I have a bunch of dents in the bottom of my boat and one really bad hook near the transom. I know it's really affecting my performance. I've been tossing around a few ideas about redoing the bottom of my boat. I'd like to hear a few of yall opinions on what yall would do. I was thinkin about either putting poly on it, beating out the dents (even though I'm sure they'll come right back), or filling the dents sanding back flat and gator gliding.

Poly gets my vote


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How heavy is Polly?

The bottom of mine is 3/16, but the concept is the same. I lifted the hull with a bottle jack and slid a 2x8 under the area of need. Took a rubber dead blow hammer and went to work. You don't have to hit it hard to actually make it flex back out. The 2x8 holds backing enough so that you don't "over correct". When done, slid the 2x8 to the next spot and repeat. Very easy.

Poly is great for protection but it crushes the performance of you boat. Not sure what size boat you have but on a 14x 7 boat it's about 150lbs with all the bolts. You need a pretty true surface to apply. Do not fill the hooks with anything. If you run hard enough to hook the bottom you're going to bust out any filler pretty fast. Pressing / beating the hooks out is the best option IMO but then it's best to reinforce them. It will weight less than the poly. That being said the hooks toward the stern are probably the only one changing the performance enough to make a measurable difference. And yes the GatorGlide will help...a lot!

Thanks yall for all the info! I'm going to suffer through hunting season with the hooks and dents and tackle the project in spring.