Ok if the skeg is bent slightly to one side or another can it be strightened and if so how??? Can you heat it with a torch and bend it back or will it break off??? Thanks for the help and advise in advance.

Be careful not to get it too hot if you heat it, dont wanna hurt any seals inside the gearcase.

Thanks for the advice i think we will try with it cold first think it might work. Thanks for your help.

Bent? Never seen one bend before. That cast aluminum is pretty brittle but I guess it's possible. I wouldn't try it cold personally. Actually I can't see it being bent that bad without breaking and I don't think you'll get it back perfect again anyway. If it's not that bad I would just leave it and learn to use it as is until it either breaks by itself or you can afford to get a new lower casing. If you try to bend it back and it breaks, which I'm betting it will, then your screwed. Just my 2 cents.

I had one bend when I hit a unmarked mooring in a river. A piece of the skeg broke off and because the mooring shaft got wedged between the prop and skeg, it bent. I was able to bend it back cold to within a degree or 2 and had a new piece of aluminum welded on to make it look good.