# Trailer upgrades……



## sonny.barile (Jul 23, 2022)

[dir=rtl][/dir]I just replaced my bunks because they were rotting. Only 6 years old and used in the salt. They were carpeted PT bunks and I had the LoadRite bunk covers on them. I think that contributed to the rot as they never really dry out being carpeted and with those covers on them. The PT made the lag screws corrode like mad and it spread to the swivels on the brackets. The original u-bolts and fasteners did not appear to be galvanized or stainless so it’s no wonder they went so quick. My boat (16 ft. welded) is kinda heavy (or at least it is to me) with a floor, side console, 30 hp remote, starting battery, 6 gallon tank, deep cycle battery, trolling motor, fishing gear, ….etc etc…..it’s over 750 lbs. It’s not good to be hauling that with rotten 2x4’s and crumbling fasteners. 

I bought a set of new galvanized brackets, swivels, and u-bolts (upsized from 3/8 to 1/2 inch). Decided to give composite bunks a shot and bought two 60 inch Ultimate Bunk Boards. (HDPE) 


The more I look at this pic the more I think I should have used 2 x 6’s.


My keel spool roller was pretty chewed up and cracked pretty bad. The shaft was a 1/2 inch bolt with a lock nut. I think having sharp threads in the bore is counter productive so I replaced that with a 1/2 inch shaft and caps. I also moved it forward a bit as I thought it was too far back. 



The angle of a ramp I use often is pretty bad, and when I get the boat up on the bunks, the bow drags on the trailer center beam before it reaches the keel spool. I decided to add a wider roller where that center beam starts. This way the bow will be more elevated. My boats too heavy to muscle it in……or at least without scratching it up good. Ihad to use a two piece bracket (split) because the center beam sticks out an inch. 



Last but not least I added some bumpers on both sides of the forward cross member as a just in case…….


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## LDUBS (Jul 24, 2022)

For whatever it is worth, I have a similar bottom config and the bunks are 2x4 laid flat like yours. I could use 2x6 but haven't seen the need. I sure like the idea of the composite bunks. Mine are typical 2x lumber covered in carpet. But I am only in fresh water. 


The upgrades look great. My bunks are going on 4 years. I'll probably be doing the replacement in the next year or two.

PS: Food for thought. If it were me, I would not have weight of the boat on that wide roller when the boat is fully loaded on the trailer. My reasoning is it creates a potential hard point and could divot the keel. Having three points of contact (two bunks and front roller) makes it hard to create any wobble. Anyway, like I said, just food for thought.


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## sonny.barile (Jul 25, 2022)

LDUBS said:


> For whatever it is worth, I have a similar bottom config and the bunks are 2x4 laid flat like yours. I could use 2x6 but haven't seen the need. I sure like the idea of the composite bunks. Mine are typical 2x lumber covered in carpet. But I am only in fresh water.
> 
> 
> The upgrades look great. My bunks are going on 4 years. I'll probably be doing the replacement in the next year or two.
> ...



That makes sense. When I installed it I just put it against the keel…..It can turn by hand. However when reloading the boat it may not be exactly in that spot and will load….so I will lower it. My intentions for the roller was just to help guide the hull through an area that scrapes up the bow…….What do you think?….about an inch of clearance?


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## LDUBS (Jul 25, 2022)

sonny.barile said:


> LDUBS said:
> 
> 
> > For whatever it is worth, I have a similar bottom config and the bunks are 2x4 laid flat like yours. I could use 2x6 but haven't seen the need. I sure like the idea of the composite bunks. Mine are typical 2x lumber covered in carpet. But I am only in fresh water.
> ...



Boat and trailer should be one unit (no movement between the two). So if you can turn it by hand you should technically be good. But how often that happens is anyone's guess. If mine I would lower it an inch to half inch.


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## sonny.barile (Jul 25, 2022)

Just took care of it…..There is a gap now. This trailer towed the boat without that added roller for years now so I don’t need the structure. It’s just an aid for loading on and off so I don’t rub up the bow on a poorly laid out ramp. There is now about 3/4 of an inch gap……

Thank you sir.


