UPDATE 07/17/2018******** After leaving the Legend at Classic Fiberglass for a week, they finally have started looking into the issue. It isn't resolved yet, and no official word form them on whether they are backing their work done in April 2018.


I recently purchased a 2005 Legend LE21, I've had it about 3 weeks and have had it out only a few times. When covering it yesterday I noticed this gap between what I assume to be the top cap and the transom. The previous owner had the top cap worked on, as well as the transom at Classic Fiberglass in February this year. I didn't get a full explanation of the work on the transom but was told that the work was guaranteed and the transom was solid for life with a transferrable warranty. I was satisfied with that and when my mechanic checked the boat he didn't say anything other than, its a good boat, you should buy it. Ok so I did. And now I notice this. Is this normal? Is it just that somehow the top cap is detached from the transom, or is this the sign of a failure somehow? I am a new boat owner when it comes to fiberglass, and although I don't LIKE the look of this, I'm hoping to hear that this type of "flex" is normal.
Can anyone help?

I am planning to take the boat to Classic Fiberglass tomorrow no matter what, but I can't sleep not knowing what this is. Thanks.

A video of my transom issue. I posted a video here

I just watched your video and that is not normal, you need repair work done before launching again. Sorry this happened to you, but maybe shop will stand behind their work.

Definitely not right. Need to have it repaired before you launch it again.

You have a major transom issue. You need a good fiberglass man that specializes in boat repairs to take a look & tell you what's going on. It could get expensive really fast for a good repair . Good luck

You get any records/paperwork regarding the work that was done and the warranty associated with it? Worried that you may show up there tomorrow and they tell you they�ve never even seen that boat. Given the condition of that transom, very hard to believe any work has ever been done on it. Best of luck to you.

Sadly this^

I hope it looked a lot better than that when you bought it?

if the boat looked like it does in the video when you had your boat guy inspect it an he said it was good you need to find another boat guy.

Thanks to all that replied. I do have a paid invoice from the repair shop with a warranty.

Do NOT run that boat again until you have it fixed! That is bad, real bad. Like, your motor can fall off while driving down the lake bad. Or worse, your motor could end up in the seat next to you.

Holy Cow!!!! Not good at all. Classic Fiberglass worked on that Top cap & transom in February of this year???? Wow..
oh yeah, get a new mechanic!!!! ASAP!!

Please let us know if Classic Fiberglass really did do work on this boat so we know where NOT to take our boats for repairs....

Update: the transom and top cap were worked by classic in APRIL. Just left there and they are making the repairs now. I was relieved to know they honor their work but pretty disappointed in their work manahip. Hopefully they make it right. I�ll keep this post up to date. 2 week lead time.

I hope you didn't pay very much for that boat. I would ask your mechanic to come by the house, then show him the transom .... ask him to get real close and look hard, then hit him in the back of the head smashing his face into the the transom and ask him if he sees anything wrong with it.

In all fairness, it did NOT look like this when I got it. When I talked to Classic repair guy today, he explained that they adhere the top cap onto the transom expecting that the knee braces and fiberglass will do their job and there should not be much stress on the joint between the top cap and the actual transom. So when the transom knee brace failed, it caused all of the cosmetic dressings to come apart. Which, I'm actually thankful that it "looked bad" before it actually blew up and the motor dropped in the lake.

Was the whole transom replaced?

The knee braces failed because there is WAY to much flex in that transom. Knee braces help support the transom and transfer the energy of the motor to the rest of the boat only in ONE direction, FORWARD.

There should be almost no flex in the transom, even if there were no knee braces. Looks like a bad transom or bad transom tie-in with the hull of the boat (not enough fiberglass).

I don�t want to dog pile...but, barely 3 months on the repair.
I hope they get you taken care of. You are using some sort of transom saver device while traveling/trailering, right?

Cryin shame. Sorry for your troubles.

Top cap will have to come off to fix that properly. New stringers, knee braces and re-set the transom, and whatever else is found. Be sure and stand your ground on repair, and let us know after.

I have been using the internal style transom saver, as opposed to the ones that extend to your trailer. Does anyone have an opinion on if either one is better?

You might mention that the entire state of Texas is following this repair on the TFF....

I've had Classic do some repairs to my boat and they will always make it right if there is a problem. Chris is one of the most conscientious businessmen I know and he understands his reputation is his livelihood.

Those are not really transom savers. Some keep the motor from turning side to side during transport and some take the pressure off the tilt trim. A true transom saver will transfer the torsional load from the motor to the trailer during transport rather than that load going to the transom and causing it to flex. There is lots of misinformation out there about this, but the physics are the physics.

