Nitro 882 Transom Separation

[Mike Ratko]

Fellow Nitro (and Tracker) owners,



I have a 2001 NX882DC with a 175 Opti mounted on a 10" jack plate. I recently took the cap off of the transom and saw separation from the deck.

Is there a way to seal this back up? Was the deck ever attached to the transom? There is a 3-4mm deflection from the edge of the deck as seen in this pic:

Any comments and/or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.



Mike

 

[Gene B]

No suggestions but I do have a comment, HOLY CRAP! Hopefully it's not as bad as it looks.



Gene

 

[Dan J.]

Just about every transom cap I've pulled with some years on it looked like that. Looks mean very little at the transom though. Take a screwdriver and softly, gently push it into the wood of the exposed transom. If the point doesn't want to go in, you're good to go. Seal with RTV, recap and you're done. If the wood is soft or sponge-like in resistance to the point pressure, you most likely have water intrusion. That's when you'll want a glass shop to inspect and see the depth of the intrusion/wood rot. Your top cap (deck) and hull are molded individually and screwed together at assembly, sealed at that point with foam/RTV. The concern should be the strength of the transom and that can be determined by evaluating the durability of the encapsulated wolmanized wood. Good luck!

 

[Mike Ratko]

Thanks Dan. I was going to do the wood test and perhaps take the preventative measure of putting something like CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealant) on the top of the wood to seal it and drive out any water that may have gotten in there. I was thinking of all the waves that have come over the back of the boat and how much water may have gone down the inside of the transom. If everything checks out, I will seal it back up with RTV or silicone. It is something I wished I checked regularly.



I will update the post when I get the inspection done.



Mike

 

[Jim B]

Ditto to what Dan said.



I had the same basic thing when i had my 882. The plastic cover got brittle and fell apart and when i took it apart to replace it, it pretty much looked like yours. I stuffed that gap full of lifeseal silicone and replaced the plastic and sealed it with the same stuff and used a lot more of it then the factory did. I used a whole gun sized tube just on the plactic peice so there were no air voids. I would say if everyting checks and the transom is solid seal it up and go.