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## sonny.barile (Aug 7, 2022)

Today I finally had some free time to run my boat on the local river and test out my trailer mods. It made launching and loading very easy. It fixed the issues I was having……I can power up the v roller and then hook it up to the winch and crank it in without the keel rubbing on the center bar. It goes straight into the keel spool too. When it goes over that keel spool it lifts up and is no longer engaging the v roller. Perfect 3 point contact……I don’t need to muscle it up anymore. Every once in a while something works like it’s supposed to……. :LOL2:


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## airshot (Aug 13, 2022)

Cant have ro many rollers, I have one at every crossmember on the trailer!! Just added one at the very back to keep the keel from riding on a rubber pad on the back crossmember. All my rollers xarry the weight of the boat except the most rear center roller, that one is just there to ease the keel up onto the other rollers without dragging it on the frame. I even have roller bunks in the rear, with my bad shoulders, I need all the help I can get getting it up on the trailer!!!


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## Lost But Happy (Nov 6, 2022)

@sonny.barile 

How do ya like the boards? I purchased the same ones as you and am in the process of installing them now.


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## Skunked again (Nov 7, 2022)

Im curious about the bunks as well.


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## eeshaw (Nov 7, 2022)

The synthetic bunks are supposed to be really nice from everything I've read on them. The price point is what put me off about them. I bought the HDPE pads from Bass Pro and placed them on 2x4s laid flat on my trailer instead of carpet. So far so good. My boat is a flat bottom so it works well. I do wish it had a roller setup of some sort for loading but I don't want it to "tin can" from setting on rollers.


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## sonny.barile (Nov 7, 2022)

Lost But Happy said:


> @sonny.barile
> 
> How do ya like the boards? I purchased the same ones as you and am in the process of installing them now.


They are not nearly as slippery as bunk slicks…….So far the have held up on a few road trips. I check the fasteners a lot because I’m paranoid but so far so good. The big ticket for me was adding the v-keel roller. Made life easy……


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## sonny.barile (Nov 7, 2022)

eeshaw said:


> The synthetic bunks are supposed to be really nice from everything I've read on them. The price point is what put me off about them. I bought the HDPE pads from Bass Pro and placed them on 2x4s laid flat on my trailer instead of carpet. So far so good. My boat is a flat bottom so it works well. I do wish it had a roller setup of some sort for loading but I don't want it to "tin can" from setting on rollers.


I had slicks on my last boat trailer…..they are much more slippery than the synthetic bunks. If its the slickness you are after it’s the right choice. However the 2x4’s under them can still rot. I was not after slippery…..I wanted rot proof…….
There are rollers now that look like bunks……You may want to look at them if you like the idea of rollers but they are expensive. If your boats not super heavy there is no reason to not use the slicks……


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## FuzzyGrub (Nov 8, 2022)

I thought our new Bear trailer had polymer bunks, but they are just plastic covered 2 x 4s. We'll see how they hold up to cracking. It is not that hard pushing off the boat, but still might add some slick pads.

I have the roller bunks on the trailer for the DMI 1648. It hasn't caused any divets over the 10+ years we have had it.


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## richg99 (Nov 9, 2022)

Re your plastic. Believe it or not, I've been covering my bunks with plastic Gutter Downspouts (cut down the middle) from Lowes for years. The current 17 ft tinny has been using the same downspouts for nine or more years. True, I don't launch and recover as often as I used to, but...give the plastic ones that you have a chance. R p.s, The downspouts come in two sizes. I used the 3x4 (large) size over 2.4's.


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## airshot (Nov 9, 2022)

eeshaw said:


> The synthetic bunks are supposed to be really nice from everything I've read on them. The price point is what put me off about them. I bought the HDPE pads from Bass Pro and placed them on 2x4s laid flat on my trailer instead of carpet. So far so good. My boat is a flat bottom so it works well. I do wish it had a roller setup of some sort for loading but I don't want it to "tin can" from setting on rollers.


The only time you get a tin can effect is if you dont have enough rollers or other support. Weight needs to be distributed among all supports and the more supports the better ! My 22' Islander sits on an all roller trailer since 1983, no dents or oil can dents.....


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## sonny.barile (Nov 11, 2022)

There are roller bunks which combine the best of both worlds. They come in 4 and 5 foot lengths. I almost went this route but couldn’t find them in stock anywhere at that time.


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## JL8Jeff (Nov 11, 2022)

FuzzyGrub said:


> I thought our new Bear trailer had polymer bunks, but they are just plastic covered 2 x 4s. We'll see how they hold up to cracking. It is not that hard pushing off the boat, but still might add some slick pads.
> 
> I have the roller bunks on the trailer for the DMI 1648. It hasn't caused any divets over the 10+ years we have had it.



