Water in transom

craigswardmtb

So a buddy of mine has a 2005 270 and he was replacing a trim tab and removed screws only to have water drain out of one hole for a second or two, and then another screw hole dribbled minor traces of water for a short period of time.  What do you all recommend for the best way to address this?  I'm not sure how these transoms are laid up so I'm curious how far the water intrusion may have gotten.

jme097

@craigswardmtb same exact thing happened to me on my 1999 Four Winns 258 Vista last spring when I went to go epoxy the bottom. Took all the hardware off the back of the boat and noticed water drips came out of the holes. I freaked. 

My culprit ended up being a crack in the fiberglass that I didn't see because it was covered by the bottompaint. Probably there for a couple years and the water built up. I drilled a hole and drained the water and let it sit for a month and then it passed a moisture meter. 

First thing I would do is get my hands on a moisture meter and do some testing. And go from there. Depending on how bad the transom is, he could have transom rot which is bad because the rot just spreads like cancer in the plywood. Might be looking at a transom job

frodo13056

Deja vu - had a very similar issue with my 320 last season - I decided to re-bed all the screws in the transom (tabs and swim platform supports) and when I removed the port side swim platform support rod screws, one of the holes peed for about 15 seconds which pretty much freaked me out. So, I asked the shop manager if I could borrow his moisture meter and sure enough - signs of water intrusion. I actually read many articles in the past about the accuracy of moisture meters and decided to just randomly check the transoms of about 10 different boats (I keep mine in indoor heated storage) and every single boat I checked showed signs of moisture in the transom. I found it very hard to believe that EVERY SINGLE transom I checked had issues since the boats ranged from 2 years old to 10 years old. I even got the shop manager to check a few and the same results - those moisture meters are very unreliable. The meter we used was a hand held scan type but I forget the brand / model.
Initially, I called Rinker and they sent me to the Chicago Rinker dealer and they said that what they do is to drill a couple of holes in the transom, bag the transom and put it under vacuum for several days and that would take care of any possible issues. I towed the boat to them and after them doing nothing with the boat for 3 weeks, I then called our forum Rinker expert at his shop to get his opinion and he certainly put my mind at ease - he told me he seriously doubted that I had an issue and went on to explain about the transom wood used by Rinker, etc. and I'm good with that. I guess only time will tell. 

craigswardmtb

Yep I had the same on one of my swim platform bolts last year as well. It peed only for a couple seconds. I let it dry for weeks and then rebedded with 5200. Seeing this on my buddies boat got me thinking on how many others have had this and how they addressed it. Your feedback is great and Al's feedback to you makes me feel better.