Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I ordered UHMW for the new bunks I'm building for the trailer. I'm replacing all the wood - 4 years old and rotting apart. I'll use treated lumber and 1/2" thick UHMW between it and the boat. I'm wondering if there is any way to prevent the screws that I'll use to hold the UHMW to the treated lumber from working their way out. Stainless recessed flathead seem the way to go. Recess them far enough and I might fill the cavity with marine cauld/adhesive/sealand but not much in the world will adhere to UHMW. Any ideas?

Found this interesting link...
http://www.reltekllc.com/adhesives-for-uhmw.htm

And it ain't cheap...
http://www.mcmaster.com/#bondit-b45th-adhesives/=gulm3l

Instead of screws how about recessed SS bolts with a lock nut

Kenneth
I am very interested in your post as I am doing the same thing. My orginal plan was the same as yours but I hit a snag that you may not have run into yet or maybe it is just me. When I drilled my holes in the plastic for the screws to go thru and then went back with a counter sink to recess the screw head it was a bear counter sinking one hole. I know I do not want to spend that much time and effort with as many screws as I have to do. I then thought I would use a over size bit and just drill a 1/4" depth. Problem the UHMW starts a strip and will not allow a smooth transistion. I am now thinking of going thru the 2x4 and just 3/8" into the UHMW. This would be very exacting to insure no screw tips came thru. Any experince or thoughts on your end would be appreciated.

Treated lumber is treated to resist insects, not exposure to water. Use marine grade wood if you expect it to get wet. Yes, it costs more, but there's a reason for that.

Try Durham's wood putty to fill holes. Dries fast & hard. Found that Suntracker used it in spots on the flooring of our 1994 Party Cruiser while restoring the boat this year. It held up better than some of the surrounding wood.

S.S. screws if torqued properly (not over torqued) should be fine. If in doubt, put some Loc-Tite on the threads before installing them.

I've worked with UHMW for about 20 years in assorted projects, mostly bearing material, but have never used it for this. I've got the plastic and stainless flatheads on the way. I plan on making a template and drilling the holes in one operation. Over 300 holes but a savings of about $220 over using adhesive. The treated wood is drying in the garage now... just waiting on the other supplies I got from Mcmaster Carr and http://www.superslide.com/bispecials.php#blueiron

I ordered my material from that company also. Have you tried counter sinking a hole yet?
I really hope it is just something dumb I am doing that made it so diffcult. Let me know your results please. At least we have the same material to compare notes.

I just noticed you have the material on the way so I am guessing you have not drilled in it yet. If you need a piece to practice on I ordered some extra pieces just let me know and I will send you a scrap piece.
Holy Crap
I just read the details on your boat. 69mph that had to be blast

fredeboy wrote:I just noticed you have the material on the way so I am guessing you have not drilled in it yet. If you need a piece to practice on I ordered some extra pieces just let me know and I will send you a scrap piece.
Holy Crap
I just read the details on your boat. 69mph that had to be blast

Hmmm, he actually says 69.2KPH which works out to be 43MPH. It is odd tho showing in KPH for a US State. Typo .

Hey Old Dog, I did that on purpose to see if it would attract any attention. 43 MPH is correct... that was GPS and when the boat was new. I've not ever seen that again. Anytime I've run tests, it's 39-41.

And for the other question about UHMW, my garage is lousy with it and I've drilled it, filed it, sanded it and yes even countersunk it. Same with Teflon. Problem with Teflon is that it will flow under pressure. The key is using a tool like http://www.manasquanfasteners.com/decki ... s_smartbit which by the way has great prices on 305 (good resistance to salt water) and 318 stainless fasteners http://www.manasquanfasteners.com/

I'm really not looking forward to drilling all those holes! The adhesive to do the same job would run near $270 whereas the screws run $30-$50. I would rather wear out my back and some drills and keep the change.....

Drago wrote:I'm really not looking forward to drilling all those holes! The adhesive to do the same job would run near $270 whereas the screws run $30-$50. I would rather wear out my back and some drills and keep the change.....

If I lived much closer I'd drill them for you. As a hobby I made personalized handcrafted cribbage boards and have drilled more holes than there are oil wells in all of Texas, LOL.

Here's a sample with a mere 406 holes each drilled individually:

[quote="belercous"]Treated lumber is treated to resist insects, not exposure to water. Use marine grade wood if you expect it to get wet.

Treated is, I suppose, the best that can be found for the 2x4 bunks. Haven't found any marine grade 2x4 material. I'm predicting that the treated lumber I'm using without the carpet wrap will last many times longer than the 4 years I've gotten from the factory trailer bunks. I think the carpet is really the problem. It retains the water for over a week at times and sitting in the shade hastens the rotting process. After the drenching at loading time, I'm betting the wood will dry by the time I get the trailer parked in the yard.

The walk board down the center of my trailer is 2x12 western red cedar and it is holding up fine for over 10 years. That is a regular lumber yard thing, even here in Florida thousands of miles from cedar country.

I imagine if you painted it first it would last forever.

That's some major cribbage board! I haven't thought yet about making a jig to set up the work flow. When I get the plastic in hand and get the boards cut to size, I'll have a much more clear line on the undertaking.

I just can't wait to see what 108 linear feet of 2x4 western red cedar will cost! Is it as strong as yellow pine? Probably a dumb question.

Cedar is softer than SYP but it is not really that expensive.