I've tried the plastic bunk wrap on one trailer and it worked well, but it was kind of thin and soft and the aluminum boat started cutting into it right away.




On the next trailer I went with the pvc downspout cut in half and it's a lot thicker and stronger and actually seems to slide better as well.


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## sonny.barile (Nov 11, 2022)

I dont like bunk covers as thats what caused my bunks to rot. My theory is that it holds water longer and the wood doesnt dry fast enough. If I ever had to go with wood again I would use non PT wood and seal them with something and then put on the bunk covers. However, withe cost of that it’s just as economical to go with the plastic or composite bunks.


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## airshot (Nov 12, 2022)

You can buy a plastic material called UHMW plastic sheet in various thickness. Get some about a 1/4" thick and attach a piece to the top of your bunk with flat head screws, c'sink the heads of course!! You wont wear it out and it is slippery! Same stuff used as glides for snomobile suspensions. Easy to cut with a table saw, but makes a big mess with the snowflake like chips. Had this stuff on the runners of a sled for over 10 years, barely any wear shown...


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## JL8Jeff (Nov 13, 2022)

sonny.barile said:


> I dont like bunk covers as thats what caused my bunks to rot. My theory is that it holds water longer and the wood doesnt dry fast enough. If I ever had to go with wood again I would use non PT wood and seal them with something and then put on the bunk covers. However, withe cost of that it’s just as economical to go with the plastic or composite bunks.


Yeah, wood bunks are definitely a throw away maintenance item but at least they're pretty cheap. I don't tow very often, my boat goes in for the season and stays in the water for 6-7 months so the trailer doesn't get dunked in the water a lot. So wood rotting out isn't a concern. I wondered about the composite bunks but I don't really need them. I think my biggest concern would be the lag bolts backing out of them since it isn't like wood to grip into. Did you lag bolt them from underneath or drill holes all the way through from the top and countersink the bolts? That would keep them from backing out.


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## airshot (Nov 13, 2022)

Thru bolts only, lag bolts will fail before long. Covering on all sides will speed up the rot process. I only wrap the top and half the side when I use carpet it allows the wood to dry faster. If you used the UHMW strips of plastic, you would bolt thru the bunk then screw down a strip of plastic on the top of your bunk, three sides would allowvthe bunk to dry out, they would last for many years !!


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## sonny.barile (Nov 14, 2022)

JL8Jeff said:


> Yeah, wood bunks are definitely a throw away maintenance item but at least they're pretty cheap. I don't tow very often, my boat goes in for the season and stays in the water for 6-7 months so the trailer doesn't get dunked in the water a lot. So wood rotting out isn't a concern. I wondered about the composite bunks but I don't really need them. I think my biggest concern would be the lag bolts backing out of them since it isn't like wood to grip into. Did you lag bolt them from underneath or drill holes all the way through from the top and countersink the bolts? That would keep them from backing out.


If you go back to the beginning of this thread you can see from the pics they are 2x4’s made of plastic. They attach to the brackets just like a traditional 2x4.….lag screws on the bottom. I was worried they might back out and have been checking the lag screws and they have not loosened.


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## sonny.barile (Nov 14, 2022)

airshot said:


> You can buy a plastic material called UHMW plastic sheet in various thickness. Get some about a 1/4" thick and attach a piece to the top of your bunk with flat head screws, c'sink the heads of course!! You wont wear it out and it is slippery! Same stuff used as glides for snomobile suspensions. Easy to cut with a table saw, but makes a big mess with the snowflake like chips. Had this stuff on the runners of a sled for over 10 years, barely any wear shown...


That stuff is referred to as “marine lumber” at West Marine. Taco and Star Board are the brands…….expensive. I have read about it being used as bunk slicks. Good choice for slicks but not if you are looking to be rot proof as you still need to keep the wood bunks.
I have used the taco board as backer/support boards for installing Tempress seats/spinners on my aluminum bunks. So far so good. I put LocTite on the self tapping screws that went into the aluminum and used t nuts for the spinners. The board I bought was enough to do 2 seats and it was $90 last years pricing. You would need twice as much to reasonably create enough contact pads on two 5ft. bunks.


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## thill (Nov 15, 2022)

We do a lot of trailers in the shop. If you can use a 2x6 instead of a 2x4, do it. It distributes the load better. We use the slides if the customer requests it, but have very good success with marine carpet over marine PT (if available) or regular PT lumber, using stainless bolts and dipped-galvanized hardware. 