Physics are physics. Its a one piece aluminum bar. IF it transfers motor shock TO the trailer, it will ALSO transfer trailer shock TO the motor & transom. The transom SHOULD be capable of handling ANY load /shock the motor puts on it during transport. It takes lots more stress/loads/shocks while boat is in water running. I use the Motor Toter style. If my transom won't handle hauling my 250 down the road, I dang sure won't trust it to go across a lake at 70+mph OR take on 3-4 waves in a storm. I don't want the added trailer vibrations transferred to my motor. Boat sits on 4 carpeted bunks & has springs on axles to absorb jolts. Not gonna put a rigid bar from trailer to motor. That's my personal preference.

I'm SURE Classic Fiberglass WILL repair that boat fully!!! Any business can have one failed job. That's the first & ONLY one Ive ever heard or seen that they done. They're in the business & im SURE they appreciate that you are giving the opportunity to correct it. I'll assure you it's a fluke. Its the .01% that has failed. All their work (99.99%)seems to be TOP quality.

I PURCHASED AND STILL OWN TODAY A 2006 LEGEND THAT HAD THIS SAME ISSUE.I ALSO DO FIBERGLASS REPAIR WORK FOR A LIVING AND HAVE FIXED OVER 20 LEGENDS WITH THIS SAME PROBLEM.IF COMPOSITE TRANSOM IS NOT SHATTERED ,THE MOTOR AND FUEL TANK WILL NEED TO BE REMOVED. CUT OUT THE INNER DECK SUPPORT PANEL AND GLASS THE DECK TO TRANSOM TOP (INSIDE). ALSO ON THE OUTSIDE THE DECK NEEDS TO BE CUT AWAY 2" AT TRANSOM EDGE AND GLASSED TOGETHER. I HAVE ALSO FIXED MANY SKEETERS , RANGERS, TRITONS ,CHAMPIONS ,ETC...WITH SOME FORM OF (BROKE)TRANSOM DAMAGES NOT CAUSED BY IMPACT IN WATER. ALL TRANSPORT DAMAGES. A TRUE TRANSOM SAVER COUNTER RELIEVES THE MOTOR (BIG JACK PLATES AND POWER POLES) FROM TRYING TO FALL OFF THE BOAT IN TRANSPORT. A (MOTOR TOTER) RELIEVES PRESSURE ON THE TILT / TRIM SYSTEM NOT THE TRANSOM. WHEN DRIVING ACROSS A LAKE THE MOTOR IS PUSHING THE TRANSOM , KNEE BRACES AND STRINGERS. HOPE THIS ADVICE HELPS ALL WHO ARE WATCHING THIS POST. I SHARE THIS INFO. WITH ALL OF MY CUSTOMERS.

I had a 05 Le 21 just like this. My transom did the same thing. I took it back to the legend plant in Arkansas. They told me it would be 3 to 4 weeks. Ended up being 10 weeks and was like pulling teeth to get my boat back. When I bought the boat from lmc marine in houston, they never mentioned a transferable warranty to the second owner which I was. Cost me 3000$ for legend to fix a 6 year old boat. I hope your repair goes smother than mine. That's part of the reason I am not running a legend anymore.

Have you ever had to repair the transom on a Bullet?

Great information from everyone, and so far the Classic staff has been nothing but courteous and I'll be sure to better watch out for the type of repair they do and be sure it is complete as suggested by all here. Thank you again.

Although I'd rather think mine was one-off, it is good to know that it happens as something systematic and might not be from any major impact or neglect by the previous owner.

Thanks for your encouragement. I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

Yikes!

I HAVE NOT FIXED A BULLET YET WITH UPPER TRANSOM ISSUES. IF EVERYONE WOULD TAKE A MOMENT AND STAND BACK AWAY FROM YOUR BOAT (VISION). FROM THE TRANSOM WE ADD LENGTH WITH A JACK PLATE ,THEN BOLT A HEAVY MOTOR TO IT. MAY BE EVEN AND POWER POLES OR TALONS THAT ALSO BOLT TO JACK PLATE. THERE IS A LOT OF WEIGHT HANGING OFF THE TRANSOM. THIS WEIGHT IN TRANSPORT IS TRYING TO FALL OFF THE REAR OF BOAT (WATCH YOUR MOTOR WHEN GOING OVER RAILROAD TRACKS). THE SUPPORT THAT A TRANSOM SAVER (FROM TRAILER TO LOWER UNIT) OFFERS IS TO KEEP MOTOR FROM TRYING TO BUCK ITS SELF DOWNWARD. IF YOU THINK THERE IS NO MOVEMENT , THEN WHY EVEN USE TIE DOWNS ON YOUR BOAT.I HAVE ALREADY GAVE AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT THE MOTOR IS DOING WHILE ON THE WATER (PUSHING).

