The first time we saw Kata Brava, we drove up to her and sat in the car looking up at the transom.  I have to admit I immediately thought ‘no way there’s holes everywhere’.  The transom was in a very sorry state.  Looking back in our photos from that day, I found this one that Morgan took.  You can tell I am seriously thinking about this hole infested transom.

We soon learnt that the reason why the transom was so bad was that prior to being hauled out years ago, Kata Brava had been left in the water unattended for a while without her anodes changed which resulted in“Electrolytic corrosion”.  Sitting on the hard for years after didn’t help this issue.

However, Morgan and what seems like every male around me kept saying ‘Steel is easy to work with, you just have to cut out the bad section and replace it with a good plate’.  This was our idea a few weeks back.  We prepped the transom and  Morgan cut out the bottom section.  Originally we were going to just replace the bottom as this piece was the worse.

However once our welding really got under way we started to wonder if this was the best way to do it. We had already invested time and money into the welding, so figured why not do it right and replace the whole transom rather than just patching it up.  So within no time Morgan and Campbell our welder had the whole of the transom of.

Everyone who passed by in the yard would look up and go ‘Wow now what are you up to’.  It was quite an interesting morning.

Soon after the new plates of steel was fitted into place and being cut into shape.

Several pass’s of welding was placed on the inside and the outside of the transom.  The final touches was adding the cockpit drain holes.

Finally today our new shiny transom was revealed before a coat of primer was applied.  There will be a few more coats of primer applied before we leave, but this will be it for the transom for now.  We have given our Kata Brava a Booty lift.

This has definitely improved my faith in steel and has shown me that with some TLC, time and of cause money anything is possible and achievable.

Cheryl