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Here you go CharlesM. It's the white piece on the back corner of the motorwell transom.

A surveyor measured low moisture in June when I bought the boat. I had the transom cap glassed over. My pro is reworking the gelcoat color match a bit but you can see below how it now looks functionally. It was $500 to R&I the engine. I could have replaced the aluminum piece with the vinyl...

I can feel the money draining from my bank account at WOT. 5800 RPM = 33.3 GPH = $150/hour at current California marine gas prices. At least I'm moving 45 MPH (1.35 MPG). At 4300 RPM I burn 14.3 GPH. That pushes my boat at 32 MPH, which works out to 2.2 MPG. Not bad for a 27' boat.

I run my Freedom 275 with a single F350 at 4300 RPM. This keeps me going at a fast plane without burning too much gas (the F350s really consume fuel above 4500 RPM) and just out of the F350's flywheel degradation range. I will occasionally run at WOT for a few minutes to let the engine stretch...

Do you have a photo of your joint? Here's what mine looked like. I had no bulging around the cap, just lots of corrosion.

Probably not if Grady made him sign that NDA someone mentioned.

I am having the transom cap on my 2011 GW Freedom 275 glassed over permanently (see thread here) to ensure there is no risk of water intrusion in the future. (Grady leaves the trailing top edge of the transom open/unfinished from the factory to allow for some flex from the forces of the...

I went by the fiberglass shop today to do an interim check on my boat before the engine gets re-installed. I am glad I did - while the job seems functionally good (it reportedly took 5-10 layers of glass and resin to make the transom true), the old and new gel coat are obviously different...

Guide coat on for fairing... then final gel coat and the engine goes back on. Almost there!

It looked a little salty under the bang cap when it first came off but once it was prepped it looked clean and dry. Moisture readings on the transom were low when I bought it in June.

New glass in place

Engine off, trim off (click to expand) Starting to prep. You can see the 1/2" aluminum plate embedded in the transom in these shots. Will post more photos as things progress

At work in the San Francisco Bay

The F350 is a very solid engine if you adhere to the flywheel replacement program. So they kept making it and rigging it. Its torque filled a market niche. The 425 is the new solution for that niche but it weights 190 lbs more. All generations of F350 require flywheel replacement and all get...

I dropped the boat off yesterday to get the transom cap glassed over permanently as well as taking care of a few other gel coat issues. I'll share photos here as they come in.

Always add at least 50 hp when going from 2 stroke to 4 stroke.

There haven't been many/any reports of F350 failures once the preventative flywheel replacement program was put into place in 2015. I wouldn't worry about it. Every engine has vibrations.

I have a 2011 275 Freedom with an F350UCA, which has the original style manifold. The engine has 750+ hours and no problems. It is torquey and efficient (2+ MPG) under 4500 RPM and it will push the boat to nearly 45 MPH at WOT. I bought my boat used and it was at least $20K cheaper than...

I am about to move forward with this project. Still deciding between replacing with the updated OEM vinyl cap ($500 for labor - Grady sent me the part for free), replacing it with a custom stainless steel angle piece ($900) or getting it glassed over ($1300). I read that Grady's rationale for...