Question about dent removal on round rails

I'm fixing up an old aluminum jon boat. There are several dents like the one in the photo in the round top rail of the boat. Does anyone have suggestions on how you would go about banging out dents like these?

Extreme suction cup?

Drill an use a light slide hammer an then fill the hole with JB weld an grind it flush that will take care of it, also you could consider heating it up with a torch and putting a cube of ice on it an see if that will pop it out, iv used that trick on hail dents in cars it might work with alum but i know for a fact a slide hammer will.

JamesM56alum said:

Drill an use a light slide hammer an then fill the hole with JB weld an grind it flush that will take care of it, also you could consider heating it up with a torch and putting a cube of ice on it an see if that will pop it out, iv used that trick on hail dents in cars it might work with alum but i know for a fact a slide hammer will.

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x2 on the slide hammer and jb weld.
I think the metal on the rails might be a little too stiff/rigid for the torch-ice trick to work.

Others on here have cut off the rails and had new ones welded on.

Nothing wrong with battle scars. It adds character to the boat.

Aluminum is pretty soft to pull (w/slide hammer screws might pull out) against a dented radius rail, tends to be a point of strength.

I concur with drilling a hole, however I would consider drilling the hole on the backside (in this pic it appears to be accessible). I would then insert a small to medium size drift punch, and “gently” tap it out with a ball peen hammer. The JB weld process would be used to fill the hole as suggested.

Aluminum unlike steel doesnt have memory, Johnny has a great idea with drilling a hole on the backside and tapping it out a little at a time, you may still need something to smooth out the topside..there are aluminum body fillers that would work if you plan on painting the rail afterwards..

nomowork said:

Nothing wrong with battle scars. It adds character to the boat.

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+1

How much does a slide hammer cost and where can I get one? I have a TON of small to large dents in my round rail.

My boat was abused and used by my dad's business before my build so it is beat on the top rail.

Usually any autopart stores sell them, they run any where from 35.00 to 200.00 all depends on the brand, the weight and the length of the slide.

I know the one's we sell at my job "Napa" are 35.99 plus tax an comes with the drill bit the setscrews an some other goodies.

I picked up a slide hammer from Harbor Freight for $21. It worked pretty well. It's not perfect, but it turned out good enough.

Great work man, yea they'er good tools to have you can use it to pull dent's all the way to pulling pulley's and hub assembly's off cars i'v used it for all of them lol