Damaged aluminum hull

[Forestman]

During a recent storm a large limb fell on the starboard forward gunwale of a 14' aluminum jon boat and creased it severly. I am trying to straighten it enough to make it a pond boat; not even going to put the outboard back on it. I've used a hydraulic jack to bend the gunwale but it won't stay in the shape that I bend it to. Should I heat the aluminum gently to help it maintain shape or just leave the jack in place for some period of time?

Forestman

 

[Shizzy]

Re: Damaged aluminum hull

you probably need to bend it a little farther then where you want it. I fixed a fiberglass canoe that someone had backed a car over. I straighend the gunwales and patched the fiberglass. the trick was to figure out a way to bend more then you need. I just used a bunch of large C clamps, various chunks of wood and a rubber mallet. I would clamp things up, give the clamps a good twist, wrap on the gunwale a few times and remove the clamps and see what I had. it took a few dozen tries, but it worked fine.