Transom fitting

[mark48]

Hi all,

I'm trying to dutifully follow the manual and am at the stage of fitting the transom. Bottom and side panels are wired to the keel (and I'm gradually worrying the bow into shape). The manual speaks to obtaining the bevel angles for the transom sides and bottom from the plans, or taking the measurements from the inside with dividers and transferring the gaps to the (planned) outer surface before planing to the line. My questions:

1. I can't find actual angle measurements in the plans. Any help would be appreciated because...

2. While the divider method looks elegant, I'm reluctant to take plane to beautiful sapele 3/4' plywood without some confirmation of my lines. Either way, for an amateur, the transom fitting step looks like a many test-annd-pane-some-more stage. And when "dry-fitting" the transom to the developing hull, merely setting it in place to even obtain the divider measurements involves some temporary fastening of transom to sides / bottom panels, which itself migt alter the measurements.

3. Once fit properly, I see no mention of epoxying it in place - just fasten with temporary dry-wall screws and later fillet it to the sides & bottom. I'm curious why this wouldn't be glued in place also. Any thoughts? And...

4. The manual describes fitting the floors and bulkheads (other than #4) into the hull after the transom is in place (and the side panels are wired on). I see one post thread in which a builder installed (and filleted) floors and bulkhead #1 before wiring side panels, providing much easier access to the floor joints for wiring and filleting. My side panels are wired on, but I was thinking of somehow wiring on floors before installing the transom, again for ease of access (being careful not to step through the bottom panels somehow).

Any thoughts on any of the above would be much appreciated.

Thank you all who post and blog,
Mark

[ddemasie]

I remember having the exact same thoughts when I was first putting the hull together as you are. Here is what I did:

The technique of using the calipers really does work, and yes, when I was cutting the edge of the transom down, I used the - cut some, test fit, remark, repeat - process to gradually shave down the transom -until I had a nearly perfect fit. It took many iterations (8 or 9 as I remember), but my patience paid off and in the end the sides of the hull almost 'hugged' the transom in the correct position.

Once I had a great fit, I did epoxy it into place with the temporary dry wall screws holding it together. I thing that was just a small omission on the instructions - don't think only the fillets to hold the transom on after removing the temp screw is what was intended.

On the bulkheads and floor supports, I did a 'hybrid' I did loosely wire in the floor supports so I wasn't dealing with that after the transom went on. Then after I put on the transom, I tightened all of the wiring for a decent fit on all the parts. I did wait to do any bulkheads until I had the transom on.

[mark48]

Hi Dennis,

Thanks very much for your advice. I found that wiring in bulkhead #8 has helped define the taper of the side panels as they approach the transom so that test-fitting the transom is a bit easier. I'll keep working on the divider approach and screw up my courage to pane a bit off....

All the best,
Mark

[chaertl]

Hi Mark,

Another method for finding the angles would be an angle duplicator. Most hardware stores carry them but all they really are is two sticks bolted together at one end with a wing nut. You put the transom in with tape, screws ect. , place the two legs flat against the two surfaces and tighten the wing nut down. That gives you the angle you can mark on the edge and trim to. One of the more useful tools in my shop since there's almost no right angles on a boat. Your other questions seem to have been answered but one piece of advice I'd give is don't put the cleats one the floors until after the filleting is done. Ounce they're on it turns filleting that side of them into a mess while the other side is the easiest filleting in the boat.


Take care,

Chris

[craig]

In past discussions on this forum, John has said that it's better to NOT stitch in the floors before the sides, even though that would make it easier to sand/fiberglass the interior. I can speak from experience, the side panels really do help pull everything in place. As to the transom, I somehow beveled the wrong side of the transom, and ended up just giving up and sticking it in place as-is with thickened epoxy filling the joint. The amount to plane off is really pretty small.