Bayliner 2509 - Transom Issues - Water Intrusion

[harcosparky]

So we were doing some 'cleaning up' work on the transom. Want to remove screws from long gone transducers and then fill/plug the holes.
I removed about 6 screws and well shoot .... water came out of one of them ... the others showed signs of moisture on cotton swabs that were inserted into them.

I beveled all of the holes and drilled then out to 1/4". Even at 1/4" the water in the one producing hole was not flowing out easily. Thought about making that hole a bit larger but I tried something now.
I made a "wick" out of 3/16" paracord and lowered it into a plastic container. BINGO that worked like a champ.
So we now have no water coming from those holes but clearly they may still have moisture so we have a heat lamp focused on the areas where the holes are to facilitate the drying process.
Boat is up on trailer, covered to keep rain water out. Boat was left uncovered and suffered through to semi-major storms ... one storm took out commercial power for 5 days.

Anyway my plan at this point is to get it dried out ... then using Six10 thickened epoxy seal them up to get this boat in the water.
Yeah I know a 'band-aid' sort of at this point, but I need to get this boat in the water and watch the bilge area to see if water is coming in while sitting at the pier over a day or so .... then running it and checking it after that. I want to make sure the through hull fittings are not an issue.

I have come to accept that there might be some major transom repair .... or if the Gods are with me, just some minor repairs.

My plan is at the end of the season to drill a series of 'test hole' in the transom to check for damage and also to allow any possible water to drain out to avoid freezing damage.

My problem is lack of information. This boat has twin outboards, mounted to what looks like a " built in " transom bracket, as opposed to one that is just bolted on.

The motor mount bracket is solid straight across with back edge parallel to hull transom. This pic is not my boat, but shows what I have.

Someone told me builderdude did some sort of write up on transom repairs but I am not able to find it.

THANKS

[PickleRick]

Is there rot? Big difference in wet and rot. If just wet do you have climate controlled storage? If so ASAP pull every fastener attached to the transom to expose it and run a dehumidifier. The better you can seal off the area housing the dehumidifier and the transom the quicker shell dry. It might take months. Once the humidifier stops pulling moisture let the heated storage do the rest of the drying. Hopefully it's not been wet and allowed to freeze causing the wood core and fiberglass skin to delaminate. Make sure you take proper precautions for ignition protection during this process.

If there's rot your only safe choice is a new transom.

When hanging items off the transom I like to drill a pilot hole for the item. I then drill out a 3/8 hole. Clean hole with vacuum and acetone. Fill hole with thickened expoxy, let dry. Now when you hang your item off your transom with 4200 if it leaks it just gets to the epoxy and never the wood.

Wood absorbs water like a sponge. If you can access the inside of the transom and stingers drill out some small core samples, see how far the wet wood goes. The more wet wood you can expose the better the chance you have of prolonging her life.

Good luck.

[builderdude]

Here’s my rebuild thread:
https://www.baylinerownersclub.org/f...56?view=thread
Hopefully your water issues haven’t completely compromised the transom core.
Post some pics of your transom bracket mounting etc.