Transom

[strobee]

After getting saddle tanks, Chuck and I went to Bruce Bridwells to see the new transom he is putting into the Willie B. Chuck asked him if he was making it strong enough to still keep going after being rear ended by a destroyer. He is doing really nice work and this Skagit deserves it. The nicest original Skagit I now of and now it will be better then original. Lasted over 50 years the first time and should be ready for another 100 years.

[TheBronze]

Beefcaaake! Beef caaake!

The plastic tube needs trading for a fiberglass one that can be glassed in inside and out.as there is no way to seal plastic or bronze to fiberglass. It also needs at least two mats and one roving incapsulating the wooden structure in the boat.Strong as it looks under normal use it would only last ten years.

[strobee]

It is not done yet. This was just showing the work in progress

[Helmar]

I would cover the floors with cloth and glass too. Just makes it so it outlasts my kids and grand kids.
Areas that can't even get air seem to stay intact longer it seems. Found this out pulling out all the old wood from the boats. I found some MDO ply that was glassed on both sides and the ends. That stuff was almost like new.
Can't use too much Glass Resin and Epoxy Resin in these old girls.

[bruceb]

All-
Sooooo, as Clint points out, this is a "in progress" photo. What appears as a plastic tube is actually duct tape rolled up, keeping resin from entering the area of the brass drain tube. I'm using SystemThree epoxy resin on all aspects of this project, so plastic resin properties don't apply to the situation. As long as an area is cleaned and roughed up, S3 resins stick to anything except mylar or waxed paper.
The two layers of structural cloth that are about to be applied to encapsulate the marine ply sandwich to the surrounding factory glass woven roving interior surface. That structural cloth is a special design (to work well with e resin) with a mat on the backside and a mini roving design on top, with a 28oz. weight. Once the transom shelf is installed, the shelf and forward bulkhead as well as exposed vert of transom will be covered with 2 layers finishing cloth. In the deconstruction of the transom I documented it all and so in the replacement, every aspect is hopefully better than original, and will appear (color, too) to be original with the rest of the boat.
I didn't have intentions of posting the whole story here, as time constraints. I seem to invite criticism in whatever I do, so as little as possible is posted........thanks for the good words, Clint and Helmar.

[GregJ]

Bruce, Looks good to me. You can do mine when your done with yours.

[Helmar]

See what happens Bruce. People try to help you to death so to speak.
I didn't see anything as criticism, just peoples two cents.
Now what I see is you are building this for that 100 year mark

Everyone has there own ways in doing things and I always like to listen.
I would like to know more about the cloths and roving as that sounds a little more beefy than some of the ones I did..I am always interested in doing things better so that is why I encourage people to post as much detail as they can to help others.
Marty had used some System Three product in the shop and it was a super product. They keep advancing with all those resins and epoxy's seems like ever week.
Another one I like to use is the Westsystem product. I use the pumps and it makes a no brainier for me to use.
Boy, I had to chip, grind and pick to get some of that out and almost ended up destroying what I used it on....
Good to see you on here Bruce
Oh, and Yeah, you can do any of my repairs Any time you want too , I have seen your work.

[TheBronze]

28 oz cloth. Wow. That must be a bear to work with. I used similar 17 oz stuff on the 404 on the floor and transom and it was a bit of a pain due to its stiffness. Sure makes for a nice hard floor though! I can't get over how THICK it all is! Can't wait to see it complete. Keep up the good work.