Fixing Dents in Aluminum Boats

There are great advantages to aluminum boats: First, they weigh far less than virtually any other common boat building material. Second, they can be repaired by the owner.

Fixing dents in aluminum boats is generally a pretty simple matter. The tools that are commonly used for fixing dents in automobiles apply well to this task. For small boats , it is as simple as getting a soft faced mallet (or even a regular hammer with some padding) and pounding the dent out.

Note - when sheet metal becomes dented, in addition to bending, the metal stretches. Because of this, it is often close to impossible to restore the hull surface to a factory new condition.

One thing to consider is that some repairs may require puncturing the hull. This is often the case with double walled construction. Under these circumstances, a boat owner is placed in the position of deciding whether an unsightly dent is less of a hardship than fixing the dent in the aluminum boat because repairing these dents will require additional patching to restore the integrity of the hull.