Replacing Trailer Bunks

[Road Glide]

From what I understand, replacing the bunks on my trailer with pressure treated wood is not a good idea. Any suggestions on what type of wood to use? If I use regular pine, I can't see it lasting more than a season. Thanks!

[DWill3332]

Unless your bunks are too far gone to be used, you may want to cover them with slides like I have done on my trailer. The toon slides on and off with very little effort. There is a discussion elsewhere on this forum. This link may take you there. If not, just search "slides." Hope this helps. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8528&p=65681&hilit=slides#p65681

[jimrs]

There is not much else to use other than Pressure treated lumber. cover it with carpet and you won't have a problem.

[chill'nthemost]

Check this post out viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5607

I've used the bunk caps from Eastern Marine. They are 3 sided and cover the whole bunk and eliminate the carpet. The link is for them is on one of my post in the one above. I'd stay away from P.T. It's made of soft sap wood, which makes it easier to inject the P.T. Wood like Doug Fur is made of heart wood and is much stronger, then you can treat it with a preservative.

[badmoonrising]

Yep, stay away from PT. Even if you use carpet, (which stays wet) it'll react with aluminum and eventually cause holes to develop in your pontoon logs.

[Ron Burgundy]

BMR is right. I had this problem. The marina owner told me he once had to weld two 20 foot long strips of aluminium on a pontoon because of pressure treated wood and carpet. There is copper in PT wood and this will eat away the aluminium.

There is not much else to use other than Pressure treated lumber. cover it with carpet and you won't have a problem.

Jim. If you are in salt water you will have a big problem.

[Bamby]

I'm considering another option myself. Some of the boards and the carpet is pretty well shot on my pontoon trailer. The other day while cruising the isles at Home Dept I encountered a pretty good selection of pvc vinyl boards in stock fact is I brought one home. Now what I'm considering is just removing the carpet and replacing the defective boards with the standard treated variety commonly available. My trailer happens to use 2x6's for the bunks and the vinyl board I picked up is just slightly wider at about 5 3/4''. What I'm going to do is countersink the vinyl and fasten it in place with SS screws. I'm thinking the vinyl will provide a barrier and the woods treatment should then be a irrelevant factor. The vinyl boards weren't all that expensive and definitely cheeper than any commercial product I've seen sold for the application.

Thoughts....

[dockholiday]

May not enter into your case but saw some vinyl/composite board (think at HD) any way was talking with someone an they said many of those are not structural so you couldn't use for topping a deck or dock in my case. Some are so I guess you just need to make sure if you need structural. Just thought i would toss that in
doc

[Drago]

Road Glide,

I'm having similar issues. My trailer is just now going on its 4th year and I had one bunk rot and screws began falling out before I knew what was happening. I used yellow pine and indoor/outdoor carpet with stainless 18 gauge staples. No matter how tight I try to stretch it, the carpet seems loose. I've allready noticed one rip in it.

I discovered last weekend, another board rotting. I am thinking of now replacing them all.

Has anyone ever read that the carpet can be glued to the wood?

I've considered the sorts of plastic covers that are available but the cost and lack of stiction gives me pause.

Someone mentioned using douglas fir instead of pine. Is that really a better choice?

And why do the bunks that come on all trailers seem to all have the carpet completely covering the wood? Looks like the only place it is needed is between the wood and aluminum tube.

[chill'nthemost]

Road Glide,

I'm having similar issues. My trailer is just now going on its 4th year and I had one bunk rot and screws began falling out before I knew what was happening. I used yellow pine and indoor/outdoor carpet with stainless 18 gauge staples. No matter how tight I try to stretch it, the carpet seems loose. I've allready noticed one rip in it.

I discovered last weekend, another board rotting. I am thinking of now replacing them all.

Has anyone ever read that the carpet can be glued to the wood?

I've considered the sorts of plastic covers that are available but the cost and lack of stiction gives me pause.

Someone mentioned using douglas fir instead of pine. Is that really a better choice?

And why do the bunks that come on all trailers seem to all have the carpet completely covering the wood? Looks like the only place it is needed is between the wood and aluminum tube.

I'm sure no expert, but I think it depends on the type of pine. Yellow pine is supposed to be very strong. As far as the cost of the plastic caps, I think you also need to look at the cost savings of years of service of the plastic caps compared to redoing carpet every few years. I just don't like the thought of wet carpet on wood. Water soaking on wood over and over is just going to be a problem again. Also, it's easy to tear even new carpet. I love the way our toon launches and loads with the caps compared to carpet.

[Drago]

I love the way our toon launches and loads with the caps compared to carpet.

I'm a tad worried that the weight of the boat on those Teflon or UHMW caps might put a huge strain on the strap when I pull out of steep ramps - no stiction - might slide off the trailer if the strap breaks.

[GregF]

I love the way our toon launches and loads with the caps compared to carpet.

I'm a tad worried that the weight of the boat on those Teflon or UHMW caps might put a huge strain on the strap when I pull out of steep ramps - no stiction - might slide off the trailer if the strap breaks.

If that strap won't hold the boat against gravity sitting still, how in the hell did it ever pull the boat up? If you are worried on the pull out, hook up your safety cable. (probably not a bad idea anyway)

[chill'nthemost]

I love the way our toon launches and loads with the caps compared to carpet.

I'm a tad worried that the weight of the boat on those Teflon or UHMW caps might put a huge strain on the strap when I pull out of steep ramps - no stiction - might slide off the trailer if the strap breaks.

They're not as slick as you might think. They have directional groves "Vee's" to let the water flow away so there isn't any type of hydroplane effect. I also used carriage bolts to mount the wood the put the caps over the top. I just seen too many bunks with lose lag bolts and IF the wood ever does get to a point of rotting again the carriage bolts would still work like a pin to hold the bunk where the rotten wood will allow the lag to just drop out. The day I dropped my family off at the lake to go back home and install my new bunks, one 22ft section of carpeted bunk floated off with the toon at the launch. I knew I had been on borrowed time. One of the few times in life my timing was perfect. (still remember my mother in law looking over the side and asking, "what's that thing floating next to the boat )

[woolznaz]

I love the way our toon launches and loads with the caps compared to carpet.

I'm a tad worried that the weight of the boat on those Teflon or UHMW caps might put a huge strain on the strap when I pull out of steep ramps - no stiction - might slide off the trailer if the strap breaks.

Drago, here's an idea I've been thinking about that might help you. I've been thinking about taking the carpet off of the front 3-4 feet of my bunks and replacing that section only with the slicker pads. Here's what I'm thinking. When you launch the boat, the back end of the logs are floating and only the front few feet are "sticking" to the trailer. So, this idea should allow the boat to float off the trailer with little effort. When you put it back on the trailer, it should float right on very easily too. However, when you pull it out of the water, within a couple of seconds, the rest of the logs will set back down on the carpeted section and still give that "friction" that you like so the strap and chain are not doing all the work.

We've been lucky, I guess, because we have had no problems (knock on wood) launching or retrieving so far. But our ramp is fairly steep and I have to power off more than I would like. It makes me wonder how hard it will be on a shallow ramp when we go somewhere else. I'll find out this summer, I'm sure. Anyway, that partial pad and the rest carpet idea seems to make sense to me. I may try it.

[GregF]

That trailer strap should be strong enough to pick your boat up and hang it from a crane.