Bent keel fin

[Dominic(UK)]

Ive just bought my first boat, a 92 red/black nautique . Im giving it good clean and polish before putting it on the water and have noticed that the middle keel fin is bent over proberly 3/8 inch.
Whats the best way of straightening it? Im guessing i should remove it first, but is there anything i shoukl be aware of?

[NigelC]

RE: Bent keel fin

Any chance of uploading photos of the damage?

[NCH2oSki]

RE: Bent keel fin

The tracking fins should not be aligned with each other, if that is what you are talking about.

[noti_dad]

"The tracking fins should not be aligned with each other"

huh? they shouldn't?

[NCH2oSki]

There is a definate aligment to them, but they are not all in a row. Does that make more sense. If you put a straight edge on the front one, the middle one would not touch it, not sure about the thrid one. I asked the dealer about mine, and they assured me mine were fine. It makes sense, as the first one causes a void/turbulent flow of water directly behind it, and the rest would not be very effective all in a row.

[richard]

Bent keel fin

If you can order stock fin, my friend had same problem and he ask metal work shop to copy one with 316 stainless,still using,cost not high.

[Quinner]

RE: Bent keel fin

A good prop shop should be able to fix it, had one repaired on my 77' Ski.

[NCH2oSki]

RE: Bent keel fin

I may have totally misunderstood his question about the fins. Sorry if that is the case, and disregard my posts about the alignement.

[Chad52]

RE: Bent keel fin

I had my front fin bentlast year and bought a new one from the dealer. I was prepared to get bent over but it was relatively cheap, only ~$60. I took the old one off and took it to a friend's machine shop and bent it back out using a highly technical process involving a welding torch and a hammer. Now I have a spare....

[Dominic(UK)]

Heres a picture, i hope it comes through. the rule is touching the front and rear fin with an actual gap of 1/4 inch to the middle keel
I dont want to straighten what is meant to be bent, but this does seem suprising if its correct.

[jos]

Possibly place a spacer under the right side of the fin, fill with 3M.
Do not heat it when straightening.
Better cold work it with plastic hammer.
Heat only above certian temp with temp stick, craftsmen job.
Goodluck.

[EchoLodge]

Fin

On my 90 Sport I bent the same fin but much worse. I took it off the boat, heated it with a propane torch used a hammer to straighted it out. Worked well. Just remember to use silicone caulk when you put the screws back in.

[scottrob]

RE: Fin

how the heck does that get bent in the first place?

[EchoLodge]

Ans

Floating down the river (11 mph current) when we found a sandbar!

[Dominic(UK)]

Success, my keel fin is now straight! I couldnt hold it firm in a vice and so bolted it firm to my steel work bench, using its mounting holes, two or three taps with a soft mallet and it was as straight.
Thankyou for your help everyone