Marine PT is not ACQ or copper treatment, it's the good old pressure treatment of old with arsenic salts. Much more durable, and not any more expensive, but hard to find sometimes. You have to ask for it. Regular PT typically lasts about 10 years, marine about 15, but with all of them you have to check bolt torque occasionally.

The composite bunk material is very good, and the prices were coming down pre-covid. Some require more supports than PT lumber, but they tend to last many, many years. Sometimes they break and we have to replace them.

Using raw, untreated lumber, even with some kind of sealant, is not a great idea unless you have a novelty boat that lives in a garage and only gets wet a few times a year. I've seen some beautiful bunks on racing and show boats.

The carpet you use makes a huge difference. Some carpet holds water and some doesn't. The 16 oz marine pyle from Sparta Carpets sheds water very well. Important to installing the carpet on your bunks is FULL coverage of outdoor carpet adhesive. This prevents tears and roll-ups, and probably helps prevents some moisture from penetrating the top of the bunks which is trapped against the hull.

1-1/2" x 3/8" S.S. lag bolts work fine if pre-drilled and torqued properly, but S.S. recessed T nuts are very good security. You want to layout and install the T-nuts before installing the carpet to the bunks. 

Good advice given above about not letting your keel roller touch constantly. We end up welding quite a few cracked keels from that exact issue. Also, boats get holes in them from the brackets if the roller fails. Had one of those earlier today. Punched a hole on either side of the keel. Didn't think to take a picture, but the customer had someone weld a patch. It didn't leak, but boy was it ugly. We didn't do that work.


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## Popeye (Nov 17, 2022)

sonny.barile said:


> I dont like bunk covers as thats what caused my bunks to rot. My theory is that it holds water longer and the wood doesnt dry fast enough. If I ever had to go with wood again I would use non PT wood and seal them with something and then put on the bunk covers. However, withe cost of that it’s just as economical to go with the plastic or composite bunks.


My trailer is a 2007. 5 years after I bought it, I had to replace the boards. I opted to use glide slicks instead of carpet. 2 years ago I had to replace the boards again. Mostly because wood rotted where the lag bolts were. I'm okay with that life span


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## Iammichael6499 (Nov 18, 2022)

Not too long ago I purchased and refitted/upgraded a 2004 Yacht Club trailer (and boat). The bunks were old warped 2x4’s with no covering so I replaced them. For the new bunks I used 2”x6”x8’ vertical grain, western red cedar, all heartwood, which is naturally rot resistant. Many boat owners like pressure treated lumber but it tends to shrink and it’s not aluminum friendly. On top of the 2x6 cedar I 5200’d and thru-bolted 1”x6”x8’ pvc boards (since screws tend to back out over time). From a previous project I already had the adhesive, galvanized carriage bolts/lock nuts, anti-turn pronged washers, etc. It didn’t really take a lot of extra time to bond the boards together. I countersunk the carriage bolts about 3/8 of an inch into the pvc boards and secured them with the galvanized anti-turn pronged washers (see pic). I filled the countersunk holes with white epoxy. Worked great. My boat is a Lowe 1860 Roughneck VPT with a 65/90 Yamaha 4-stroke jet. Bunks are just slick enough to make loading and unloading the heavy 1860 easy. Besides the bunks I did a lot of additional upgrades to the trailer that I can share when appropriate.


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## airshot (Nov 20, 2022)

sonny.barile said:


> That stuff is referred to as “marine lumber” at West Marine. Taco and Star Board are the brands…….expensive. I have read about it being used as bunk slicks. Good choice for slicks but not if you are looking to be rot proof as you still need to keep the wood bunks.
> I have used the taco board as backer/support boards for installing Tempress seats/spinners on my aluminum bunks. So far so good. I put LocTite on the self tapping screws that went into the aluminum and used t nuts for the spinners. The board I bought was enough to do 2 seats and it was $90 last years pricing. You would need twice as much to reasonably create enough contact pads on two 5ft. bunks. View attachment 112768
> 
> View attachment 112769
> ...


True UHMW is not that expensive, but they now mix it in with other materials then give it fancy names and jack up the price!! For a slick surface just buy UHMW from a plastic supplier, heck even ebay and Amazon have it much cheaper than the fancy names hybrids....


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