New member and New owner

[Manuel J. Moreno]

Hello everyone,
I have inherited a boat that I used to use frequently as it was owned by my father who gave it to me. The boat was last used in 2021. The last time it was used it started taking on water. I took it to a shop and they said the transom assembly needed to be replaced. I would like to make the repairs myself as the quote for the repair came back to just under $8,000.00. How do i go abouts sourcing out a new/used transom assembly and any information on how involved the job would be? When I took it to the shop they had removed the outdrive and left it out. Any tips and information is appreciated. The boat is a 2000 Welcraft 22' walkaround I/O Volvo Penta

[DaveKamp]

I don't know the Volvo-Penta drive hardware in any detail, but before going through that circumstance, I would want to know exactly what part of the transom assembly failed, and why.

It generally just doesn't happen in such a way that the repair magnitude hits 8K unless someone did something very, very wrong....

[Manuel J. Moreno]

The boat was running great and all of a sudden it felt like something dropped out at full speed. Stopped the boat and looked around for anything obvious and found nothing, ran the boat again and the issue seemed to go away for about 20 minutes and again felt the same thing I felt earlier while driving it. Drove it to the dock and took it out of the water. The boat shop said that I was lucky I had not sank the boat as the transom was destroyed. The shop quoted me for a used transom, u joint assembly, gimbal bearing, seal kit, yoke seal, and the labor which was $3k on its own. I'm really just looking to see where I find the information on where to buy the transom assembly and parts myself and see if it looks like something I can tackle myself.

[DaveKamp]

I think this is a situation that's gonna require pictures... it could be drive damage, and hull damage, probably one causing the other.

A 'used transom' doesn't sound right... the transom is the aft part of the hull... a thick piece of marine plywood sandwich encased in fiberglass... the 'transom plate' is aluminum bracketry that is mounted into the transom, and in that, is the gimbal ring, gimbal, the U-joints, gimbal bearing, etc.

The transom assembly on a Volvo-Penta is surprisingly similar in structure to a MerCruiser, but for good reason... A feller by the name of Charlie Strang... a downright cool guy that I was lucky to meet in-person before he passed away:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_D._Strang

doing the repair work on marine drives is NOT something out-of-reach for a guy that's handy with tools, patient, and has the right resources. Wether that person is you, I cannot say. IF you were working on it within 20 minutes of me, and it was a MerCruiser drive, I'd guarantee you a YES, because I'd bring over my special tool kit and manuals... but you need a guy that's got the V-P background.