UPDATE 07/18/18

Talked with Chris at Classic this morning. The repair is under way and fully warranted. We are taking off the 12 inch jack plate and replacing it with a 6 inch just to be safe. I'm not into super performance or going 70 and my boat is a big boat anyway. I'd rather have the motor permanently attached vs going an extra few MPH, etc. They are going to really do a job on reinforcing it and I'm confident they will get it done.

Thanks to all who replied here.

JIRWIN ,what is the name of your shop and location?

classic fiberglass, it's on 455 in sanger, west of the high school close to the rr tracks

Oh man you have a big problem. Whoever told you to buy this boat is an idiot of the highest order.
My lord did you not notice this when you tested boat ? When anyone says transom has had work that should�ve set off alarm bells .
J D

Man I totally agree that is all I�ve used

So your saying the motor support to trailer roller is best. If so guess I�m ok since that�s all I use.
J D

yup, that's what he's saying.

UPDATE and FIX

I wanted to update this post in case anyone stumbles across it. First, my Legend LE21 is repaired! The work is CLEAN and it looks great. They went over everything with me and suggested I change from a 12 inch jack plate to a 6 inch one just to take the stress down some. They pulled the whole thing apart, reinforced the existing transom and knee braces and rebuilt the top cap to seamlessly fir with the transom. I'm really happy with how it worked out. I am now running the full support bar from the trailer roller up to the motor, in combination with the hydraulic style motor toter. I don't know which is better, and after this i'm not taking any chances. One thing they said was that when putting the boat on the trailer, try not to force it up with the motor unless necessary and to always just drive slower on rough roads and over railroads.

Classic Fiberglass did everything they said they would and repaired the transom under warranty. [img:left]https://www.dropbox.com/s/5lg776zijvrcy70/IMG_4277.JPG?dl=0[/img]

There was one issue in that somehow when they were working on it, the steering wheel bracket (made of plastic) somehow got stripped out while it was there. I don't know what happened, and I didn't feel like hauling it back over there, so I took it to Ronnie in Grand Prairie and he put an aluminum steering wheel key set in it and it is solid as a rock now. It runs great, thanks to Ronnie, too.

Hope this post helps someone else one day.

That's customer service!!!!!!! Big relief isn't it?

I�d sell that boat today, for whatever I could get for it.

I would keep the boat, you are taking care of the important stuff and know what you got.

The don�t: powerload, drive on rough roads, get a smaller jackplate, use a traditional transom saver, etc... tells me that it�s got a bandaid on it.

Drive slow on rough roads? Don't powerload? Seems like they are telling you to baby the boat more than you should have too. I agree to not be an idiot and go 4 wheeling on rough roads with the boat on the trailer but a boat of that size shouldnt need to be babied that much

Hope you don't plan on having it out in winds higher than 10mph.....

Or fish on lake with wake boats....

Sounds like a bandaid to me.....

Good luck with it

I agree. That modified top cap told me everything I need to know. Sell it and get out from under it.

DON'T LISTEN TO THE BAD ADVISE OF SALE YOUR BOAT. REMEMBER A HUMAN BEING BUILT YOUR BOAT AND A HUMAN BEING CAN FIX IT. IN MOST CASES EVEN BETTER THAN FACTORY. BY FIBERGLASSING DECK TO TOP OF TRANSOM YOU ARE MAKING THAT AREA ONE SOLID PART (STOUT). NOT SURE HOW DRIVING DOWN A ROUGH ROAD OR POWERLOAD CAME INTO THIS STORY. PLEASE GUYS PURCHASE A TRADITIONAL TRANSOM SAVER AND SAVE YOURSELVES A LOT OF TROUBLES.ALMOST ALL THE BOAT MFG. I TALK TO ARE AGREEING WITH THE ISSUE IS WITH MOTOR TOTERS.

Guess you didn�t read the part where THEY, the repair shop, told him not to do those things. The only bad advice on this thread is telling him to keep that ticking time bomb.

i watched your video, that is not normal, you have a issue.you'll need to get that repaired before putting it in the water again. i am a long time boat owner, i have a issue with my transom & i need a new deck in my boat. can't find anybody to touch it. good luck to you getting it fixed, i need to find someone to help me with mine.

If you read the whole thread you would have seen where the OP got his transom repaired weeks ago.

EDIT: Just noticed its your 1st post. Welcome aboard.

What did you expect them to say?

The issue with most transoms comes from striking underwater objects with the lower unit of the motor. Once weakened, it will continue to degrade with force and vibration.

If he sells this boat without full disclosure about the transom problems is WRONG.Passing the problem on to someone else is not ethical in my opinion.

Hey y�all, original poster here. Update, my boat is awesome and the transom is running strong with no issues at all. Happy with my purchase and the repair.

I was just reading through the responses and thinking the same thing. I guess we know which people to never buy anything from LOL.