Bunk Glide Question

[chill'nthemost]

Roland, your math is correct, I spent about $300 on the caps. I know it seems like a lot, but I don't foresee ever replacing them again. You do have to butt the sections together, but they fasten on the sides with stainless wood screws and at least on mine I was able to make the sections match up perfectly. I pre- assembled everything on saw horses first. The only thing I drilled in place was the bunks to the trailer mounts after I clamped them in place. I used carriage bolts instead of lags. As far as the open wood on the bottom, I used Douglas Fur and applied a high quality wood preservative to the top, bottom and sides. I'm sure you could use Pressure treated since the toon would never touch the wood, but PT is made out of soft sap wood so it can easily be injected with chemicals. The bottom of the wood dries out fast since it's not covered in carpet and with the wood sealer I put on it I don't think it will be an issue for years. Even for the tops and sides the caps have raised groves so air can circulate to dry the wood between the plastic and the wood.

As far as launch and loading.....huge difference, especially loading

So chillin, can you cut the bunk glide strips... based on the numbers on the web site, 1 set would equal 16 feet in length.. my bunks are 20', meaning I would need to buy additional sets and cut one of the 8' sections in half.....just curious, like I said, my trailer is less than 2 years old and so far no issues with the carpet...but when the time comes I think I'm going to buy what you have. I like the looks of those better than any thing else i've seen... what are they made of and do they scratch up or scar the bottom of your toons?

They're some kind of ABS style plastic. I don't see how they could possibly do any damage to the bottom of the toons. I used my wood chop saw to cut them to length to make sure the cuts stayed square

[SoapPeddler]

Its definitely not ABS. That's the stuff football helmets are made of. My guess is that it UHMW plastic. Slippery stuff. I use it to make parts for some of my woodworking jigs.

[chill'nthemost]

Its definitely not ABS. That's the stuff football helmets are made of. My guess is that it UHMW plastic. Slippery stuff. I use it to make parts for some of my woodworking jigs.

"Heavy Duty Space-Age Polymer" whatever that is according the the Eastern site

[Leisure Kraft]

I'm considering ordering http://www.superslide.com/blue-iron.php to use as bunk glides. Im going to get the 1/2" x 3" x 10' length.... I called them today, and they are investigating shipping options and will return my call with a total price. They say that the 3" pieces can be rolled small enough to satisfy UPS, but the 10' length isnt good for shipping. They will cut them to 5' pieces without problem.

My question is...

After adding the 1/2" thickness to the last half of my bunks, it will essentially raise the boat 1/2" on the trailer, but only the rear 10' portion...

Do I risk CRIMPING/DENTING the bottom of the logs - at the place where there's a 1/2" 'drop off' transition from the now raised area, as compared to the original bunks?

I intend to remove all carpet from the area under the glides.

I think they intend for you to run those the entire distance. I know the ones we sell are in 6"x2"x4' sections. Pretty sure they're UPS-friendly at that length. The material itself is 1/8" thick, btw. That 2" figure is the wrap-around height rather than the thickness.

[Toonfisher]

Crap I have logged in 6 times already just trying to write a post. I hate dial up!!!! Anyway i really wanted to share what i did for my bunk glides. Inexpensive, Nice looking,(sorry no pics. Dial up SUCKS) and very fuctional.
I purchased 4 5"x5" x 9' vinyl fence post's from an overstocked fence dealer. I ripped them down to 1 1/2" and ripped my bunk boards to 5".
This gave me enough material for 4 18' bunk boards. No carpet to rot no treated lumber against my tubes. They are almost an 1/8" thick, In my opinion just the right amount of sliding action. Good luck and enjoy.

PS Help, every time i change pages,save draft, load draft, scratch nose etc.
i have to log back in. I check the box to stay logged in but nothing works any help would really be appreciated. You wouldnt believe the frustration.
Thanks

[Leisure Kraft]

PS Help, every time i change pages,save draft, load draft, scratch nose etc.
i have to log back in. I check the box to stay logged in but nothing works any help would really be appreciated. You wouldnt believe the frustration.
Thanks

You might verify that your browser isn't blocking "cookies". State management on these websites (remembering who's logged in) is accomplished by something called cookies on your browser.

[PlaynDoc]

Well, thanks to the input from all, especially chill'nthemost, I bit the bullet and installed some http://www.easternmarine.com/Self-Cente ... er-86162-/ Self Centering Bunk Glides.

I decided to go with full length installation. My bunks are 20' long, so I ordered 5 kits - delivered to my door for around $265 or something like that. Nothing left over. 5 kits resulted in the exact amount of Glides.

I'm so glad I did this project. When I removed the carpet from my bunks, low and behold - the wood is simply pressure treated pine! Now, I'm not a chemist, but several people on here say that the chemicals from the treated wood can leach through the carpet and screw up the aluminum logs.

It took about 6 hours to remove the carpet and install the glides. Had I known the existing wood was simply treated, I would have saved a bunch of heartache and back ache, and just bought new boards from Lowe's.

Once the carpet was off, installation was a breeze.

