There's a hole in my boat, now what.

[sailr69]

Originally Posted by blinkerfluid

haha, that would kind of defeat the purpose of removing it in the first place. We're going to have an arch with dinghy davits, so a windvane probably isn't going to work. The boat is cutter rigged with a staysail boom, so we can't store a dinghy on the deck; so the davits are pretty desirable for us. Plus, if I were going to get a new windvane, I don't think I'd get one that requires a 3" hole in the transom.

The first thing I would do is get rid of the jib boom, it is not needed, it is a danger because one can trip over it. I have one in my garage and anyone wants it, come and get it. as for the hole? two pieces of stainless larger then
the hole cut them in a circle as well , drill a center hole in them and place butyl tape around the outside of both ones and tighten them up one inside the other one outside. paint the outside one with any kind of rattlecan paint that matches,

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by Mauruuru

for 16 bucks a 4 inch screw in deck plate
WEST MARINE–4" Screw-in Deck Plate

You want him to make the hole bigger so he can fill it?

[Rightbrainer]

I wouldn't think the hole is any more or less 'structural' than it was before the vane bracket was removed. (Unless the transom core got wet because of seepage around the hole.) The dude at boatworks today has a lot of tutorials on this kind of stuff, including color matching. Assuming the core is solid and dry, for now, I'd cut a stack of marine plywood disks the same thickness as the core and glue them in with marine polyester resin. Then I'd screw a chrome cover-plate over the outside and call it good until you can feather it back inside and out and lay in some cloth, fairing compound and paint to make it pretty.

[Tatheelrod22]

I’m considering a Windvane for my boat and a Cape Horn currently is the leading choice. What are your plans for the one you removed as I might be interested in buying it?

[Aethelwulffe]

The three inch hole isn't going to sink the boat unless someone holds the stern underwater for a while. I like both a dorade clamshell (soft, it is near the ladder), a valved clamshell exhaust/blower/circulator for the stern (if you have a mildew or heat problem). Only problem is that it is at toe-height on your swim platform. You want less crap to injure yourself there, not more. A *recessed* shower fitting is also not a bad idea. That can still be a mega-useful washdown station (assuming you really use the boat) even if it is just raw water/saltwater. A swim /courtesy light *might* also be good, but adding any lights to a boat other than nav lights usually serves to reduce real visibility and safety vs. increase it. Kinda like a lifeboat that is a trip hazard...




You can also take a piece of very smooth plastic, such as a piece of acrylic or something else covered with a stretched piece of 6 mil plastic film, then afix that to the outboard side of the hole with some hot wax and something to keep pressure against it. Then go inside the boat, smear on some non-wax gelcoat against the mold you have made. Once that has kicked to orange-peel consistency, glass it up with polyester resin, or wait until full cure and use epoxy. When done, bust off your mold piece and do whatever cleanup you absolutely feel you must. You already have rust stains from using 304ss fasteners on the ladder and such, so imperfect will be the style anyway.
This will not give you a dependably crack-free edge to that hole, as you have not feathered it out or anything, but it will repair it in a way that lets you avoid doing any heavy external sanding and polishing. The results will not be perfect, but now you can do a cool peace sign graphic on top of it or whatever. It will look intentional and geometric, even if you leave the exposed circle of unmatched gelcoat.


Don't do any stupid stuff like screwing a meaningless chunk of teak onto your stern. If you want that, then use a whole nameplate over the whole thing, or just putty and sand it (it is round, it does not need "strength") and slap your favorite graphic over it.

[kapnd]

I’d install a beer tap!🤪

[blinkerfluid]

I know not everything on the boat will be perfect, but I'd rather not intentionally strive for imperfection.. Besides, rust stains are easy to remove; at least on a smooth surface anyway. The paint is strangely not well adhered to the primer (gray in the photos) underneath, so we're going to have to do some paint work anyway. I think we'll get a can of white 1 part polyurethane and take it to a paint store with a paint chip from the boat; hopefully they'll be able to tint the paint pretty close.

For the hole, I think I'm going to revisit the transom shower idea.. I need to make sure it's protected enough that a wave won't break the plastic housing almost all the showers are made of. It'll be useful for washing fish blood off the back of the boat

Also, I mentioned it in another post, but the Windvane is already sold.

[Aethelwulffe]

Not "striving for imperfection" either, didn't know your transom/boat was painted. Lot easier that way. I mentioned the rust stains in reference to the trouble they create (even, and especially if they have been chemically "cleaned") when trying to do gel patches in their proximity.

