Repair crack in metal behind handle

Have a crack in the metal above the bow seat where the previous owner has winched on the front handle too hard. 1232 Monark.
What's the best way to repair this? Welding? I was thinking of putting a block of wood or starboard behind it and running longer bolts thru.
Attached a photo showing similar crack, although not my boat specifically.

You should drill at least an 1/8" hole at the end of any cracks to prevent them from growing. Wood (non-PT), starboard or even aluminum sandwiched on both sides (that's what I'd do) would repair it.

I'd personally go for an aluminum sandwich with bucked solid rivets ... but I have all the tooling and a spare sheet of 5052 alloy on hand. Heck, if you were close you could come by and we'd repair it for you.

No problems with wood repair, I'd use mahogany if you can find scrap pieces, as you wouldn't need to coat it, though you could. SS bolts on the wood would be no problem, but is using the tin patch, insulate the SS bolt heads an nuts from the tin patch by nylon washers or even duct tape (uber cheap, but works!).

FWIW, if my opinion, that damage wasn't so much as caused by cranking it on tight, but by having it cranked in too tight and then motoring down the road and bumps at highway speeds. IMHO I see more 'damage' to tin boats caused by uber fast trailering on a hard roadway at 60-70+ MPH speeds. Hulls never see that kind of use in the water ...

Thanks, Dale. I'll check with my local metal fab/welding shop and see if they can do the aluminum sandwich with rivets method. If not, I'll go with the wood & bolts.

If you are close to any scrap yards that sell back to the public,you Probally can get some aluminum plate drops there for not much money. You could cut and bolt them in place and get them welded also. Ditto on using stainless bolts.Also a good piece of white oak will last a long time on a outdoor project Mabey not as long as the exotic wood but if you know where a sawmill is you could get a board cheap.Cypress will last a long time too but it isn't as strong as white oak. I've got a project boat that all the floor is aluminum from a scrap yard from right across the NC state line in Marshvile. What part of SC are you in?

Thought I would share the following if you decide to go with mahogany. My hardwood speciality store sells cutoffs for a buck or two. I would imagine that is pretty common. You just have to dig through the cut-off bin for what you want.

A few years back my local Home Depot was selling mahogany by the foot. I don't know if they still have it.

I'm thinking some good ole plywood might do the job. BTW you can get aluminum patching material at HD, if that helps.