bunk spray

[ROLAND]

Hey guys, any of you ever used a bunk spray called "liquid rollers". Read alot of good things about it, but nothing from anyone who was using a pontoon boat. wondered if it could "damage" the toons.

[texaspontoon]

I assume you have carpet bunks? I have had a trailer with boat carpet and with plastic coated bunks. The liquid rollers will work on both materials, but dude, it will be like adding PAM to a teflon slick skillet if you are putting it on plastic coated bunks. BE CAREFULL to make sure your safety chain is on and you winch cable is still engaged when you back down the ramp or you might be one of the few chosen ones who has to figure out a way to slide your boat down concrete into the water in order to get it back on the trailer. ]

Now slidding your toons down a concrete or asphalt ramp will hurt your toons..but the liquid should not hurt the toons at all.

So the product works but not that great on carpet. You have to remember to treat the bunks every few times after they have dried, and give them time to dry for a few minutes before you put the trailer back in the water.

Just curious...Are you having problems getting your boat off at the ramp or on? I sometimes have trouble backing the boat off the bunks at the ramp because the toons feel like they are glued to the bunks.

I now have plastic coated rails (which came on my new trailer) as opposed to carpet on my old ones. They are much better in my opinion.

Good luck, and happy boating!

[chill'nthemost]

Carpet.....never again. Can't believe how many trailers saw at the lake yesterday with torn carpet. I love my plastic caps.

[HandymanHerb]

Just say no to bunks, I have rollers and like em, no wet carpet against my toons, easy to get to most of the toons to clean and polish.

[ROLAND]

So the product works but not that great on carpet. You have to remember to treat the bunks every few times after they have dried, and give them time to dry for a few minutes before you put the trailer back in the water.

Just curious...Are you having problems getting your boat off at the ramp or on? I sometimes have trouble backing the boat off the bunks at the ramp because the toons feel like they are glued to the bunks.

I now have plastic coated rails (which came on my new trailer) as opposed to carpet on my old ones. They are much better in my opinion.

Good luck, and happy boating!

Texaspontoon... yes, I have carpet bunks and was really having trouble launching and loading, but about a month or so ago we started using a different launch where the water is several feet deeper right at the launch site, that allows us to back up alittle further and the boat's been coming off without too much trouble... now putting it back on.. my big issue there is partly the bunks, but mainly lineing it up correctly.. bought some 48" guides to put on the trailer, hope that will help. You mentioned you had plastic coated rails... havent seen those.. can you send a pic or maybe direct me to a web site that shows them. Regardless my boat and trailer are both less than a year old so pretty much will use this trailer til I have to do something about the bunks... I mentioned the liquid rollers because I thought they just might make it easier to launch and retrieve... as far as unhooking the strap and chain... we don't unhook til the back end of the boats in the water and the motors running. Had a friend who unhooked, then as his boat was floating off the trailer, he couldn't get his motor started... we got it back on the trailer manually, but I don't want to fool with that...so strap stays on til motors running.

[chill'nthemost]

Roland, here's the link for plastic bunk covers. There are different ones on the market, I'm very happy with these. I bought the white covers.
http://www.easternmarine.com/em_store/bunks_guides/

[ROLAND]

Chillin....thanks for the link. I know you said you liked those, do they really make that big a difference as far as coming off and getting back on the trailer? Hard to install?

[adhollow46]

I back trailer with boat on it till I see end of the bunk nearest me is in water. I wait about two minutes so carpet is real wet. Start boat engine and unhook winch. Wife backs trailer in till boat floats.
Loading, I put trailer in water as I did to unload boat. Making sure all carpet is wet. I do drive out of water a little so I can see part of side guides.
Wet carpet lets boat slide on and off trailer. Dry carpet holds it on.

[chill'nthemost]

Chillin....thanks for the link. I know you said you liked those, do they really make that big a difference as far as coming off and getting back on the trailer? Hard to install?

Roland,

At least in our case, the plastic made a huge difference. If you look closely, the caps are directional. They're not just a smooth surface. Hard to install? No, just a little time consuming. I made all new bunks from doug fur and painted with a wood preservative. It was a little tough to find straight 20' 2x4's without knots in the area of where I would be drilling to bolt to the supports. All the caps have one rounded end, the other end is a straight cut. I used a wood chop saw to cut the ends off the pieces between the fore and aft covers as the covers are only 4'. On saw horses I mocked up all 4 bunks and pre drilled for the mounting screws on the sides. I dropped off my wife and friends with the toon and went back home to install new ones. When I launched that last time with the old bunks, one bunk floated off the trailer. I knew I was on borrowed time, a little too close. The wood was so rotten, the lag bolts had nothing to hold on to. That's why I used carriage bolts. Since I had everything mocked up, I'm guessing it only took a little over a hour to install using air tools. The only holes I waited to drill were the ones for the carriage bolts. I clamped the wood on the trailer, then drilled those holes. All the screws that come with the bunk are stainless. I used stainless carriage bolts too. I think this setup will last for years.

[ROLAND]

Chilln.... thanks for the reply.. sounds like a great set up for the trailer bunks. My trailer is only 9 months old so no need right now to do anything... but I wrote down the link you gave me for the caps and will keep that in mind when the time to replace my current ones come up.. Thanks again for the information. I appreciate it.

[Ogre]

Roland, here's the link for plastic bunk covers. There are different ones on the market, I'm very happy with these. I bought the white covers.
http://www.easternmarine.com/em_store/bunks_guides/

d'oh, I posted in the wrong thread... ..

[Thin Ice]

Carpet.....never again. Can't believe how many trailers saw at the lake yesterday with torn carpet. I love my plastic caps.

I Agree Chilln....Once I get the $$, I will be replacing my carpeted wood bunks with plastic. My trailer is 2 years old, Ive used it maybe 10-12 times and it looks like Ive used it every weekend for 10 years. I dont even want to replace the carpet and Im in the floor covering business!

[chill'nthemost]

Carpet.....never again. Can't believe how many trailers saw at the lake yesterday with torn carpet. I love my plastic caps.

I Agree Chilln....Once I get the $$, I will be replacing my carpeted wood bunks with plastic. My trailer is 2 years old, Ive used it maybe 10-12 times and it looks like Ive used it every weekend for 10 years. I dont even want to replace the carpet and Im in the floor covering business!

That's pretty funny I always feel better about the one time wallet pain when I park with all the other trailers at the marina. When you think about it, carpet on bunks is almost like throwing a bucket of water on the carpet in your living room every once in a while. After a while it's going to not only ruin the carpet, but the wood too.

[jimrs]

The carpet is getting cut to pieces and ragged because of you and the way you load/unload your boat. Did I start to piss you off there. It's not your fault it's the idiot who got the angle wrong on the boat ramp or the idiot who put the razor edge on the bottom of the toon to slice the carpet on your runners. Or the idiot who designed the trailer bunks that have a toon with a "knife" on the bottom. I have had trailers under v hull and tri hulls for years and never had the carpet sacrificed like a toon will do it.
The Plastic seems like the choice but for god sake be carefull and make sure that the boat is tied down real well. Front and Back with a safety chain in the front.

[ROLAND]

Jimrs... do you know of any covered slips with lifts on caddo lake? I've seen plenty of private ones when I'm cruising, but don't ever recall seeing any "commerical" ones for rent.... I think I would love to have a covered slip with a lift... Know I wouldn't miss the weekend drives to the boat storage place.