rot

[dcso]

how critical is the piece of plywood that runs perpendicular to the keel between the stringers at the front of the engine. it doesnt look like it supports anything and its rotted. do i have to replace it on end to the other or just patch it. the boat is an 85 sea ray 230

thanks

ted

[Tim Bromund]

Ted,

I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but if that board is rotten, I can pretty much guarantee you it isn't alone. You should probably have the boat looked at to see how much of the wood structure is rotten. I ended up having the floor, stringers, motor bunks and transom replaced in my 1986 Thompson a couple years ago. The rot was pretty extensive.

When I looked at the pile of crumbled, rotten plywood that used to be my transom, I thanked my lucky stars to still be alive. As gone as it was, I could just see a big wave ripping the entire transom, motor, batteries etc. off the back of the boat and to the bottom of the lake. It wasn't cheap, but the boat is now better built than it was when it left Thompson's Factory.

Tim

[dcso]

thanks for the advice, i found more problems today

ted