Fixing a SMASHED Aluminum Gunnel and Rub Rail

[Moveon]

I found a company.......ended up over there yesterday.

They are doing a fantastic job........and I will definitely be recommending them for this and other types of work.

Here are a couple pics:



Jeremy , the guy doing the work told me I was lucky I hit it exactly where I did. The supports and the cross members for the rod lockers, and all that structure actually kept the boat from buckling in more.

He was able to knock the dent out, straighten the rail, and fix all the welds on the bottom, as well as re-weld all the stringers.

LOTS and LOTS of internal damage, that would never seen at first.........

He asked me if I wanted to see the work before they buttoned it all up.........I didn't take pics yesterday, but he's including more.....

When I get the rest, I will share here.

Bottom line.....I believe he's doing a GREAT job.

Now that type of accident is scary. Was it at night or early morning? Foggy? Those GPS map coordinates are not always as accurate as we would like anyway. The accuracy on most of the GPS units is only plus or minus 3 meters at best and can be as bad as plus or minus 10 meters. 3 ft to a meter approximately. And the bouys are moved at times so these digial maps may not show them in the right spot. Looks like they are doing a great job on fixing your aluminum boat.

I almost lost my boat on Patoka Lake back in 1983 when a seam on the front bottom port side of my boat ripped open about 3" long and 1/16" wide. The weld broke or else the bottom of the boat hit a submerged tree. We I was moving the water could not get into the hole as the front of my boat was nose up and the bow was out of the water.

I was fishing with a friend and he was in the back when we stopped to fish. He asked me (I had stopped the boat and jumped up on the front of the boat to get the trolling motor depoyed) if water was suppose to be in the back of the floor where he was sitting. I turned around to look at the back of the boat and water was 2" deep over the floor carpet and I freaked out. I ran back to the back and started the motor and took off. I orded him to go sit at the front of the boat so that more weight would be up front so that I could get the boat trimmed level. I had so much water in the back of the boat that the bow would not sit down and I was giving it all the gas I could. I finally had to reach back to pull the plugs and finally the water flowed out the plugs and the bow came down. We raced a mile back the the main launch ramp and I let him out to go get the boat trailer. I ran around in circles keeping the boat moving and the water out of the boat until I could shoot the boat up onto the boat trailer and pull it out of the water. As we got to the parking lot I found the crack in the weld and knew we were lucky to have saved the boat. I only had to take the boat to a welder and he welded the crack shut and I was good to go. My boat had floation under the bench seat and the side walls so I'm not sure if it would have floated or sunk. Not wanting to find out. I don't want to lose the boat or the motor. And I didn't have any insurance on the boat then.