bottom hull damage , hook at transom

[fowlplay]

Bottom damage repair. Hook , dents. Help needed. I have a 2005 14/48 tracker grizzly that I purchased new in 05. I have done many mods to boat front console transom mods for outboard jet, camp paint ect. I love my boat. Last mod was upgrading from a 50/35 to a 70/50 jet. While setting up new motor height I laid a straight edge accross bottom of boat and realized I had a nasty hook in the bottom of boat starting at the transom and running toward bow for approx. 12" this is mostly from rock impacts over the past 8 years. This hook is approx. 1/2" deep just in front of transom and tapers to flat over the 12" span. This hook is driving the bow down when on plane and costing me mph I'm sure. Anyone ever deal with issue before and win. Beating the hook out is not an option as there is a floor in back of boat(welded in) . I've been contemplating some sort of filler (no bondo guys) or uhmw in between keels. Suggestion are appreciated.

 

[tigfisher]

try temporarily filling the 1/2 in indentation by attatching a sheet of aluminum with a silicone, then take it for a test run. if you gain top end speed , take the sheet of alum back off and fix it properly.
if you cant hammer it out, you will need to weld bunch of dent puller rivots and slide hammer it out. my 14 ft boat has the same problem where itd a thin gauge cheaply made boat and its warped at the bottom of transom. that "hook" acts as a ride plate where the boat planes instantly. as a result i left it alone as it can take off on less than a foot of water but sacrifice on top end , which is around 20mph. one of these days i would get it fixed and see how fast it will go .

 

[Scottinva]

You could always just have a welder replace the last 4-6' of your boat. Not sure where you are located , but the guys on the east coast would do it for not too much money.

Scott

 

[fowlplay]

thank you Scott for your reply I appreciate it. I guess I was hoping for something that I could do in the backyard myself that would be less expensive than total replacement of hull but more permanant than bondo. Maybe those durwafix or alumaweld sticks to solder in 12" by 4" strips of 1/8" aluminum in between my bottom keels. I'm not sold in that stuff. It may be that a new thicker bottom with uhmw is in my future but i sure would like something temporary until spring fishing starts to. Slow down. Thank you

 

[fowlplay]

By the way Scott, I love those Snyder, and rockproof boat hull they are sweet. Maybe some day. Right now my boat is lite and easy to drag over areas that I'm unwilling to fly thru. I've talked to the owner of rockproof boats about attaching uhmw in between keels to protect boat.

 

[great white]

Well, if the aluminum isn't stretched, you might be able to use suction cup style pullers to bring it out some.

The problem is; if the aluminum is stretched and you pull it out, you go from a concave hull "dip" to a convex.

You can also try the dry ice and heat method to get it to pop back out. It's an old trick used on autobody dents. Sometimes successful, sometimes not, sometimes it's only a temporary fix and the dents eventually come back.

Best way would be to pull your flooring up if you can and reshape the hull with a proper hammer and dolly.

What's happened is the rocks and such that you've dinged over the years have worked the metal past a yield point (ie: dent/stretch).

Unfortunately, the only way to fix it is to rework the metal and shrink it back to it's original shape.

Good luck.

Cheers