Improved my transom.

[keithdog]

Well, it's not a big project by any means, but I thought I would share incase someone else fishing from a jonboat had a similar issue. I've been fishing for years from a 12 foot Lund jonboat. The transom is surprisingly weak. Surprising, because it's a Lund, who makes some of the best aluminum boats around.
The transom is only about 3/4 - 1 inch thick. After cutting and prying, I could see a very thin board inside the transom with a gap between the board and the aluminum. And the board looked like old scrap wood to be honest. Quite a disappointment. You could grab the aluminum at the transom and squeeze on it a bit with your bare hand. And there was too much movement of the trolling motor back and forth, up and down, and flexing of the transom when it was in use. And when trailering the boat home, the motor would sometimes raise up on the transom a bit from vibration.
Well, I decided I would take care of these issues by shoring up the transom. First, I had a buddy of mine who works in the fabricating shop at work make me a couple of 5" X 11" heavy aluminum plates and he pre-punched the holes for the screws. Then I cut out two matching boards made from 3/4 inch marine grade plywood. Once that was done, I epoxied the aluminum plates to the new transom boards. Drilled my holes through the boards, and clamped them to the transom after marking center points and such. Then I drilled through the transom itself and installed the stainless steel bolts and secured the whole thing very tight. What I difference this has made in how solid my transom is now!
The trolling motor now holds very secure to the new transom, and I couldn't be happier about that. If anyone else has a similar issue with their small boats transom, I highly recommend this upgrade.