Hey Gregg. You have a beautiful boat. I'm not there looking at it myself, but honestly didn't look that bad from your pics. You said the transom was strong. Needs a patch, give it a patch, that's not necessarily a half ars job. I had a similar decision to make on my GT-150 and decided the transom was "good enough" to last my life time with good care, so I didn't replace it... saved a bundle and some headache. From my experience, I understand it always seems worse when you are close to the problem. But then again, another boat always seems better from afar. Have you seen, poked and prodded the other one yourself?... may not be as good as it seems, and they seldom are.
Just my 2 pennies.