Sea King Boat

[silvab7232]

Hello, I have a Montgomery Ward Sea King boat that needs needs a needs a new price of wood for the transom since both peices have and are rotting away. I haven’t been able to find any kind of information on these boats but also don’t know where I could look. I wanted to see if there were measurements for these pieces so I could be able to craft new ones?
Model Number 60-8923
Serial Number 64-4149 (hard to read)
Max HP 8hp
(Im thinking it’s a 12 foot)

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[lindy46]

Use the inside piece as a template. You can pretty much see the outline of the old outside piece. Use marine/treated plywood.

[mas]

Looks like the outside transom pad is not full length across the transom like the inside. Use the existing angles of the bolts to make the sides angle downward to the centerline of the boat. The bottom of the pad does not seem to extend into the rivets. Measure you motor transom clamps to see "what minimum height" would be necessary to support the motor on the transom. It appears you should be able to copy the inside mount.

Fun little project.

Mas

[amuller]

I suspect the remains on the boat are not the originals. The inside piece looks like OSB. Is it? I would not use that on a boat! The fasteners–bolts and fender washers–don’t look original either. But the shapes look reasonable, the point being to transfer loads to the sides and bottom of the boat. Treated plywood has been reported to be corrosive to aluminum. I would try to clean out the pitting with aluminum cleaner and apply etching primer.

Opinions seem to vary a lot about what sort of preservatives/coatings to use on transom wood.

[auldscott]

My boats don’t see salt water and they are kept well covered and ventilated when they are not in use, so I use exterior grade or cabinet grade plywood for transoms (I have done three). If you can find marine plywood, all the better. I typically finish them in varnish, inside and out, knowing that it is difficult to keep water from getting into the wood through fastener holes but again, these boats don’t spend extensive time in the water or exposed to the atmosphere. One thing: you will have to measure the thickness of the original inside transom piece and make the new piece the same thickness. It has to fit that aluminum C-shaped cap. You may have to glue two thicknesses of plywood together. Unless the boat will be exposed for long periods to salt water, use stainless steel or galvanized fasteners. They look nice and will not rust.

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[Anonymous]

For maximum strength and rot resistance I use White Oak on the inside and marine plywood on the outside. And treat them to coats of marine spar varnish.

[mini-motors]

It looks to me that the outside pad does extend down to the rivets. Which makes sense. When you apply the throttle, the outboard will want to press towards the bottom of that pad. That support piece of aluminum is there for that reason

[mas]

quote Mini Motors:

It looks to me that the outside pad does extend down to the rivets. Which makes sense. When you apply the throttle, the outboard will want to press towards the bottom of that pad. That support piece of aluminum is there for that reason

Good point!!!

Also, if you build up layers of ply…make sure it is not too thick so the motor can still slip over the transom.

Mas

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