Transom/ pintle repair

You really need a pillar drill for a plug cutter. Hand held drill can be life threatening if the edge of the cutter catches off centre.

Pop down to B&Q and buy a length of ramin dowelling. Bore holes in transom to size, insert a bit of dowelling well coated in epoxy. Cut off flush when cured, drill for bolts or pilot for screws.
 
Ah well, I can see that Tranona's really wedded to his piece of dowel. But he's right about plugs-- you do need a proper drill press to cut plugs efficiently and safely. And you need high speed and consistent light pressure, which you probably can't get with a battery-operated drill anyway. Do you know someone with a drill press you could use?

As a horrible warning about using dowel, my sundial is supported on the top five feet of a 48' cruising ketch's mainmast, which rotted through and then snapped clean off because someone once plugged a whole through it with a piece of dowel....

gnomon-in-the-gloamin.jpg

If you do use dowel (I really hope you don't), at least make it 1/4" shorter overall, and plug each end with 1/8" of thickened epoxy.

It sounds like the transom might be mahogany from your description. Ideally you cut plugs from the same timber as the wood you're plugging, both for reasons of wood movement under temperature and moisture changes and also for colour-matching if you're going to varnish; but of course I don't know what the availability of your transom's wood is like where you are.

There are some hints on the use of plugs here -- http://www.woodenboatfittings.com.au/articles/plugs-setting.pdf

Mike
 
Steve.
Let me know the size of plugs you want dia and depth I have mahogany, teak and iroco so can cut what you need with no problem.
You should be able to cut the new hole in the transom with the hole cutter in the plug kit with care and hand drill.
if you don't have the right size I can lend you a suitable cuter.
Cheers David.
 
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Wooden Boat Fittings said:
Ah well, I can see that Tranona's really wedded to his piece of dowel.
Click to expand...

Would not be a problem in this application. The requirement is to fill a hole - it is not structural. An end on dowel takes a screw well and it it is a through bolt it is compression - ideal. Set in epoxy and sealer behind the fitting and water will never get anywhere near it. Much easier to fit than cutting plugs, particularly if you have to buy a plug cutter which costs more than a length of dowel and there is no restriction on length whereas a plug is limited to the depth of the cutter.
 
Thanks for all the help & advice.

The story so far;

I bought a plug cutter for a couple of quid (delivered) off e-bay & tried it on a bit of old oak firewood & it was quite hard to do & the battery went flat, but it did produce a couple of useable plugs. I then went & dug an old board (1" thick solid oak) out of the wood shed & tried the cutter again with a recharged battery. And, following your guidance, I cut two good clean long plugs, about 50% longer than I need. I had already drilled 2 x 12mm holes in the transom which are clean & dry wood & the plugs are a good tight fit that may well need a few taps to get them home once I have put a good dose of resin on them & the holes.

I have some polyester resin bought about 6 months ago for a deck repair on SR & intend using that to reglue a kayak paddle & to hold the plugs in place. I've been to a funeral today so I may delay the jobs until tomorrow. I shall let the resin set for a day or two before trying to cut it back & the strength of the paddle repair will help me decide if the plugs will hold a screw or if I need to use the set bolts & penny washers I bought.

Thanks again for all the input, it's really useful to learn from others experiences.

Ideally, I want to screw the fitting back on as that means the hull has 2 fewer holes through it below the waterline, but bolts are my fall back if I lack confidence in the resin.
 
Sounds like a good plan. Epoxy would be better as it penetrates the wood fibres much better. However polyester won't be a hanging offence as it only gets wet when you are actually sailing.
 
Well, I did it just before cooking tea tonight & the plugs & paddle are setting nicely as I type.

I may well do a few repairs on a couple of old kayaks too tomorrow now, while I am in the mood - & it looks like I may be buying a Canadian & possibly another sit-on kayak shortly. Dylan did warn my about my Poly-navis syndrome disorder, but I still can't help thinking that the ideal number of boats is N+1, where N is the number you already have.

Perhaps I need tuition is selling them on, Phil.
 
Well, it seemed pretty solid, so after shortening my tiller extension which kept getting tangled in the mainsheet & was a pain to release from under the transom mainsheet horse, I cut the ends off & surformed (remember them?) & sanded it down flush. As you can see there are a couple of small voids left & the surface is scored from earlier efforts by previous owners so I decided to run a bit of flexible filler over it & I am letting that harden off now.
 

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Well, I decided to put the pintle back exactly where it was before, drilled pilot holes & screwed it on. I then checked everything was still lined up nicely, removed it & added a little sealant to the screw holes & the back of the fitting & put it back on.

Rock solid. I might even slap a bit of varnish over it next. We shall see how long it lasts, but it does seem pretty secure at present.

Next job is a handful of splits in an HDPE sit-on kayak, but I doubt you guys will want to know about that. :( Thanks for all the help, even without the replies, just thinking the options thro to type it up helps, but the extra knowledge offered on here certainly gave me the confidence to tackle it.
 
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