Transom edges

James Dalton

James Dalton

Member
I was getting ready to "sharpen" the trailing edge of my transom and started to question if I needed to. I don't have too much roundover and was wondering how sharp of an edge is needed. From the pics you can see that I would only be adding about 3/16" of thickened epoxy. Makes me worry about it staying on too. Should I leave it as is and try it out with the understanding that I may need to do something about it later or go ahead and sharpen it? My thaught is that, "If it ain't broke don't fix it". I just don't know if its "broke". Opinions?

View attachment DSC_0224e.jpg

View attachment DSC_0224e.jpg
 
Jim,

I can't speak directly from my own personal experience on a boat application but I can give you my perspective. Coming from a machinist viewpoint the difference in the radius is huge. If one wants a nice clean high pressure stream of air or water from the end of a nozzle, the nozzle must have a sharp trailing edge. Radius the end of the nozzle even just slightly and the blast pattern opens considerably. Same effect on the trailing edge of a boat. Any radius at all will have an affect and when I say any, I am starting at .015 of an inch,,,,,,, you are showing over ten times that!

I'd recommend taking the time to square them up now when it will be much easier done.

Of course you have a golden opportunity to put this issue to a real test. Leave on half as is,,,,,,, square up the other half sharp. Take it for a test run and see which side you like best and which side you have to "fix".

Ain't free advice grand??
 
James

Now take those two straightedeges just like shown and put some peanut butter epoxy in front of them and slide the works along. Dave is correct, a little rounding allows a lot of water to curl. It really takes a hard edge to get water to lay down like a sheet. Once you do it you'll be happy with the results that include minimal spray and porpoising reduction/elimination.
 
Thanks guys. Dave, you explained it perfectly and your right about the free advice thing too. I was going to say something about it being great coming from someone so experienced and wise but I though I should get to know you better before jumping on the age bandwagon. ;) Wait a minute...I think I just jumped on anyway. How do you type it...BWAAAAAAAAAAAHAHA! ;)

Squared edge it will be. You guys saved me al ot of work down the road.

I took today of so I can get some work done on the boat. I'm on my way now and I'll post pics later. Thanks again!
 
James thank goodness you are still on the bottom of the boat. :)

I had a wedding last weekend and my wife and I just celibrated our 10th today so I have got nothing done in a week now.

tomorrow I hope to find some time to put a coat of microbubbles on to fair the edge. I wish I followed Andrews advice already about putting the cloth seam down the middle. I would be so much farther along.
 
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