OK so I tried to straighten my buckled pontoon prow myself and ended up cracking the smack out of the welds… so I had to find myself a repair guy and figured I’d have him do drains while he was at it.
I ended up taking it to Classic Fabricating and Repair run by a guy named Kevin Hembre, and I cannot say enough good things about him. He went the second mile, he actually stuck around his shop till !! 8PM !! to get everything done so I could take the boat out last night.
I really strongly recommend him to anyone who needs, specifically, aluminum or sheet steel repairs done on their boat, or really any sort of welding or metal fabrication done.
As for the photos:
- the first is a repair to the handle on the bow of the port pontoon. The weld on the right was cracked.
- The second is of the repairs to the cracked welds on the prow; once the thing corrodes a bit you’ll never be able to tell it was welded.
- The third is the repair to the starboard handle on the end of the pontoon… you can see two welds there. There was metal missing and he dressed up the ends and actually welded in a new piece of aluminum to fill the gap.
- And the last two are of the drain plugs in the back end. He welded in plates that he’d drilled and tapped so that the drains are actually reinforced rather than creating potential weak points in aft wall of the pontoons.
I’m just extremely impressed with his customer service and obvious skill.
Here’s his website:
http://www.classicfabricationandrepair.com/
Tell him Jared sent you. 
