Rebuilding the transom on my Aluminum boat

[FishToLive]

3/4" is 20$ sq.ft. at Jordash...bit pricey but in the long run it cheaper

[jjwalleye]

I found some scrap 3/8 pressure treated in a Job site dumpster, made my cut out, cut two pieces and laminated with pl, bolted on accordingly works good. I bet that cutting board material is the "cats meow" though!!!

[unmanaged]

I'm pretty sure that stuff is more flexible, I stuck with my 3/4 plywood

[scarkner]

pressure treated plywood which is great for doing boat transoms.

i was under the impression that you never wanted to use pressure treated wood with aluminum, some thing about the chemicals used to pressure treat reacting with the aluminum.

Very good point and absolutely true!

The pressure treat is fine if it is normally dry, since my boat is stored upside-down, the transom doesn't stay wet, so I don't have any corrosion problems. That's also the reason I leave the transom up from the bottom of the boat. Other posters mentioned sealing the plywood or using PL Adhesive, which would I guess insulate against the electrical current that causes corrosion.

Was certainly an interesting read to see that some pressure treat is now up to 90% copper. Wow!

[bostonwhaler]

DO NOT USE PRESSURE TREADTED. Preasure treated and aluminum dont mix well. go with 1 in ch doulgas fir, 40 bucks for a full 4x8 sheet. Use cardboard as a template. cut it out, drill your holes and mount it. Take it off, give it a good 5 coats of outdoor paint, or fiberglass resin, fill the holes with caulk and put it back on. Cover the heads of the bolts with caulk as well