G'Day All,

Well recently I just landed my first boat! My lastest toy / project and very happy with my purchase :D Basically its just a small aluminium 4.2m runabout with a new 40hp Mariner outboard motor. The hull was in need of some restoration so i've stripped it down to bare aluminium and its ready for a nice new paint job.

I've noticed the hull has a few small dents in it and want to fill them in before I prime / paint. Can anyone reccomend a good body filler that is easy to work with and if so where the best place to pick it up?

Thanks guys! Will post pictures of my project shortly!

Blake :cool:

Why don't you buy a set of panel bashing tools and have a go at doing it?
I picked up a set of panel hammers & dolleys for like $50, all in a nice blowmold case.


Not sure how well fibreglass bog sticks to bare aluminium.

Id rather just bog it and sand it back because it will be much easier and give a better finish I think. I dont have any metal working experiance and i could imagine it turning into an absoute disaster lol

Id rather just bog it and sand it back because it will be much easier and give a better finish I think. I dont have any metal working experiance and i could imagine it turning into an absoute disaster lol
I don't either lol but its surprisingly EASY, especially working on aluminium.
Best to be a flat panel with access to both sides though.

And when some stupid idiot vandal kicked in LHS rearquarter panel on the old TN wagon,
had a go at bashing that too. Not very pretty but still an improvement on before.


Reduce the dints so you'll need less bog.

But soft ally tinnies will get dented just from hauling it in/out of the water.

If you are smart (which we all hope :P), you will also never leave a sinker sitting in the bottom of your boat. Leads to 'interesting' lightening modifications.....lol


But soft ally tinnies will get dented just from hauling it in/out of the water.
Not if one is careful. Before buying our decent sized boat, we had a 3m tinny, and transported it on the back of a box trailer. When we lifted it off, we would put it straight in the water so it was floating to avoid that sorta problem

body filler is porous and will hold moisture against the hull promoting corosion. it should be reasonably easy to get most dents flat in an alloy hull (if you can get to both sides) using 2 hammers or dolly, unless the metal has been streched.

Why don't you buy a set of panel bashing tools and have a go at doing it?
I picked up a set of panel hammers & dolleys for like $50, all in a nice blowmold case.


Not sure how well fibreglass bog sticks to bare aluminium.

I Can't imagine they are very good, considering that I pay almost $200 dollars for a single hammer. The better the tools, the easier the job.

You will spend the same amount of time if you repair the dents as you will if you are bodgy and just bog them up.

And no offence guys either way will probably look pretty average. If it was really easy then it wouldn't be a trade would it.

And secondly its a boat, you will probably be bouncing into stuff and running it up onto beaches and the like, big chunks of bog will fall out when that happens and the job will look crap. And you don't use fibreglass bog for dents either.