I have a 1986 18 foot Crestliner Nordic 18 I inherited after my father passed away. He loved the boat very much and our last conversation was on the need to replace the transom. So after he passed I figured I should do that. Transom was absolutely rotten and about to fall off with a nice newish Honda 115 on it with 90 hours. I ended up spending $4,000 for a transom replacement and refoaming of the boat so it hopefully won't sink if we turn into trouble in the ocean. I stupidly had it done at Belgrade Boat Shop in Belgrade, Maine, which is run by a guy named Bill who is a complete and utter train wreck and absolutely an untruthful human being. He told me he was super experienced and had worked on tons of crestliners (clark marine had sold many there in the 80s) so it would be a cinch. We had initially agreed the price was $2,000 when I dropped it in August so he could have it as a winter job, then in February I got the call about it being a bigger job than initially thought and other stuff needed to be done so he needed another $2,000. So I paid it without any written contract or anything like that. Boat was supposed to be ready in May, it wasn't, calls don't get returned, I call over and over and finally he says it'll be ready for the family vacation in July - I had explained to him that the reason I wanted it fixed was to take my 80+ year old widow mother out because we had tons of great memories as a family in the boat and she really wanted to go out in it on our vacation.
He says ok it's finally ready. We pick it up, none of the electronics work or the hydraulic steering, and the new bilge pump fails after two days. Screws start popping out where the starboard transom cap piece is and the splash well or whatever the part near the lines to the motor cracks from all the movement. So I call the boat shop, and Bill says it's a minor thing and he can fix it with some loctite and will hook up the electronics if I'll just drop it off again, which I do. Months pass and he has done nothing and he doesn't return calls. Finally I reach him and he says he's going to do it over the winter and as an apology for causing an entire season being missed he will winterize it and store it. Fast forward to this year and probably 50 unreturned calls and I finally drive to Belgrade to see if I can find my boat. I get there and I can't. Not knowing what to do, I figure after two years I should probably call the police. I do and they immediately tell me Bill is a complete mess and don't waste anytime thinking he will ever do anything. They tell me there is a field near his shop where he puts boats and that I should find the boat and just take it back. So I drive around and finally find the field that is down a dirt road below a hill about 2/10 of a mile from his shop. I find our boat, except it hasn't been shrink wrapped or winterized in any way - the Maine winter has left it absolutely full of tree debris, pine needles, bird crap and water from the drain hole being plugged with pine needles. He also left the battery on, so that's shot and everything is pretty sun faded. But at least I have my boat. Side note, the police actually call me again a week later for more specific directions as to where I found the boat because they have many, many people calling them because of similar bs.
Anyway, that's all a long-winded backdrop for my question. The transom itself appears rock solid in the part where the motor is bolted in - I did get pictures of the marine grade plywood being sandwiched and glued before it was put it. But the whole transom as a unit bounces like crazy - if I tilt the motor it kind of feels like the transom itself might pop off or something. Is bouncing of the transom in an aluminum boat par for the course? The 115 four stroke must be heavier than what the boat may have initially been designed for, but I assume if a marina sold it and rigged it for my dad it wasn't too much. I'm kind of at a loss for what I need to do to get this thing back in working condition with the electronics not working and the transom being very bouncy on the boat. It seems like the transom is solid but not braced into the boat enough or something. Any thoughts or ideas you may have are very welcome, or any boatyard recommendations in the central Maine area.
Thank you.
He says ok it's finally ready. We pick it up, none of the electronics work or the hydraulic steering, and the new bilge pump fails after two days. Screws start popping out where the starboard transom cap piece is and the splash well or whatever the part near the lines to the motor cracks from all the movement. So I call the boat shop, and Bill says it's a minor thing and he can fix it with some loctite and will hook up the electronics if I'll just drop it off again, which I do. Months pass and he has done nothing and he doesn't return calls. Finally I reach him and he says he's going to do it over the winter and as an apology for causing an entire season being missed he will winterize it and store it. Fast forward to this year and probably 50 unreturned calls and I finally drive to Belgrade to see if I can find my boat. I get there and I can't. Not knowing what to do, I figure after two years I should probably call the police. I do and they immediately tell me Bill is a complete mess and don't waste anytime thinking he will ever do anything. They tell me there is a field near his shop where he puts boats and that I should find the boat and just take it back. So I drive around and finally find the field that is down a dirt road below a hill about 2/10 of a mile from his shop. I find our boat, except it hasn't been shrink wrapped or winterized in any way - the Maine winter has left it absolutely full of tree debris, pine needles, bird crap and water from the drain hole being plugged with pine needles. He also left the battery on, so that's shot and everything is pretty sun faded. But at least I have my boat. Side note, the police actually call me again a week later for more specific directions as to where I found the boat because they have many, many people calling them because of similar bs.
Anyway, that's all a long-winded backdrop for my question. The transom itself appears rock solid in the part where the motor is bolted in - I did get pictures of the marine grade plywood being sandwiched and glued before it was put it. But the whole transom as a unit bounces like crazy - if I tilt the motor it kind of feels like the transom itself might pop off or something. Is bouncing of the transom in an aluminum boat par for the course? The 115 four stroke must be heavier than what the boat may have initially been designed for, but I assume if a marina sold it and rigged it for my dad it wasn't too much. I'm kind of at a loss for what I need to do to get this thing back in working condition with the electronics not working and the transom being very bouncy on the boat. It seems like the transom is solid but not braced into the boat enough or something. Any thoughts or ideas you may have are very welcome, or any boatyard recommendations in the central Maine area.
Thank you.
