TOPIC:

Just thought it might be good to keep us all on the same page, here's the way to measure transom height, be sure square is flat with bottom of hull, this is my 56 Rocket. 




 

I agree.  Don't panic.  I thought mine was swiss cheese too.  The previous owner added a whole sheet across the transom. And used steel rivets.  I drilled them all out and added rivets to fill the holes.  That took care of most of my holes, the braces and wood mounting filling in most of the rest.

 

Ray it does look cut down.  take a measurement to the transom and tell us how tall it is.

Ray is far more experienced at this than I ever will be.  stick with his suggestions and you should be just fine. Your motor weighs under 190#'s. I don't think you should have any problems getting it figured out with want you have to work with. 
do you plan to setup the steering on left side?

Good luck have fun!

First, it may not be as “Swiss Cheese” as it first looks, the factory put about 16 or so screws through the original transom wood.
It looks like yours has been cut down from the original height for some reason?
It appears that Mauser’s setting up to run a long shaft outboard on that boat, I’m assuming you’re running a short shaft with the Mark 75?
In my opinion your transom is salvageable unless there are bigger problems than just cracked transom braces on the inside.
I have set up a number of Vagabonds to run the 50 HP, 185 # OMC motors from the nineties, good transom braces and good wood and corner braces are all that’s really needed.

Alright, so I am getting started on my Vagabond restoration. I will be putting the entire boat on a rotisserie to do the work. First order of business is to figure out the best way to get my transom up to snuff. I will be putting a Mercury Mark 75 on it so it needs to be strong.

Unfortunately my transom looks like Swiss cheese with a healthy dose of what looks like JB Weld. The genius that did the JB weld abomination also took a grinder to it and sanded some of the inside L-bracket rivet heads off. Soooo, what do all of you think is the best option for fixing this and to reinforce the transom for a heavier Mark 75?

Here are the options I see:
1. Replace the entire transom, strengthen it with additional tabbing on the inside with mahogany.
2. Do something that user For Mauser posted on Facebook with an additional aluminum piece and then the transitional mahogany.

Here are some pictures:



Fox Mauser‘s transom: