I and a couple of of other sailors have had good results "blowing" dents out with a heat gun. You MUST be patient and not stick the gun too close to the hull. The heat expands the air in the foam core and the glass,carbon or kevlar move back into their original position.



I have seen shallow dents disappear and deep, almost puncture dents become unnoticeable.



My Mikan was much more prone to denting. It had carbon/carbon construction. The new Auscat Mk 5 has carbon and kevlar and seems to be much more resistent to denting. It even "feels" more solid.



What I don't understand is why there is such a large gap in weight of an A Class and a FX-1 or I-17. It seems that Hobie and Performance could make a killing if they built their boats at the 200 lbs mark. They might then enjoy both a one design status and maybe even a Category II A Class status. Think about it...Beef up an A Class so you can take a friend out once in awhile and also so it can take some abuse. But not so much that it weighs over 250 lbs.



Dave Carlson used to race his wooden Catnip A Class at 200 lbs. That boat did suprisingly well against our high tech 165 lb boats and always beat the Hobie 18s. It had a heavy aluminum mast that weighed over 40 lbs. But it showed that a moderately light boat can still have pretty good performance.