Transoms & Core

A soft or rotting transom is one of the most common — and most serious — problems on older fiberglass boats. The transom is the flat back wall of the boat where your motor mounts. Inside that fiberglass shell is a wood core, usually plywood, and over the years water finds its way in through bolt holes, cracks, and failed sealant. Once the wood gets wet, it starts to rot, and you lose the structural support your motor depends on.

We do full transom tearouts and rebuilds. That means removing the outer skin of fiberglass, pulling out all the old rotted core, replacing it with marine-grade plywood and composite materials, and laying up new fiberglass over the top. The result is a transom that’s solid, properly sealed, and ready for another 20 years.

Stringers are the structural backbone that runs the length of the hull — think of them like floor joists in a house. When they rot out, the whole boat gets flexible in ways it shouldn’t be. You’ll feel it when you walk around — the floor gives, things flex and creak. We replace stringers, transom knees, floors, and core materials to bring the structural integrity back to where it should be.

These are big jobs, no way around it. But they’re also some of the most rewarding work we do, because the difference is night and day. A boat that felt sketchy and unsafe becomes solid and trustworthy again. If you’re on the fence about whether your boat is worth it — call me and let’s talk it through. Often it is.