I put a rounded end on each end of the boards, starting at the rear and working my way forward. Just chop off the curved end on the middle pieces. Butt them end to end, and insert the included stainless steel screws. 200 screws later, and you're done! I predrilled the plastic edges, to help get the screw started. Predrilling the wood is not needed.

When I went to the marina to pick up my boat, I decided to take it for a midnight spin.... See my other posting for reaching 31 mph!!! Geeze, it's amazing what low humidity and 'mirror smooth' cold water will allow....

The boat loaded like a dream. I got to show off a bit at the launch/ramp. It was 11:30pm or so... I thought the place would be deserted. A tiny V-hull with a 60 merc was starting to load as I returned to the marina. I drove slowly thru the no wake zone to get to the dock to tie my boat. I tied my boat, got my trailer, backed it into the water beside him, loaded my bulky pontoon, and pulled out of the water, while the oher boat was still fiddle farting around trying to get their boat onto the trailer. It was very easy to drive onto the trailer. Since it was so late, I didnt bother to try to see how it unloaded.


Here's a photo of the Self-Centering Bunk Glides from Easern Marine.... Taken on my way to pick up my boat from the marina where I left it. It's like, 11:30pm... Perhaps I'll remember to take a better daylight picture the next time I go to the lake.

You can seen in the picture the slanted grooves on the face.... supposedly this helps with centering and helps shed water.

[ROLAND]

Playndoc... those look great!! yeah, chillin has me convinced as well. My trailer is less than 2 years old so no need to change the bunks out now but when that time comes, I'll be going the same route you and chilln did... not only do they look good, they apparently do what they're intended to do...

[PlaynDoc]

Yeah, my trailer is a mere 4 months old. I was kinda forced into making the change now, rather than waiting.

A few weeks ago i was launching from a shallow ramp, in heavy traffic water, when i ripped some of the front carpet while POWERING off, in reverse.

Once the carpet was ripped, i knew i had to do something, and soon. So, it's done. Dont have to fool with it for years and years, unless the wood rots. Im betting the plastic glides will still be in good shape. Ill just remove them and put them on new wood.

[chill'nthemost]

Looks great!! It's a lot of money up front, but your example of ripping the carpet in only 4 months I think is justification. It's bad enough that it happened with a new trailer, but think of how pissed you'd be if you had just spent some of your week-end a short time ago to re-carpet and have that happen in such a short time. I think you'll find it's easier to load and unload too.

[PlaynDoc]

Looks great!! It's a lot of money up front, but your example of ripping the carpet in only 4 months I think is justification. It's bad enough that it happened with a new trailer, but think of how pissed you'd be if you had just spent some of your week-end a short time ago to re-carpet and have that happen in such a short time. I think you'll find it's easier to load and unload too.

I think the money i spent was well spent. I'm certainly not rich, but I don't mind saving and spending what it takes to do it right.

Loading onto carpet was never a problem, but always required somewhat of a 'power on' for the last couple of feet. I always tried to back the trailer in AS FAR as I could, without getting my truck tires too much into water (I don't want water in my truck axels) to wet the carpet before loading, then pull forward to get the tires onto dry ground if possible. The momentum of the boat carried me right up, but I could certainly feel when it hit carpet.

Loading onto the Glides - I couldnt even feel i was on the trailer until the front of the boat began to raise. It was kinda wierd doing that in the middle of the night - i first thought i missed the bunks! It certainly did not require me to 'power on' to the trailer - I just slid right in! Matter of fact, after I hit my front bumpers with the bow of the boat, I usually raise the motor then fasten the safety strap. As I was raising the motor, it felt like I was sliding backwards. I stopped raising the motor and fastened the strap and gave it a spin to pull the boat back up a couple inches.

Unloading from carpet - geeze, the boat literally STUCK to it... I dont know if that's the carpet's design, or leaching sap/chemicals from the wood that makes it soooooo sticky. Even to touch the carpet, it has a tacky feeling...

Perhaps soon I'll get to experience unloading from the Glides... If the weather will warm up again!

Anyway, no more carpet for me.... I like my bunks the way I like *another* thing... NO CARPET AT ALL.

[Leisure Kraft]

It certainly did not require me to 'power on' to the trailer - I just slid right in! Matter of fact, after I hit my front bumpers with the bow of the boat, I usually raise the motor then fasten the safety strap. As I was raising the motor, it felt like I was sliding backwards. I stopped raising the motor and fastened the strap and gave it a spin to pull the boat back up a couple inches.

I tell my customers to take it easy on their first load after getting those Slickems. I can just see someone powering up hard (by comparison) and hitting the front bumpers hard.

And yes, now with the reduced friction you may want to have a friend attach the winch strap when you get up there. Since you're in the boat and moving around (on an incline with limited friction) you could probably bump around enough to get your boat to slide back down into the water again. I guess I'm saying you want to limit any movement there in the boat until you're hooked to the winch.

[chill'nthemost]

These from Eastern aren't so slick that I'd worry about my toon sliding back, maybe on a really steep ramp. I'm guessing the flat style I've seen that they use in the back of dump trucks would have a "slide back" problem