I've always heard the champion hulls are all composite with no wood to rot. A lot of other manufacturers claim the same thing but you often hear that the transom had to be replaced due to being soft. My question is just how much wood if any is in a champion hull and transom, and if it's composite how can it rot. Delamination I can understand. If I could find info on the true construction of a champion I wouldn't have to ask.
I believe it was in 2003 that Champion went to full composit hulls so if your boat is a 03 or newer you should have a full composit hull.
Also went to a Baltec material in the transoms around the mid 90's.
I was just curious because I put some new graphs on a few weeks ago and when I was drilling the holes it was all fiberglass shavings that came out no wood shaving and mine is a 97 model.
Where were the holes being drilled? Wood was fiberglass encapsulated,so that may have been what you were seeing....depending on where you were drilling. Properly sealed drilled areas would have remained sound. Rotting was caused by not sealing drilled holes in wood areas properly. Wood was in transom and stringers, and deck,too, I think. Not gunwale or consoles.
To be clear, the "wood" or "composite" being addressed here is the structural part of the boat. Transom, stringers, vertical walls of the compartments, floor of the aft battery compartments, front deck, floor in the console area.
In a 97, all the stringers, floor in the console area, floors of the aft battery compartments, vertical walls of the forward compartments will be a high quality plywood encapsulated in fiberglass mat. (side note, we found on my 2000 that some of this plywood was in fact NOT totally covered in fiberglass or resin...) The forward deck, forward of the rod lockers is either plywood or baltec, and it would have a baltec transom too. The rails of the top cap are technically "composite" because a fiberglass lay up is a composite of fiberglass and resin. So if you were drilling in the top cap, you wouldn't get anything but fiberglass shavings, that is normal. Have to be specific about the exact part of the boat you are referencing, construction varies depending on the area of the boat.
Kevin | 2000 Champion 191 | 2000 Yamaha OX66 200hp
When putting a new transducer on lower part of transom is where I found all fiberglass and no wood shaving.
Depending how low you were drilling, you could be into all glass as the thickness of the bottom of the hull has to be considered. Still seal them with 100% waterproof RTV like 3M 4200
Don't think composite transoms are incapable of "rotting". Regardless of the substrate, if you get water in there and it stays there, you will have a problem. Always insure you have correctly sealed any holes in a transom.
I agree a sealed transom can go a lifetime. However saying modern composite materials are remotely close to wood is a big stretch. I prefer composite all day / every day.
See ignorance daily
yep, does depend a little on where you were and how deep the holes were. If you have a '97 that has no wood in the transom, either you have a boat that had had a transom repair before, or something really wacky went on in the factory when your boat was built.Originally Posted by suprtrkr1974
Kevin | 2000 Champion 191 | 2000 Yamaha OX66 200hp
Don't think it's ever had a transom replacement, and you never can tell how anything is truly built now days. Either way the transom is solid as a steel anvil and all new holes drilled as well as old holes were filled with fresh marine silicone. Now if I could just find a motor as solid as my boat!
Lower part of rear of boat...in area where drain, livewell intake, etc are, is all glass. Probably a bit above is, too.
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