aluminum boat transom repair

I’m looking for a winter project and leaning toward trying my hand at restoring a very basic 12 ft aluminum boat. This would be a car-topper and would mostly see use with a TM on electric-only lakes, but also with a 6hp tiller a few times a year.

I’m handy and have access to a ton of tools, but I don’t have any experience doing this. My questions:

– Is there a go-to, must-read resource (website or book) on the topic?
– What should I look out for when inspecting old beater hulls for this project?
– Any thoughts on the boat pictured?

THANKS!

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A 12′ aluminum boat transported on top of a car?!?! Not sure I have ever seen that but I don’t see why not I guess.

I have done a 14′ Aluminum boat transom replacement but I wouldn’t exactly say it is pretty. It was similar to yours, cleaned old wood out. Took a piece of cedar I believe but not sure and hand routed it to size and put one million coats of marine grade stain (or whatever its called) on it.

Its held up well it just doesn’t look professional done. If you can weld aluminum you would replace the wood with aluminum.

As for a resource there is a FB (booooooo) group called “Tiny Boat Nation” where there are 100s of posts of people redoing transoms and some do a very good job. I would check there if you are a FB-er

I felt prett confident in the whole process after watching a few random videos on YouTube. Seems pretty straightforward.

Evan Pheneger wrote:

A 12′ aluminum boat transported on top of a car?!?! Not sure I have ever seen that but I don’t see why not I guess.

Canadian special, gets you to places others can’t. Trailer your 17′-20′ and have the 12 footer on top of the vehicle that you can hand carry into smaller lakes.

Thanks for the info on Tiny Boat Nation, Evan. I hate FB but I have an account so I can access groups like this.

This thing definitely doesn’t need to be pretty. Aluminum welding would be a stretch for me so I’ll stick to wood.

Evan Pheneger wrote:

A 12′ aluminum boat transported on top of a car?!?! Not sure I have ever seen that but I don’t see why not I guess.

I should clarify, it’s an SUV with a roof rack. So more like this:

than this :

patk wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>evan_pheneger wrote:</div>
A 12′ aluminum boat transported on top of a car?!?! Not sure I have ever seen that but I don’t see why not I guess.

Canadian special, gets you to places others can’t. Trailer your 17′-20′ and have the 12 footer on top of the vehicle that you can hand carry into smaller lakes.

Yup! I also don’t have the space for another trailer; and I’d like to have the option of tossing the little boat on the roof when I head out early morning, park at work all day, and head straight for water at 4pm. Or going fishing at 5am for a few hours and being able to go straight to work without coming home to drop off the rig.

I don’t know that I have ran across a better resource than https://www.tinboats.net/forum/

dbright wrote:

I don’t know that I have ran across a better resource than https://www.tinboats.net/forum/

Thank you!

Evan Pheneger wrote:

A 12′ aluminum boat transported on top of a car?!?! Not sure I have ever seen that but I don’t see why not I guess.

Back in the 80’s I had a 14ft semi-V,lake boat…….Made a cartop loader for my 68 Chevy wagon so I could load-unload it by myself,put a 10 horse and electric motor and gear in the back and went fishing….Never left the top of the car from April till November……
Ahhh the good old days…..

Is the boat in the picture one you already have? If not, find one with external boards on the transom, much easier to replace. My Alumacraft T14-V has a semi-external transom and it’s a breeze to replace. The boards are bolted behind a piece of aluminum and the whole assembly slides free from the top cap. Allows you to leave the top cap in place and there’s no funky angle cuts to make on the transom board.

If it’s the one pictured, it’s no fun cutting a new board to the correct size when the old board cannot be removed in one piece. Use cardboard as a template.

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404 ERROR wrote:

Is the boat in the picture one you already have? If not, find one with external boards on the transom, much easier to replace. My Alumacraft T14-V has a semi-external transom and it’s a breeze to replace. The boards are bolted behind a piece of aluminum and the whole assembly slides free from the top cap. Allows you to leave the top cap in place and there’s no funky angle cuts to make on the transom board.

If it’s the one pictured, it’s no fun cutting a new board to the correct size when the old board cannot be removed in one piece. Use cardboard as a template.

The pictured boat is one of several I’m considering, so I appreciate the warning. This is exactly the kind of crap that I just don’t know much about… yet! Grasshopper needs some time to learn.

I agree with Merican Eagle. If the boat that you posted is not the exact one that you own and doesn’t have any sort of sentimental value, I’d skip this project and find a different 12 ft boat which are a dime a dozen on Craigslist for a couple hundred bucks. That boat looks like a lot more work than just a transom, and it looks like fiberglass, not aluminum. Unless of course you really want a project to do.

blank wrote:

I agree with Merican Eagle. If the boat that you posted is not the exact one that you own and doesn’t have any sort of sentimental value, I’d skip this project and find a different 12 ft boat which are a dime a dozen on Craigslist for a couple hundred bucks. That boat looks like a lot more work than just a transom, and it looks like fiberglass, not aluminum. Unless of course you really want a project to do.

Haven’t seen the boat in person but it’s advertised as aluminum. Either way I’ll move on from this one given both of your advice. I do want something to keep me busy but would obviously like to start with a solid hull. Thanks!

I would buy a kayak. IF I had to sit in a boat that small, I would have to sit in the middle. Other transom types are much easier. One board covered in epoxy and a little pad on the back so the motor doesn’t dent the aluminum. Done.

iowa_josh wrote:

I would buy a kayak. IF I had to sit in a boat that small, I would have to sit in the middle.

Can I ask why you would have to sit in the middle? I’d love a kayak at some point but a good used fishing yak would be way over my budget. Looking for a cheap old hull that I can work on while all you guys are punching holes in the dead of winter.