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

[redbeard]

Great job guys makes boating so much more enjoyable not to have to fight to get the toon back on the trailer, it just gets better with time.

[evinrude2stroke]

Wow Fiddle, that looks professional. If all works well you should think about marketing it.

[lakerunner]

Both of you awesome job!

agreed

[IrnGynt]

I guessed at the angle for front to rear rise

Looking at the pic, your guess was perfect. Looks like your guides are floating. Very nice work!

[OK Toon]

Those guides are great. Excellent job!

[Marathon]

Great job. From a relative beginner, those look really helpful.

[fiddlebick]

Thanks for all the positive remarks, I hope it helps someone else to see this style. Again, every ramp I visit will not make this trailer look this good out in the water, some will be steeper, in fact I doubt any will match up this good with the angle I used when I built it. In the pics you can also see some of my disc brake system I added earlier this spring. I finally have this trailer to my liking, but I am considering the PVC boards that Steveiam has on his bunks, I really like his system as well. The bunk guides that came with the trailer (I assume) were simple 2" channel iron without any bracing, we bent one of those in strong current/windy loading conditions, so it was a "have to" situation for me.

[oldcoot]

Great ideas...got me thinkin' now.....which is kinda dangerous......

[Ryan1]

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.

Those look awesome! They look much stronger than the 4c ones. This is what I want to have done. You don't happen to have any of the measurements, such as total length, height difference front and rear?


Thanks
Ryan

[old jim]

I need them there things in my slip.

[sunnyside]

Nice. I like your new guides. Bet they work well on a windy day.

[fiddlebick]

Sorry I haven't been on here in a while, I will be glad to measure the setup as completely as I can and post.

[Ryan1]

Sorry I haven't been on here in a while, I will be glad to measure the setup as completely as I can and post.

Thanks

Ryan

[Bamaman]

My boat's hanging in a boathouse sitting on a big rack underneath my boat.

I did the same thing as above, however my boards flare out at the end. The boards center my boat perfectly.

Your idea couldn't work better for a boat trailer.

[fiddlebick]

Ryan here is what I measured on the trailer guides: On the front supports I used a 20" length of 2 in. square tubing for the upright and 10" piece for the foot which when butted and welded to the upright makes a 12" foot mount. The brace is about 12" and I fit it to an angle that looked good to me. I used 1x1x1/8 square tubing for these.

The rear support dimensions are: upright 30" foot 11 1/2" butted and welded made it 13 1/2 total length of the foot.

The mounting tabs are 2x4 x 1/4" predrilled before welding them on of course. They bowed very slightly when I tightened them down, I
could have used 3/8" stock, but they are still just fine.

Where the dovetails are in the back I actually used some scrap 3/8 flat bar that came off of my previous pontoon trailer. I had replaced them with some square tubing guides, and they were already bent at an acceptable angle. I just drilled them to accept the boards and welded them in place. Don't use anything thinner in my opinion, and I am keeping an eye on them as my wife loads to see if they are going to bend if she comes in a little hard. I can always reinforce them if needed.

I used all galvanized hardware to mount. The 2x6's are 10 footers, and the setup is mounted at the crossmembers at a span of 9'.
Now when I fit it up, I just mounted a board with one bolt on the front guide,roughly in the "center of the toon" then swiveled it up at the rear brace till it looked about right, and c-clamped it in place. Grabbed a lawn chair, sat down and drank a beer, which allowed me to ponder the placement. Now I built this with the boat on the trailer of course, which allowed me to leave several inches of clearance where needed at the transom pan and bottom of the boat, although it is a little cramped when working under there...but I had no choice. The dovetail short boards are about 18 inches long I think, I didnt' measure them before I put the boat away.
I tried to give as much detail as I could....oh and I welded blanks on the ends of the tubing to keep water out of them and give a more finished look. I bought indoor/outdoor carpet for the bunk guide boards, borrowed a stapler from my best friend, and watched a video on youtube to learn how to recarpet the boards...I think it was titled "boat trailer restoration" or something like that.

So far it has worked well on the ramp at the Ohio, and Rough River lake in Kentucky, and even at a steep ramp we use at another lake, I just back down till the dove tails are in place on top of the water, then back in a little further after she gets the beast started on the trailer.
One other thing, those guides can be an inch or so different in height according to your trailer setup and your toon diameters I would think. Hope this helps anyone, sorry I don't know the exact angle of the guides, but you can always redo something that ain't quite right...thats why God made grinders and cutoff wheels!