Ok...pics of my new home made bunk guide system..I hope!

[fiddlebick]

Ok dokie, here we go. I am going to try my hand at the photobucket thing. These are pics of the new home made bunk guides I built. They are a knock off the the 4c innovation product, except they are rigid built from 2" square tubing and smaller tubing for the bracing. All this stock I had on hand so the cost was minimal. I spent around 100 bucks for the 2x6's, outdoor carpet, and gavanized bolts and nuts. I guessed at the angle for front to rear rise, and as you can see in the pics, it was a good match for the ramp at Rough River State resort park in Ky. My wife drove the boat right on this morning..smiles all around from her and I!! Last week we tried it at another lake with a steeper ramp, and it still works, just not as impressive looking as these pics. The real test will be in the current of the Ohio, and/or possible windy conditions. Still, so far I am happy with the results, and factoring in the continued experience my wife is getting each time out, coupled with my own learning curve...which means shut the hell up and let her load the boat, and quit giving wild hand signals that mean nothing, and shouting from the bank.

[Bryden24shp]

That looks like it should work really good! I can adapt that to my rough water guides, as well. Let me know how it works! NICE!!!

[DRock]

Nice work!

[HandymanHerb]

I did some editing for you, separate the pictures out a line or two, you can hit edit to see what I did, and you can then back out without changing a thing, also you were using more of the link than was needed, but good pictures

[Liquid Asset]

Nice work it looks real good ! I should make some thing like that. My trailer has the 4 post style guides and ever since I added my strakes it can get caught on those if the trailer isn't in just the correct spot when loading. Again very nice !!!

[sunnyside]

Superb rig!! I really like your new loading guides. Seems like it would be the ultimate solution for inexperienced boaters and loading in windy or rough water conditions. Using this design with a tritoon should work so long as there is plenty of clearance for the middle log.

[fiddlebick]

Thanks Herb, I will get better at the pic posting with time. As for the guides, I will say that since I have a wirefeed welder, I was able to complete this project, and the only help I had was the final mounting of the boards by my unsuspecting neighbor who stopped by to hang out and have a beer in the shop...heh heh.. but he saved me a lot of c-clamping that I normally do. All said and done,considering time and material, I think the price of the 4c product is very reasonable. I spent a lot of time cutting, welding and painting this set-up, and the carpet job took a lot longer than I thought, but I was being very picky on getting a tight fit. There is a good youtube video on carpeting bunk boards..that helped me a lot as well. I will post more results in a few weeks after a few more trips. The Ohio has been way up and running hard with lots of trees and driftwood in the current for the past few weeks so we have been lake bound.

[lakerunner]

Man that's a great job

[steveiam]

Good job!
That will help a lot!

[bluecollarpilot]

Man, that looks great!

[crspang]

Good job! I'm not sure why that type of guide is not universally installed on all pontoon trailers.

[steveiam]

Hope you don't mind me jumping in with your thread but I wanted to show how I have updated since I last posted, my carpet job is no where as nice as yours but it does the job, you did good!
The video at the end looks kinda weird, i just got a new camera and it not transferring over for some reason. Hopefully it can show the loading.

[ROLAND]

Fiddlebick... those look GREAT! Outstanding job on the build.. and I like how they're good and visible above the water making it almost full proof to load onto the trailer... very nice!!!!

[twotoons]

Very nice job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[curtiscapk]

Both of you awesome job!