Need repair advice

Hey folks. Some of you may have read about the tree branch denting my boat. I've settled with the insurance company and I basically got the boat for free now, I just need to fix the dent. After flipping it and putting some water in it I also found that there is a pinhole of a leak too. It drips a drop about every 2 seconds. How should I go about getting it somewhat straight? I know the ribs wont ever be perfect, as they are creased, but I'd like to get the general contour back. I plan to take it to my welder after it's straight and have him fix the leak. He's the man with a tig! My first instinct is to beat it with a BFH but that seems kinda crude. Would heat be a good or bad idea? My main concern is stress cracking. I do have a car lift at work that I was thinking might be to my advantage. Perhaps a 2x4 frame around the damage on the underside, and a 2x4 going from the dent to the bottom of the lift with a car on top of it for weight would give me an improvised press that wouldn't give the trauma of a huge hammer. I don't know. Whats the word? Here are some more pics of what I'm dealing with. Thanks for any help you can give.

You'd be surprised what you can do with a port-a-power to push that dent out.I've done that with my boat to get the bottom straight.Just go a little at a time.

Is the rib twisted where the branch hit it? Looks like it colapsed one little area but mostly twisted it counter clockwise. I would put a clamp on the rib and try to square up the mashed area a little bit if possible. That could relieve some stress and cause the dent to relaxe some. Some heat might draw the rest might not, If it was steel I would say go for it. You want to heat the top to draw it up.

Get a deadblow hammer and start beating it out, don't over think it. Start on the outside work your way in. you just wnat to get he general shape back anyway; if the strake is slightly rolled or bent it isn't going to effect the performance of the boat at all. If it cracks or breaks while you are beating it, which I doubt it will do but I'm not the one looking at it, then have your buddy with the welder zip it up. Easy, Peasy Rice and Cheesy.

Unless you are used to working with Alu and heat I would avoid it. It is very easy to overheat Alu (it doesn't glow like steel) or knock a HUGE dent (read, stretch metal wildly) in it using heat. If you decide to use heat, start with a MAPP or Propane torch and a small hammer and GO SLOW!

I would not put heat on it unless you are familiar with heat on aluminum. Heating aluminum can be tricky. You may have heat on it thinking it is not doing anything and then all of a sudden it runs creating a large hole that is much harder to fix.

I aggree with those saying stay away from the heat. I bought a boat that had a tree fall on the bow, the damage was ab it more severe but with some leverage, and a rubber maller was able to get back in shape and have it welded.

Working from the inside of the boat have someone stand on the dent then take a dead blow hammer starting hitting it from the outer edges of the dent working your way to the center of the dent.

Great advice from everyone. i woudl just leave it and use the boat. Get teh leak fixed of course, but a pinhole you can fix with a little JB Eld or 5200

WOW! Thanks for all the tips and encouragement. I think i got it pretty good today. I put in on the ground under my lift with a couple of 2x4s supporting either side of the dent underneath. Then I put a 2x4 sticking straight up on the dent and lowered the leg of the lift down on it. I figure there was around 5 or 6 hundred pounds of pressure. That worked pretty well to get the general curve back. Then I used a dead blow with a block of wood to beat the rest out. Problem is that the seat support is directly above the dent so it was hard to get a direct hit at it from above but I think I did it pretty well. It's being dropped at the welder tomorrow. The name of his shop is "custom sheet metal" and he makes some crazy stuff there. I'm going to see if he is able to smooth it out any more. The general shape is there, but there are bumps and such from the hammer. Purely cosmetic but it "WAS" a really nice G3 1442 before this happened. It's still a nice boat, but I'm anal I guess. Thanks again for the help, I'll be sure to post some after pictures of my repair and the weld job. The crack is seriously about 1/4" long so it should be easy for him.