TOPIC: Question on aluminum transoms

I'm working on my Herter's, and I finally removed the transom to check it and remove the steel bolts that had oxidized in place. Once I removed it I took out the transom clamp plate below as something else to clean and refurbish, then I got to thinking about it.

Everything I've ever heard about aluminum transoms says that when you have aluminum on both sides of the transom the motors have a tendency to slip and can walk off of the transom. Do I need to worry about that with this setup? I plan on adding a security cable to the transom brace that runs to the floor anyways.
Anyone have any clues as to why they fabricated the transom with this plate in the first place? It appears to be rubber wrapped around an aluminum sheet, then bolted to the aluminum transom.

Any ideas?

Come on guys, no comments?

My best guess would be to hold the motor clamps tight. Some boats like the Glasspar and Winner had a rubber plate that slide over the transom then the motor was clamped down. If that is factory Herters then, likewise it was meant to hold the saddle clamps of the motor tight to the transom.

Just shear speculation of an old man. So I could be wrong,

Al

All the rubber pads like that I've seen were labeled w boat hardware or outboard makers. Wilcox Crittenden offer 1 similar to yours. Does it have their WC mark on it?

morris wrote:

My best guess would be to hold the motor clamps tight. Some boats like the Glasspar and Winner had a rubber plate that slide over the transom then the motor was clamped down. If that is factory Herters then, likewise it was meant to hold the saddle clamps of the motor tight to the transom.

Just shear speculation of an old man. So I could be wrong,

Al

Speculation is better than nothing. It follows along with what I was thinking as well. The solid aluminum wouldn't allow you to clamp down and create enough tension unless you started getting into elastic deformation.

jbcurt00 wrote:

All the rubber pads like that I've seen were labeled w boat hardware or outboard makers. Wilcox Crittenden offer 1 similar to yours. Does it have their WC mark on it?

Nope, Herter's Waseca, Minn on it. A couple of other things that I can't remember.