DSI - transom rot - ?

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DSI - transom rot - ?

Postby navahoIII » Sun Aug 30, 2020 8:41 am

Our boat has not seen water in six years but we finally took her out for a sail. She sailed beautifully, as always.

I did notice some 'breaks' in the lower half of the transom. I poked around with my finger and it was soft, crumbly rot(?). I pushed as far as I could (maybe an inch in) and found a hard surface behind it, which must be the fiberglass (the hole does not go through the glass). So, is the transom perhaps bolstered by plywood? It would make sense since there is a motor mount there toward the port side. I have no motor. Given that, is repair critical? How much of a job would it be?

Thanks,
NavohoIII
Andiamo - 1001
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Re: DSI - transom rot - ?

Postby GreenLake » Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:12 pm

Welcome back!

On DS1s of that vintage (I take it that 1001 is your sail number), there would be a section of the transom that's reinforced by a 4-6" wide plywood strip. That plywood acts as backing for the bolts that hold the rudder gudgeons. If you look at it from the inside, you should see a raised section in the center (usually hidden by a wooden shelf constructed from the same material as the original wooden floorboards).

The plywood strip is encased in glass, and with a suitable tool you should be able to cut it along the edges of the plywood and then remove the plywood (or what is left of it). Fashion a new piece, carefully seal it in epoxy (you might want to drill oversize holes for the mounting bolts and fill with epoxy/fiber mush). Then glue in and glass over and drill the holes for the rudder mounting bolts.

Access from under the transom is a tad awkward, but other than that, the whole repair shouldn't be all that challenging. A Fein Multimaster or equivalent tool might make a neater job of cutting the original fiberglass flush to the inside of the transom. More controlled and less messy than a grinder, but plan on having extra blades.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: DSI - transom rot - ?

Postby GreenLake » Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:26 pm

As it happens, there's a new member who had the same repair as part of refurbishing a newly acquired old DS1.

New member with a 1968 DS1(rigging pics pg 6-7)

There's also a thread by seandwyer: Transom Troubles which gives a useful step-by-step.

Both have opted to use a different reinforcing material, but properly prepped plywood should last you past the end of your tenure with this boat. You may want to cut the bottom inch or two off the new plywood and glue it back on with epoxy: that glue line creates a barrier should any water get in at the bottom. Most effective if that glueline is a but above the waterline.

You don't write where on your transom you were making the discovery: if it is on the outside, then it sounds like your laminate is damaged there and needs to be repaired. Also not difficult.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: DSI - transom rot - ?

Postby navahoIII » Mon Sep 14, 2020 6:02 am

Thanks GL. I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I have two photos of the inside transom that I want to include but can't figure out how.
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Re: DSI - transom rot - ?

Postby GreenLake » Mon Sep 14, 2020 10:45 am

Look in the "Forum Info and How to use this forum" section for discussion of posting images. The board can't do its own compression/resizing, it's older software, so you'd have to do that. On a desktop that's easy with a free app, or you can try mailing pics to yourself (OS or mail client will offer to resize and that includes compression). The compressed pics then upload fine as attachments.
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