Transom Core on 28

[lpbp]

Again Merry HO HO to all you out there .. Made it home Christmas eve morning at 0630 .1 last trip dwn the Detroit -St Clair R and L Erie to the Welland canal . Had the Federal Nakagawa loaded with 20,000 ton of soya meal heading for Romania . Busy last 5 weeks up here with CDN & US grain heading out of the Great Lakes . Due to the fact that the low water levels on the Mississippi have restricted barge shippents dwn the river .
Praying for cold winter and lots of snow , water levels getting low all through the Great lakes . Lots of real a state showing up that hasnt been seen since the early 60,s
Now to the problem , As you know I have a 94 -28 with a I/O , well we pulled the engine & outdrive for maintenance Bilge cleaning ,painting et,etc . Well the cut out and all around is sounding and looking bad [ 2 ft each side of the cutout ] Had fellow check with a meter ,but the days he was checking were very damp ,so not very accurate . Not being home for all this and getting news on the phone -what a Christmas present .
So what is the core - some plywood & some balsa ? All plywood / What am I looking at here ?
Looking for some info from all the great minds on this sight . No matter which way I look at it it is $$$$$, but I want to do it right .
Wondering if because the boat was on the hard for 2 years when survey was done for purchase , that it didnt show up then .
Well thx and and info will do . On the beach for the winter Scott

[amber jj]

Scott about twenty years ago we had a 20ft.Tiara pursuit.We had the same situation.what we done was to cut the fibre glass skin off the transom in the rotted area keeping the four cuts as close to 90 degrees as possible.The piece lifted out quite easily as it had delaminated from the rotted plywood transom.Next we cut out the rotted plywood leaving the inside skin intact.Clean both pieces of fibre glass thoroughly of any plywood.Next cut out a piece of marine grade plywood with the cutout for the out drive.Coat the plywood thoroughly with west system epoxy and let dry.Next sand and clean plywood and the fiberglass still in the transom.Mix more epoxy,but this time with some filler and spread it on the transom fiberglass and the inside of the plywood.Push it into place until the mixture oozes out from around the plywood edges.Now from inside the transom screw through the fiberglass into the plywood using enough screws as not to have any voids in the epoxy mixture.Let it set and dry.Next sand the plywood so the outside piece of fibreglass sits in flatt.Now mix the epoxy and filler and spread on the plywood and fibreglass and push the fibreglass into place.It should fit like a puzzle.Now screw it into place cleaning up the oozed out epoxy as much as you can.Let dry ,take out the screws on both sides of the transom and fill with epoxy.Fair out the edges of the cutout and prepare for painting.Well Scott hopefully this explanation is of some use to you.