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I have a 1989 Outrage 18 and I am changing the transducer. I have to fill the old transducer mounting holes and I can see a couple of filled holes from a prior owner, which I may want to also repair. Any suggestions on the best procedure to fill these holes below the water line? I have used Marine Tex before and had decent luck. Looking for possible better suggestions.

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I have done quite a few of those repairs as electronics quickly go out of date. I would not recommend Marine-Tex in this situation since it is epoxy based and cannot be gelcoated over (won't bond) and if sanded flush, will quickly turn yellow unprotected.

I do the following, trying to keep the construction the same as the way the boat was constructed. I drill out the old holes 3/8", about 1/2" into the plywood transom. If there is any dampness in the transom wood around the screw hole, this should get it. I then countersink the glass surface a little, to provide a sloping, tapered surface for resin bonding. Then glue a teak plug into the plywood, leaving about 1/4" depth. Then fill/skim over with Evercoat Formula 27 POLYESTER pre-thickened resin (made by the same people who make Marine-Tex). Sand flush. Then grind out a reveal over the patch and arlund the perimeter of the fill of about 1/32" depth to receive the finish gelcoat surfacing. Sand and buff out. If the color is properly matched, the transom will look like new again.

Hint: Before you do any of this work, thoroughly compound and buff out the transom fully, to a high gloss. You need to do this for proper gelcoat color matching.

Almost 20 holes were filled this way in the transom of my 1979 Montauk.

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/lgolt...3109694013

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Awesome job on the Montauk. I'm going to be repairing several transom mounting holes on my 1996 Outrage in the very near future. Excellent information. Thanks.

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That is great info.

I checked out the pics of your boat, very nice.

Thank you for the help.