Transom Support

[DougM]

I am mounting the angled transom supports on my euro transom and would like opinions from the group. I intend to epoxy the end faces of the supports to the sheer and the transom as well as generous fillets on all of the inside corners. I was thinking about a couple of wooden dowels at each end of the supports but not sure if they are needed or if they would help. I read an article on wooden boat building, can't remember the name, and they described a process of using 3/8" diameter stainless threaded rods centered in a 5/8" diameter bored hole and fill the threads and the 1/16" gap with epoxy. They claimed that it held the two pieces of wood together better than hardwood dowels. Is anyone familiar with this process? I attached a pdf drawing of my transom, I hope it copied.

[DougM]

I just noticed that I had a typo...1/8" gap around the threaded rod, not 1/16".

[Lindy]

My two cents,
Skip the dowels or rods, big fillets, possibly with some chopped fiberglass,  and cover with biaxial tape.

[json]

Take my thoughts with a large grain of salt, but I feel like you can skip worrying about it in any major way, I don't think those are really structural. Others have built boats that don't have those members, basically a second transom that ends at the aft end of the shelves, and then the hull continues at basically deck level to the real transom. To support the transom without considering those members, you have the stringers, bottom, secondary stringers, sides, and decking all glued up to the transom on all sides, hopefully with beefy fillets and glass on most or all of those joints. All of that feels to me like it's going to create a solid mount, with or without those connectors. As for the connectors, they are also connected to the sides, transom, and shelves, and whatever you put on the inside area of them which I assume will be connected to them, the second transom, and the decking.

[Grady300]

Forget the fasteners, not needed. Lindy and Jason are spot on IMHO....Happy New Year!!

[Djeffrey]

I did use a stainless rod to support mine. Not sure it was needed but it gave me peace of mind.

[Brian.Dixon]

I see the concern.  In the lower-right part of the pic, you can see the sharp corner where the narrow transom meets the stringer.  Those are always stress concentrators and they do not exist in a normal transom cut-out.  I agree ... while the assembly is strong enough as is, I might feel a little concern that cracks could start to occur in this corner.  The solutions are many, however.  The stainless rod is fine but probably the most expensive solution.  You could raise the top of the stringer to a height that is most of the way up the narrow transom and that would 'connect' it to the original transom.  But I think that would look like a box, one that needs draining.  If it were MY snazzy euro-transom, I'd add a simple knee that prevents flex and call it good.  Style the knee to go with the style of the transom structure.