Re: bent skeg
It's obviously too late for the OP now, but there is a poor, and a better way, to straighten bent aluminum.
The "poor" and typical way is to hammer on the side of the tip of the skeg in the opposite direction of the bend to force it straight.
The original impact/bend stretched the metal on the outside radius of the curve. Then hammering on the tip to bring it back stretches the metal on in the inside of the radius. Now there's a line of stretched metal on both sides, making it very weak and prone to cracking.
The "better" way is to place a heavy block of steel against the skeg tip, then hammer on the outside of the curve. That tends to compress the stretched metal in the curve, and will usually be more reliable after. Use a heavy hammer and spread the hits out, using many light to medium blows.
