Mobile Bay Fiberglass Spanish Fort sits where Mobile Bay turns into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, and the boats here reflect it. Bass boats, duck boats, jon boats and bay boats launching at Meaher State Park and around 5 Rivers, running the Blakeley and Apalachee rivers and the maze of delta creeks beyond. Delta running is hard on hulls in a way open-water running isn't. The hazards are solid and stationary, cypress stumps, submerged logs, and the oyster bars where the rivers meet the bay, and hitting one at speed is a matter of when, not if, for anyone who hunts or fishes up there seriously.
So the repair mix in Spanish Fort is impact work. Gouges and fractures along the keel and chines from stump strikes, shredded gelcoat from sliding over an oyster bar off the Causeway, cracked lower units' worth of skeg trails across hull bottoms, and the hidden version, stringers cracked loose from the hull by an impact the owner shrugged off in the moment. That last one matters. A hard stump hit can fracture the stringer grid without leaving much of a mark outside, and the symptom shows up later as a hull that flexes, a deck that squeaks or a crack that keeps returning after cosmetic repair. If your boat took a real hit this season, it's worth twenty minutes of sounding to know the truth.
Duck season adds its own rhythm. Every fall we get the run of boats that need hull repairs done fast between splits, and mud-boat and jon-boat glasswork right along with the bass boats. We work mobile across Spanish Fort, at houses, at the Causeway landings when the job allows, and the estimate is free. Call (251) 220-4157, especially before the season opens, when the calendar still has room in it and a repair can cure without anyone watching the clock.
Stump strikes and what they hide
Delta boats hide their worst damage inside. The stump hit that scars the keel is obvious, but the stringer it cracked two feet away is not, and we've opened up more than one Spanish Fort bass boat where the visible gouge was the cheap part. After any hit hard enough to throw gear off the deck, get the hull sounded before you write it off as a scratch. It's a short visit and it's the difference between a $600 repair now and a $4,000 one later.
Causeway landings to the delta
The Causeway · Meaher State Park · The Mobile-Tensaw Delta · 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center · Blakeley River, and the water in between. ZIP code 36527. Gelcoat and smaller laminate repairs can often happen at the dock; transom, stringer, and structural hull work needs the boat on a trailer or hauled out. Every job is priced against the ranges on our cost guide.
Get the hull sounded after a hit
Text photos of the damage to (251) 220-4157 with where the boat sits in Spanish Fort, and you’ll get a written range back, usually the same day.
Delta boat repair questions
I hit a stump up the Blakeley River and there's a crack in the hull bottom. Can I keep running it until the offseason?
If the crack is through the laminate, no, water intrusion and flex will grow it every trip. A contained bottom crack repairs for $500 to $1,500. If the impact reached the stringers, you're in structural range, $2,000 to $5,000 or more, and running it makes that number climb. Let us look before you decide.
Slid over an oyster bar near the Causeway and the bottom looks sanded. Does that need real repair?
Oyster bar rash is usually wide but shallow. If it stayed in gelcoat, restoration runs toward the $150 to $500 end per affected area. Where the shell cut into laminate, those spots get ground and re-glassed properly. We map the whole bottom in one pass so you fix it once.
Can you patch my duck boat between splits? I've got about ten days.
Yes, ten days is plenty for most hull repairs including cure time, and every fall we sequence jobs around the duck splits for exactly this reason. Call as soon as you find the damage, not the week you want it back, and we'll hold your slot.
My bass boat's floor squeaks and flexes since a hard hit last spring. Is that stringers?
It might be, and that's exactly how cracked stringers announce themselves. We sound the hull and check the stringer grid at the known break points. If stringers are cracked or debonded, repair typically runs $2,000 to $5,000 or more depending on access. Caught early it stays repairable, ignored it eventually totals the boat.
Do you work on aluminum jon boats too, or fiberglass only?
Fiberglass is our trade, so pure aluminum welding isn't us, but plenty of delta jon boats and mud boats carry fiberglass decks, boxes and coatings, and we repair all of that. If your problem is a cracked aluminum hull seam, we'll say so and point you to a welder rather than pretend.