Sometime in January when we were in still in G'Town, I was heading across the harbour from the Kitty Litter anchorage to volleyball beach. It was pretty rough out wit twenty knots of wind and three foot chop in the exposed areas. I remember coming off a wave a little funny and then I heard a "crunch".
The lip on the edge of the transom of the dinghy where the outboard engine hangs on cracked from the pounding of the boat. Shitty death!
I slowed down and made it to ball and later back to the big boat, but after removing the engine, I was able to see that we would have to do something to keep the dinghy in service for the duration of our cruise. After poking and prodding, I bolted on a stainless steel brace which while ugly, served admirably and disaster was averted.
Fast forward five months to today and you will find said dinghy out of the water, on the hard here at the Buddy Fred's where I have spent the last three days grinding out the transom and then laying up new glass to fix it properly.
The job isn't all that hard, just time consuming. Once I removed my temporary repair, I borrowed a grinder from Glenn next door. I then cut away all the damaged area and ground down an extra two inches on either side, then I began the process of laying up increasingly longer strips of 2 inch wide fiberglass tape.
It took 18 layers of glass to build the transom and it's lip back up to where they belonged. I applied the layers four at a time and then waited for them to dry before I sanded it down and then did it again.
I guess I could paint the repair to match, but I wasn't going for pretty, rather I was going for safe. As soon as I rebuild the carburetor on our Mercury 9.9, I plan to give it a test drive.
In other news, I'm pretty sure marleyWeasel should have just said no to drugs....
PS - I have to find a new testing facility as our previous one, the red neck infested, Coors light serving, birth place of the Bubbas - Paradise Cove bar and trailer park has gone out of business. Dammit man!
Be safe, it's dumb out there....