wet, the rot will come. I dont think there is anyway to effectively dry out a transom by leaving the bolt out a few days. That water has soaked into the wood pretty far. You mentioned having a metal plate on the transom. Are we talking on the exterior of the transom? That covers the entire mounting area? If this is the case, that is usually someones bad idea of how to fix a compromised transom.

Not trying to bum you out, but I've been thru it with my boat. I didn't want to believe my boat had issues as big as this but it did.

Hopefully yours doesn't. Good luck


Modified by ranger230v at 11:26 AM 9/28/2010

[BASSCAT7]

Good Point.
Yea that went without saying, if the wood in the transom has been soaked for a long time and you can see it rotting in the hole, then the transom wood needs repair/replacing.

But if it was sealed good originally it should be ok. Have seen a few where the engine mount bolts were never checked for tightness and loosened enough to round out the hole. Not enough time to really do any damage as far as the transom wood starting to rot. Surface wetness on the wood dried out in a few days with a heat lamp and then the holes refilled and drilled again.

Check your engine mount bolts for tightness every few tournaments, especially if you run a lot of rough water, some are surprised at how they can loosen up.

[rad]

If the bolt hole was leaking, not really sure it was, it had just started. No water in the bildge on the previous outing, and the wood appeared to be dry. I had the metal plate put on when I had this motor installed, just as a precaution. Transom is still sound. Thanks for the concern and suggestions.

[rad]

Upon further inspection, the wood at the bolt hole is a little wet. Plan on using the heat lamp to try and dry it. Can I use it from the inside the bilge? Would it be best to take out the gas tank, batteries, etc.?