Feathering out the hole, backing it, glassing (or just puttying with kitty hair) and fairing it is probably the easiest fix that lets you forget about it forever, if you have some level of experience at finish work. All you really need is to get it all faired back level without scalloping the surface around it. That isn't something everyone seems to be able to manage, but if you are confident, I say do it. For a painted boat, it isn't like you can mess things up to the point where it can't be fixed on round 2 or 3. It is perpetually repairable. Looks like you have all the gear cleared off the transom, and you can just go for it. If you are this far along, you ain't gonna have no issues.


I was honestly not even thinking about cheap plastic fittings though. I was actually imagining a recessed cup/box glassed to the hull, and a good brass/bronze (still inexpensive) hose bib mounted in it. I make those by using plastic kitchenware containers as a male mold after cutting them to fit the shape they are mounted to. That is my go-to for replacing instrument clusters in cockpits, and for making transducer cofferdams. All the same, if you have propane stored in the stern, that hole looks like a mighty good overboard discharge for heavier-than-air gasses!


As to "a wave will bust it" fitting idea, that really isn't likely if it is fastened properly. Even a pretty cheap plastic thingie, or a round hole filled with just structural putty, by: Power = Force * Velocity =(p dz u) the flux of energy through even a perpendicular vertical plane for any wave that would not carry your boat away wholesale is unlikely to punch out that little fitting. 1 bar (14.7psi) constant pressure will shatter most watertight doors (a couple of times over), but that little fitting can stand it easily. Waves less than mountain size don't pack the sort of point-loading shock power. If that were not true, beach activities would not be so popular, and plastic thru-hulls would not exist. If it takes a small hammer to bust it out, then the wave would need to transfer the same kinetic energy as a wrecking ball to your whole transom. You would have bigger problems than the small fitting hole flooding your boat, right? Bigger issue for the cheap plastic is degradation in the sun, and just age.
Honestly, I don't see that little hole as a structural issue. More like a point of egress for dribbles of fresh water rain/dew that can migrate and rot other things. Tiny dribbles of fresh water eventually sink more boats than waves do, but not usually on the stern of a plastic boat.

[Aethelwulffe]

Transom looks totally awesome with all that stuff removed! Not a bad looking ass really.

[KUTA]

Is the Cape Horn sold, otherwise I might be interested. A nice round polished stainless plate, would not look to crazy until you come up with something better.

[KUTA]

I apologize, I see that you mentioned in another post that the Cape Horn is sold. Lucky one that got it.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by blinkerfluid

I know not everything on the boat will be perfect, but I'd rather not intentionally strive for imperfection.. Besides, rust stains are easy to remove; at least on a smooth surface anyway. The paint is strangely not well adhered to the primer (gray in the photos) underneath, so we're going to have to do some paint work anyway. I think we'll get a can of white 1 part polyurethane and take it to a paint store with a paint chip from the boat; hopefully they'll be able to tint the paint pretty close.

For the hole, I think I'm going to revisit the transom shower idea.. I need to make sure it's protected enough that a wave won't break the plastic housing almost all the showers are made of. It'll be useful for washing fish blood off the back of the boat

Also, I mentioned it in another post, but the Windvane is already sold.

Transom shower is super handy, but I wouldn't want one that low unless it's a sealed installation. I suppose just a SS or bronze plate with a faucet/shower on it would close that up.

[blinkerfluid]

Part of the problem I'm running into is that the hole is actually 3.5", not 3" like I originally thought. The largest round shower cutout I've found is 3.125", so I'd have to make the hole a little smaller for that to work anyway. I think if I'm going to have to mod the hole to make something work, I'll just fix it properly and do away with the hole.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by blinkerfluid

Part of the problem I'm running into is that the hole is actually 3.5", not 3" like I originally thought. The largest round shower cutout I've found is 3.125", so I'd have to make the hole a little smaller for that to work anyway. I think if I'm going to have to mod the hole to make something work, I'll just fix it properly and do away with the hole.

You might be fine. That's only 3/16" on each side. (3.5 -3.12 /2)
Not sure what your fitting is but sometimes they are made with a radius that requires a bit bigger hole anyway.
What is the unit you are considering?

[blinkerfluid]

The fitting is only 3" with a 3.125" hole required for clearance. The flange is 4".. that only leaves 1/4" of overlap all the way around. I think the bolt holes actually end up on the edges of the existing hole, so I couldn't bolt it on, even if I was ok with the marginal amount of overlap. I'll either need to make the hole smaller, which means I might as well just fix it; or do like you suggested earlier and cover the hole with a large stainless plate and mount the shower to the plate. If I really needed the shower, I might do that, but it's not a necessity.

Oh well, it was a fun exercise thinking of all the options to fill/cover/use the hole, but I think ultimately the best bet is going to be to just repair it and repaint the transom. It needs paint anyway.