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I haven't had any problems with the transom in my boat but I have replaced about half of the coring in the deck. Wet core that is not rotted can be dried and may be structurally sound. The only way to get it to dry is to cut open the transom and remove everything that is rotted and soft. I would leave it open at lease 2 weeks in dry hot weather before putting in the new core and sealing it up. As for core materials you could use plywood or a PVC foam. Plywood is used in a couple spots on the deck, under the mast and under cleats but it can rot just the same as balsa and much of mine was rotted. PVC foam is easy to use and doesn't rot but its not as strong or stiff and its much more expensive. Balsa is a great core material and if certian precautions are taken it will last as long as the fiberglass. Every hole in the deck, transom and hull should have the core sealed with epoxy. If that had been done at the factory on all cored boats, the phrase core rot would not exist. As far as where you buy the core material from, I have bought it from fiberglasssupply.com but there are at least a dozen other places I know if that sell balsa core material. I would not buy it already coverd with glass. When you buy balsa it generally is sold in sheets that are made up of small blocks of balsa attached to scrim. The reason for this is to allow the balsa to conform to curved surfaces, like the transom. The deck is probably easier to repair than the transom because all of the work can be done from inside the boat and the outer skin is untouched. On the transom it would be more difficult to get to from the inside. If you remove the core from the outside, you have a lot of sanding and filling to get the outer surface cosmetically acceptable. Have you thought about which way you are going to go?
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Replacing transom -- GregS 6.9 #24 -- 6/27/03 9:35a.m.
Re: Replacing transom -- Dave Seely -- 6/29/03 8:44a.m.