Hey folks.<br /><br />I have a 14.5' Arkansas Traveler, mid-60's vintage (from what I can tell).<br />It's suffering from what I'm told is a 'broken back'. I picked it up as a first boat, and didn't know exactly what to look for.<br />This boat has no wooden floor or stringers. There's 3 keels, each one having a piece of wood in it, running most of the length of the boat.<br />All 3 keels were cracked and caved up a bit, but repaired by a previous owner. <br />The damage is right at the 3 rear rollers, so I would imagine the boat was either trailered hard or sat with a lot of weight/water in it.<br />The keels weren't straightened when they were repaired, they were just gobbed over.<br /><br />I flipped it upside down on the lawn and braced the keels from underneath with a 2x4 on end (weight of boat sitting on the 2x4 and straightening the keel) and did what I thought was a good repair. It was sound and solid, but the boat always seemed to lift in the rear and nose down in the front at top speed. Now that I've upgraded from a 20hp rude to a 35hp Merc, the problem is a lot larger and makes for a twitchy boat, expecially when I'm alone and the back end is light.<br />It's not a concern if I have 2 people sitting in the back, but when I'm alone it plows the nose down so hard that it tries to lean to port or starboard in the front, to ride up on one half of the V....not fun.<br /><br />The issue is that the crooked keels are causing a concave area about 2' from the back end, and it's trying to plane on the back 1/2 of this concave area, causing the stern to rise up.<br /><br />It's a first boat, so I don't want to sink a lot of $ into it, but don't really know how to go about the repair myself.<br /><br />Having the new(er) 35 now, I'm almost tempted to find a hull in good shape and go from there. But, I love the style of the traveler....<br /><br />How would a person go about getting the keels straightened out and repaired so they stay straight....?<br /><br />The trailer is a home-make rig, salt water and age has taken it's toll, so I'll be in the market for a trailer in the spring....since I now have a good motor, and will need to pick up a trailer, I think my best bet would be hunting around for a hull/trailer combo with no motor....but there's not a huge boating community in my area...lots of big boats and fishing (commercial) boats around here but next to nothing in the 14-15' runabout catagory.<br /><br />TIA!
<br /><br />Broken backs on hulls do not heal, AC. They must be completely replaced or the hull must be junked. 
