I bent my boat

[Rodney]

Well, I recently learned the power of prop walk. I have little space when backing my boat out of my slip until my rudder hits mud, particularly at low tide. Recently, a foul wind was blowing and I decided to goose my boat out of my slip so that the bow would clear before the wind caught it. Unfortunately, prop walk aggravated the situation and I ended up doing what I was trying to avoid - putting my bow pulpit into a concrete piling.

I swear officer, I only grazed it, but it was enough to push the center of it port about two inches - mildly deforming the whole damn thing.

One quote I received to fix it was about $1000. They say I was in a coma for only 3 days after that. Coming back to reality, Catalina will replace it for about $350, but I was wondering is there a good way to "bend it back" reliably or should I just replace it? Thanks.

[This message was edited by Rodney Grim on May 18, 2001 at 08:53 PM.]

[This message was edited by Rodney Grim on May 18, 2001 at 09:40 PM.]

[Castaway]

I had something similar happen when my engine died as I was coming in bow first into a dock with a four-way tie up.  I yelled to the bow hand to try to fend off, but it was too late.  She nosed right into the piling and bent the rail down about 7 inches.  
   I rigged up some wood blocks and used my car jack to SLOWLY straighten it.  The obvious problem is breaking the welds.  It was a near perfect fix, however.  I tried rigging the halyard and and use the winch to straighten it, but .... that didn't work at ALL.

[kavalad]

Well, a lot depends on how well you want it to look when you bend the tubing back. As you probably now know, once tubing is kinked it will never return to it's original shape. While you can bend it back to where it's probably functional, the tubing could have micro-cracks in the kinked area that could fail when you need it the most.

[c34member]

I would try backing into the slip and ramming the pulpit back into position.  Seriously, take it off the boat and try straightening it.  I would be concerned about damaging the glass around the bolts if trying to straighten it in place.  With only a 2" deformation as you stated I might risk it.  (Do as I say, not as I do).  Most likely it would have needed rebedding anyway.  If you break it, then go with the $350 replacement.  If it worked, you're ahead.  Try bolting it to a scrap of 3/4" plywood before attempting to bend it back or I promise you'll spend hours trying to get the flanges lined up with the holes when re-attaching it.

[Hull#753]

I recently had a bent stanchion.  I, too, worried about stressing the metal by forcing it back to its original shape, & shared my concern with this list.  I think it was WIND DRAGON who said, in as many words, just bend it back and go sailing.  Which is exactly what I did.

Granted, the specific dynamics may not be applicably the same - a stanchion vs. a pulpit - but it was the spirit of the missive that I found so reassuringly compelling.   Hoping it offers you the same.

BLUE MOON

[dave davis]

As an x-working metallurgist, Stainless can take alot of abuse. By using your skills as to how to apply the force and by using clamps, wedges, jacks and hammers, you may try bending. Remember, a full penatration weld should also take lots af abuse. Save the 300$ to celabrate your succsess. Good luck! ;)