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I replaced the transom in my '61 Sea Coaster a few years back & recently saw a picture of a Sea Coaster with an (original?) knee brace installed from the big horizontal oak frame piece on the transom angled down & attached to the floor just in front of the rear bilge access opening.
When I replaced the transom I could see evidence of some type of frame piece that had been attached here, but it was missing (it does seem to open up the space there by not having it there) when I got the boat - so when replacing the old wood, I decided to increase the size of the horizontal oak transom brace from 1-1/2"X3" (original) to 1-1/2"X4" thinking better to be safe than sorry. I don't worry about the replacement transom being inadequate for the motor power/weight (45hp Mercury about 140lbs), it seems very very solid, but now I wonder if the lack of this knee brace will cause the transom to sag out over time? It was a lot of work & I don't want to replace it again, so I thought I would ask the experts here. Thanks

I have seen a single metal brace on some Peshtigo Sea Coaster models of various years. It went from transom to keelson. My '57 Sea Lancer has two of them that go from transom to the stringers.

One of the Sea Lancer's that I restored (either 1959 or 1961 - not sure which one) had a single wooden knee from transom to keelson. The '65 Sea Lancer I restored did not have any type of brace.

I suppose you can add a brace. It will not hurt anything.

Andreas