Composite? Fancy word what does it really mean?

[trailwoods]

I have seen many posts of all sorts of brands and there are a mixed bag of answers all around. I have read that skeeter has all composite transom. What is the composite actually composed of? Trade secret maybe or not. I would like an answer from someone who actually has seen with there own eyes either at the factory or have seen a cross section after having there transom ripped off for some reason or another. There seems to be a lot of information on transoms on the zx /i class boats but not much info on the sx series. I have a 2008 sx 190.
I almost have all the bugs worked out of now and like it pretty good. Also this flotation foam that doesnt soak up water, thats crazy I just pulled a handfull that was left over from the factory in the bilge and it was soaking wet. you could squeeze it like a sponge.. whats up?

[fishin couillon]

I see what your saying. I had a similar post plus i IMed a dealer about the transom of a SX190 and no one never said anything and the dealer never IM'ed back. All you hear about is the tough transom of the ZX/I Class series but if you take away the aluminum knee brace that is there, would it still be as strong as they claim. Let's say your Doug V.

[trailwoods]

Just for the record..I have looked at other high end boats of other brands and every single one has imperfections some more than others. The boat I have has a finish as good or better than every single one I have looked at. I do not want to be seen as a constant basher and will give credit when it is due. I have owned previous Yamaha brands and they have always aimed to please. Now whats composite in the transom made from?

[Tagg007]

Composite means a fiber meshed material. Usually in a composite product it is going to be a "sandwich" configuration. This could be with Kevlar, Peel Ply, or Fiberglass. Usually on boats they will have aluminum as the core for the composite. This comes from my exprience working in Composite Aircraft Manufacturing. Not sure if this answered your question.

[trailwoods]

guess no one knows, dont care, or afraid to say. I am asking because You can take a flashlight and look thru the holes that were bored for engine mounting bolts and there is no sealant squished out of 2 of them and they seem like they are wollered out a bit (asymetrical) I am speculating that the drill bit used to bore them wandered on the slick gel surface and to correct that they had to oversize the hole a bit to get the bolt thru. That much being said if water can penetrate the transom outside skin there would probably not be much if any visible leakage in the bilge to cause to much worry but the transom is soaking up water little by little and eventually it might be an issue. I have an Idea to take a syringe used for injecting silicone and filling it up. My boat has a few quirks to it nothing major, I have had to resilicone the joint where the topcap and transom meet as you could look in the bilge and see daylight from the inside ( 1 cause for leak,and take apart the fitting at the spashwell
and recaulk it also it was overtightened at the factory and cracked. You might wonder why I am not taking this boat back to the dealer for them to fix this stuff but heres why. heres what happens Dealer always breaks more than fixes. Broke off srews that mount oil resevoir to bottom of boat (2 out of 4) did not even attempt to fix. Bangs batteries around inside mechanical compartment and cracks epoxy coating at flotation foam boxes. After reinstalling batteries all the on board charger wiring and oil resevoir lines and battery cables were so tangled up around each other that it looked like you backlashed an old school abu ambassador tryin throw a beetle spin into a headwind. Seems like they could have cable tied it like before when they got it. and also it looked like the took the motor cover off ( I have no clue why you need to take a motor cover off when your looking for a water leak at the thru hull fittings) but anyway it must have got dropped of the back deck onto a boulder cause its scratched all to pieces. The other reason includes they dont have a paved lot and they store your boats outside and the boat showed up clean, came back looking like Its been trailered across Kansas in the dustbowl but only after it was properly wetted first ,Like battered bluegills before the fryer. To make matters worse I took off early from work drove 90 miles 1 way. loaded the trailer myself and kneeled down in a pile of bullfrog entrails ( no clue why they were a pile of gigantic bullfrog legs and entrails behind my boat) while I was looking at the thru hull fittings they supposedly fixed along with the leaky livewell pump fittings. By the way when they tried to get the thru hull fittings broke loose from inside the bilge area they rounded every one of them off. (not smart enough to use a line wrench or a socket made for the job) Also it looks like they used blackjack shingle repair to caulk the thru hull fittings, it had rained and had leached down to the running surface of the boat underneath. They lied and said" they didnt mess with that fitting and it was the uh uh one above it yeh the one above it" as Im brushing off frog guts from a pair of dockers. To recap drove 360 miles total on my dime gas money, they didnt do what they said, did shoddy work, and fed me a line of b.s. that even the best used car saleman would be proud of. In my opinion Skeeter should look into some of the crooks they allow to be authorized dealers .I did not have a pleasant experience. Now I just do the work myself, and fester over the jabroni they found in 11th grade work study and let toolbag around with my boat. I work with customers daily that always ask questions and they want straight answers. In my personal experience you gain more respect from a customer if you #1 tell the truth. # 2 dont hide problems. #3 never sugarcoat a bad situation to lesson the immediate pain of an underlying problem. #4 admit fault if your wrong. #5 apologize for screwing up.(were only human) #6 fix the problem. I have learned that if I follow these basic guidelines even the biggest problems can be fixed and keep a customer happy. Dont do this,even the smallest problems like mine above seem like big ones. I am done with my sermon, and if anyone can tell me what in the heck a composite transom on a sx190 2008 is built out of please do.......

[mark Z21]

OK, the SX & SL lines don't have an aluminium reinforcing stringer, but they do have a fiberglass cross layered with some secret material product where you would have had plywood in the old days, it is way stronger than wood and will never rot. Like metal in your car, fiberglass is much stronger with bends and tubes molded into it, and thin wall tube of metal or fiberglass is much stronger than the same thickness piece of solid material, and way lighter too. the process that they use to make the "composite" results in what looks like fiberglass cardboard, and it is then encapulated in the fiberglass, making a tube and becomes even stronger. the foam is open cell foam, and it will float, the reason it holds water, is that the water needs to pass through the foam to get to the bilge pump.