Chrisrox36

I let the neighbor kid drive my son’s boat... well, no good deed goes unpunished! I am proud that my boy didn’t go ballistic, so I would like to get this fixed for him soon. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. Thank you!

mfr02

Presumably fixed by a pair of bolts through the transom. I would be inclined to clean up the surface plastic where it ripped out and cover both sides with thin sheet aluminium (got empty soda cans and a pair of strong scissors?). Clamp both sides with epoxy, apply holes as required, Hide under paint. Bolt everything back together.

Retiredat38

Lots of possibilities. Aluminum will work but I'd go with some ply or maybe better still, some heavier plastic sheet. Take the thing to the local hobby shop to make sure you get the right kind of plastic sheet and glue. For glue I like to use a product called Plastruct Bondene. It literally welds both styrene and ABS. It should be available at the hobby shop.

A nice thin piece of maybe 1/16 or 1/8 inch on the outside of the transom and a similar one on the inside. The entire rear end will come off before that fails. I'd also make the outside piece the same size as the entire transom. More for looks than strength. I think I'd also re-enforce the inside of the corners between the transom and the sides/bottom of the hull. The nice thing about that glue is you can use it to lay some fiberglass cloth down in the hull. Corners and such. Paint the plastic with glue and before it dries lay the cloth on it pressing the cloth into the plastic. Start in the corner between the two parts and work out from there. It just needs to stick to the plastic. Add glue as needed but don't flood it out. It shouldn't take much. Once dry you can add more cloth with epoxy. The epoxy will get into the fibers of the first layer of cloth and hold the second to it. I've used this method to strengthen plastic cowls for small RC airplanes. It works great.