I did not want to hijack the earlier transom thread so I'll continue on this similar matter. In my 2003 18c there was a small fiberglass repair done by the previous owner near a motor mount in the bilge. The previous owner downplayed the repair as more of a cosmetic issue than a structural issue and that such cracks were common as he had the same issue with his previous 16 foot Donzi. I never saw the crack but can see where some work had been done. The marine surveyor did point out the repair when I had the boat inspected but stated that a good fiberglass guy could fix it like new for $200 - $400, although the engine would need to come out to gain the access needed to fix the repair properly.
The motor and drive will be coming out in connection with swapping out my Alpha drive for a Volvo DPX. I have a fiberglass guy lined up to help with the revised transom cutout required for the drive and he indicated he could fix the previous owners attempted repair so that you wouldn't know that a repair had ever been made. He gave me the impression the repair would be relatively minor. I will be putting the existing engine back in for now but I will be adding horsepower in the future. Should I consider strengthening this area when I have it apart and if so what is the recommended fix and how difficult or extensive would it be? I don't want to try to fix something that isn't broken but if something needs to be done now would be a good time to do the work. What do you experts recommend?
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