Pontoon dents

[Jeep Man]

Man, I must be a glutton for punishment. I bought a 1988 pontoon boat last year, with intention to fix it up for family fun with new seats etc.
Today I bought ANOTHER toon and will sell-off the first. It is a 2008 Sun Tracker Regency 20 that met with misfortune. The snow load on the storage building was too much, and literally brought the roof down......on the boat.
It was still on the trailer, resulting in the single axel meeting up with the bottom of the pontoons, denting them in approximately 3 inches. Total length of the dent on each toon is maybe 16 inches. There are no cracks. I'll need a new helm and some sections of railing, but otherwise the boat held up quite well.
What is the best way to smooth out the dents. I'm not looking for perfection, as the dents are below the waterline. I feel they may affect performance somewhat. Or am I wrong, and be better leaving them alone?

 

[5150abf]

Re: Pontoon dents

I have fixxed bunch of boat like that, some drops but mostly dealers setting them on badly placed blocks.

The only way to do it is to drill some holes and use a slide hammer(dent puller) and whale away till you get out what you can then weld the holes shut.

This is fairly easy for me as I have welders, 5' high carts and a 30,000 fork lift to move the boat.

For you I would suggest you air check the tubes (3-5 PSI and some soapy water) to be sure there are no leaks and then forget about them, it isn't really a problem now but could be if you try to fix it.

 

[mthieme]

Re: Pontoon dents

One trick I have heard of with fuel tanks that might work for you...Fill up the toon with dry beans, add water, wait. The beans will swell and push out the dents.

 

[goingagain]

Re: Pontoon dents

now i do have to say that would be a neat way to fix dents. when done with the beans (alot of them) you could make soup for the marina. LOL