BOAT WORK UPDATE

DONE AND DONE! 5 weeks later and I now have a boat I can be confident motoring in. My thanks to bluntman, muskymastr and everyone else who posted info for me. We drilled out about 40 rivets to get to the transom. Had to remove the entire back/well of the Grumman to get to it. Scooped the old transom out with our hands it was so rotted. Used exterior grade plywood (2) 3/4 inch sheets and (1) 1/2 inch sheet. Saved $60 per sheet by not using the marine grade. Like the guy at Kraft Lumber said, both grades have to be sealed the same way. Used Westcoat epoxy adhesive and coated the entire outside of the new transom with it, it dried like a rubber coating. Thank you John and Linda Heard at P.I. Sports on West Lake Rd. for allowing us to tie up a bay and access to your tools and know-how while we did the transom work. Replaced all rivets with stainless hardware: nuts, bolts, washers and lock washers. Next we replaced the floor as I figured if the transom was so bad, better take a look at all the wood on this boat. Good thinking. Used the same grade plywood, only went with the 3/4 inch instead of the original 1/2 inch. Plus more stainless hardware. Fiberglassed both sides and put down beautiful Cabellas carpeting. Decided to replace the cluster #&*k of wiring under the console. That tidied up real nice. Added a new antenna and an Eaglecuda 350 sonar. This unit is unreal and for $200, a bargain and a half.
So my first boat purchase was a real learning experience. Anyone in this position take notice: besides having the motors looked over and compression checked by a pro, go over that boat with a fine toothed comb. Especially the transom. Didn't notice that the motor mount bolts were actually mounted into blocks of wood on the inside portion of the transom. The guy that sold me this boat knew there was no transom left there, but put me in a dangerous situation anyway. Make sure the floor isn't 'soft'. If it's a used boat it's going to have problems. But minimize the aggrevation and expense to fix it by taking somebody who really knows boats with you when you look at it. And don't fall for all the bells and whistles that may come with the boat. My purchase came with downriggers, planer boards and mast, 8 counter rods and reels, dipsies, couple of hundred lures etc. etc. I allowed myself to be distracted by all this swag. But now I'm happy! The wife, not so much. But what ya gonna do?

been there done that and the work after its all done the first word is whooooooooooo in any lang you tend to like it than a new boat just for the fact you can say i done that

Stainless and aluminum do not play well together.
Aluminum is a lesser metal and will oxidize anywhere it comes into contact with stainless.
Depending on where the rivets are you may need to replace the ones you just put in.
Water and electricity speed up the corrosion.
Disconnect all batteries when not being used.