As I approached the aft end of the hull with the hot air gun and scraper, I decided to take a look at the gap the surveyor noticed between the hull and the transom.
The removed the antifouling and topside paint at the very end of the hull a portion of which you can see here. The curved piece still painted green is and end capping put on the the edge of the transom to protect the end of the hull. As you can see, there is a gap which has been filled and which is falling out.
I pulled the capping piece off and part of the transom came off as well. This was obviously the soft area that the surveyor mentioned in his report.
I set to with the multitool, chisel and hammer and soon had the transom cut away to reveal good wood. Looks quite dramatic, doesn’t it, but it is not a difficult repair. The hardest part is going to be fitting the new laminated piece in place since the hull curves inwards. Sill the first thing to do is to make a template to fit the widest part and laminate up a piece to fit in the space. I will probably step the edge of the remaining transom to make the fitting and glueing easier.
Sometime in the past a primitive repair had been carried out by glueing this piece of plywood to the inside of the transom. Completely ineffective.
This is all that remains of the transom, it came out in flakes. No wonder the surveyor noticed “soft returns” when tapping this area of the transom.
Time for a cup of tea.