Wicked Bow Dent

[Burkster]

Hi folks, I just got a hold of a 75 Ward's Sea King with a bit more "character" than I care for. As seen in the pic below, a former owner hammered a rock while underway, or maybe was short on sleds and used the boat for a toboggan. It's a riveted boat and the dent is on a seam. What's the best way to push it back into shape?

Thanks for any pointers in advance.

 

[Attwanl]

Wow!!! That was on hard hit.

 

[vahunter]

You may risk cracking the aluminum if you try to rework it. Depending on where its located the dent may not hurt you.

Whenever I think of a "dent" on a Jon boat it reminds me of this pic I came across a while back.
Nasty

 

[Ranchero50]

Burkster » Today, 02:29[/url]"]Hi folks, I just got a hold of a 75 Ward's Sea King with a bit more "character" than I care for. As seen in the pic below, a former owner hammered a rock while underway, or maybe was short on sleds and used the boat for a toboggan. It's a riveted boat and the dent is on a seam. What's the best way to push it back into shape?

Thanks for any pointers in advance.

Cut the end of a 2x4 to match the profile of the middle strake (from the inside). Use a propane torch to heat the metal for a couple minutes and work the dent out from the edges to the center with a 5lb beater. Work the seam so it's straight with the correct curve and the sides should draw correctly. You'll have to beat it sideways a bit where the edge isn't straight, just lay the board over so the effort pushed the ridge back inline. Try to keep the end square so you don't make too many extra bumps. Finally, don't overachieve and push the dent into a bump.

It looks like the seam leaked before so expect to have to reseal it again. The heat will cook most of the old sealer so expect some stink. No real drama, repair should take an hour or so.

 

[Burkster]

Thanks for the comments all and a special thanks to Ranchero50 for the detailed instructions. I'll try them out this week and post pics of the results.

 

[2sac]

That's not wicked. This is wicked.

 

[Attwanl]

Looks like the driver wiped out the windshield. It is pretty high up on the rocks, wonder how fast it was going.

 

[TNtroller]

ripped the prop right off that 275hp, probably just a big wave pushed it onto the rocks.

 

[JMichael]

With the way the console and driver side windshield frame is bent, I'd have to go along with the theory of the driver being thrown out on impact. It would take one heck of an impact to make a dent that deep in that small of an area. Hurts just to imagine being in it when it happened. :shock:

 

[gillhunter]

I can tell you tins are tougher than the tinboaters. I can't imagine what happened to whoever was in the Lund. This is my own little experience. My wife and I were were on a fishing trip with our daughter, son-in-law and grandkids back in 2005. My son-in-law and I were out fishing in the morning and it started raining hard. We got hit about 50' from shore, as we were coming into the dock, by another boat running WOT very close to shore. It flipped us out of our boat, my son-in-law was ok, but I was flipped over the other boat breaking my right shoulder and smashing my right elbow. It also did some damage to my back and my left arm and hand have lost some feeling. No one was injured in the other boat. The boat was totaled by my insurance company.

One of those experiences you don't want to repeat. You don't expect to get hit going 3mph that close to shore, but I guess anything is possible on the water. The visibility was very bad, I didn't see the other boat until impact. I hope none of you ever have to experience something like this.

 

[Burkster]

Well, after a bit of deliberation and a false start or two, I heated the hull and beat the hell out of it. Here's the result after a bit of wire brushing:

 

[Burkster]

Now a bit of fine tuning and I'll be good to go.

 

[Attwanl]

Looks good.

 

[Attwanl]

How loud was it beating inside that bow.....hear still ringing?

 

[Ranchero50]

Looks good, you're about halfway there. The fine tuning is going to take forever. Whack whack whack, look, whack whack whack, look...

 

[New River Rat]

I have a little patience, you have to have a boatload to finish this. Looking good so far.

 

[Burkster]

Ok, so after a few dozen more whack, whack, whacks, here's the latest...

 

[Ranchero50]

Looks good enough that it won't be obvious with a flat sheened paint job

 

[PSG-1]

Very nice work straightening out that dent. Hardly noticeable now. That was probably a noisy operation, though. :LOL2: At least your repair went a little easier than some I've seen.

I recently had to repair a brand new pontoon boat that hit a log in the river, they managed to put a bad hook in the V-cap on the front of the pontoon, bad enough it was spraying water everywhere when they were underway. And when I say 'brand new boat', I mean it didn't even have the registration numbers on it yet! Sucks when that happens. Needless to say, there was no straightening that dent. Had to cut the whole piece off and fab a new one, then weld it back together.

But hey, at least it wasn't like the pics of that V-hull Lund up on the rocks! :shock: