Need help with a large crack in the transom of my 1860 Duracraft Bay Boat. Boat is a 2007. Purchased prior to War Eagle buying back Duracraft so the lifetime warranty on welds does me no good. Transom has a large crack on back port side where the side are welded to the transom. Is leaking a large amount of water. Have read a lot of good advice on this forum and would appreciate any advice or help? Can it be welded? If so who is local to Sumter, SC that would do a good job. This boat has been babied its entire life and is in immaculate shape. Hate to scrap it. Any help would be appreciated. Will try and post pics. Not sure how as this is my first post. It does have a 5 HP kicker motor mounted on that side as seen it pics. Not sure if that contributed to this problem or not.
Not that I am aware of. Have noticed the last few outings more than normal amounts of water in the bilge. Hard to tell during shrimping season as there is always water coming in with the net. However I was striper fishing yesterday and had to run the bilge almost constantly. First thought was a hole in the bottom due to corrosion. However after filling the boat with water and going over every part of the bottom could find no leak. My 13 year old son actually pointed this out. Thought it might be due to the kicker motor bouncing after hitting holes and bumps in the road. Other side is solid as can be. I did clear a lot of the foam out so I could mount the kicker bracket and could get the reSt of it out in order to weld it from the inside and outside of need be. Just want to make sure it’s safe and will hold up as I use the boat fishing and shrimping.
If it gets welded, it couldn’t hurt to reinforce that area with some more material and weld it in. If the kicker motor did indeed do that, it will do it again if you don’t prevent it.
I was thinking of having whoever does fix it to have them weld a thick aluminum plate on the outside as well as one on the inside of possible. The top 2 bolts on the bracket go through the main transom and 2 thick layers of aluminum. The lower to bolts only go through the skin of the boat. Which I guess is why it bounces. However I’ve tried to “bounce” the motor to see how it effects the crack and seems to have little if any impact on it. Buts it’s the only reason I see why this huge crack would have developed here.
The kicker mount does appear to be in about the right spot to stress that weld. Be careful designing a reinforcement. Adding stiffer plate can cause a worse ‘stress riser.’ Stress risers happen at any transition from a stiff structure to a less stiff area. A crack will likely happen at that transition.
Also, with aluminum, when it is welded, it generally get more brittle / less flexible and limber. Thus the constant working of the kicker bouncing could be what fatigued and broke that weld.
17’ Henry O Hornet w/ Johnson 88 spl
26’ Palmer Scott project hull
14’ Bentz-Craft w/ Yamaha 25
I can fix it for you. I’m in Lexington, just west of Columbia. Less than 5 min. off of I-20. From what I can tell, I don’t think anything is needed on the inside, but I could put a corner patch on the out side. (in addition to welding the cracks.) I’ve fixed worse.
(Loon, it’s time for you to chime in about your jon boat:wink:)
Bob Van Gundy
Marine Designs,Inc.
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
803-727-4069
I can fix it for you. I’m in Lexington, just west of Columbia. Less than 5 min. off of I-20. From what I can tell, I don’t think anything is needed on the inside, but I could put a corner patch on the out side. (in addition to welding the cracks.) I’ve fixed worse.
(Loon, it’s time for you to chime in about your jon boat:wink:)
Bob Van Gundy
Marine Designs,Inc.
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
803-727-4069
“Living’s mostly wasting time and I’ll waste my share of mine”
Have to give a BIG shout out to Happy Bob in Lexington for fixing my boat. Not only did he fix it but he made it way stronger by adding a couple of plates and his welding skills on aluminum are really Top Notch. Dropped it off Thursday morning and he called me first thing Monday morning and told me it was ready. Not only Top Notch welding but quick turn around as well. He even went as far as to seal everything up with 5200 and painted it to match. Couldn’t ask for a better job or a nicer person. Highly recommend him to anyone needing quality work done. Now hopefully I can put a few cats and stripers in it this weekend.
The trick is to keep that fine line between having enough beers to be relaxed & comfortable, but not too many to be sloppy & can’t sit up straight.
If you notice, there’s a little lump in the weld, about halfway up. That’s when the foam on the inside of the boat caught fire:face_with_head_bandage:. Luckily, I had the water hose handy for just such an emergency.
Bob Van Gundy
Marine Designs,Inc.
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
803-727-4069
