Hey everyone... I am stuck right now in the second restore of my 1983 sea nymph striper. The starboard hull runner on the hull was badly bent. I removed it and have made many attempts to straighten it... With some success, but ultimately I dont think I want to put it back on the boat.

I have searched the internet far and wide looking for a replacement. I cannot find anyone that sells such a thing. But I got to wondering... What if I just replaced both with aluminum "T"s ? They seem to be there primarily to strengthen the hull and provide protection from logs and rocks. I suspect they also serve to stabilize the boat at speed as well.

So, any ideas where a guy might find runners for a boat? If not, do you think aluminum T's would suffice and serve all the purposes? Could I just leave these off?

Here is a picture so you can see what I mean.


Thanks

Does it change the performance of the boat or does it just drive you crazy that it's not straight?
My 1st thought is just punch it back down with some new rivets and seal it up.

Well, the answer is, I do not know... One characteristic of the boat is that when under power, it list hard to port. I have to stand on the starboard side to keep it level... I had always assumed it was because of the torque of the prop... but perhaps it was because of this.

In the photo, the bend you see is after I straightened it. it was obviously riveted down to the hull and was straight in the fore/aft direction... the problem was that about half of it was smashed and bent over. I can see how the way it was bent MIGHT have plated a role in the port list at speed.

I think what I am going to do is just remove both of them and put rivets in the holes... Once I get her back on the water, if I see any negative handling effects I will put some aluminum T on the underside using 3m 5200 AND watertight pop rivets.

I wouldn't suggest removing.
I think what you would be left with is as you use the boat the floor would constantly "flex" back and forth.
What you'll have over time is a spot where the metal tears like a rip in your jeans. Or it will cause another area of the boat to leak at some point down the road.

Something you could do to see if the motor is the issue with hard to port is to slightly move the motor to port side of the boat (just off center). Try a few positions to see if you can find that "sweet spot".