Bunk Glides

[OLEDAVE]

Any idea what material the glides are made of?
I'm thinking of making some from 3/8" UHMW type plastic
screwed directly to new 2x4's. Any reason that might not work?

[Ron Burgundy]

Trex won't hold the weight. It has no structure value at all.

X100.

The Trex is very weak.

Yep. Some guy near me built a dock out of Trex. It now looks like a banana.

[Kelvinek]

The company I work for manufactures water control gates and we use UHMW to reduce the friction loads on the gate slides. It made my pontoon load/unload much smoother...no real point of reference other than the friction I had with carpet before I installed it. UHMW can be found at many industrial supply houses. We use a custom cut channel for our gates so i had to find another source. Look for a company that supply the conveyer industry. It is also used in the bottom of semi trailers that haul rock/gravel. I have picked up scrap from people who make trailers. Ripped it to size on a table saw, drilled and counter sank the openings. Can't say what the cost should be...the trailer manufacture I got my material from gave me the old material removed from a trailer for free. Just flipped it over to install so the top was smooth. Nice thing was to be able to rip the material the same width as my bunks and I simply rounded over the edges with a router. A little more work than the store brands, but I liked being able to cover the entire width of the bunk boards. YMMV.

[GXPWeasel]

The company I work for manufactures water control gates and we use UHMW to reduce the friction loads on the gate slides. It made my pontoon load/unload much smoother...no real point of reference other than the friction I had with carpet before I installed it. UHMW can be found at many industrial supply houses. We use a custom cut channel for our gates so i had to find another source. Look for a company that supply the conveyer industry. It is also used in the bottom of semi trailers that haul rock/gravel. I have picked up scrap from people who make trailers. Ripped it to size on a table saw, drilled and counter sank the openings. Can't say what the cost should be...the trailer manufacture I got my material from gave me the old material removed from a trailer for free. Just flipped it over to install so the top was smooth. Nice thing was to be able to rip the material the same width as my bunks and I simply rounded over the edges with a router. A little more work than the store brands, but I liked being able to cover the entire width of the bunk boards. YMMV.

Great advice. It's always nice to hear someone take initiative into their own hands, and figure stuff out, then share with others.

Thanks.

[OLEDAVE]

Thanks Kelvinek
I happen to be one of those industrial distributors so can
get the UHMW at cost. I was thinking of using 1/4" or Maybe 3/8" with flathead countersunk stainless screws.
That would probably way outlast the 2x4's. One of my customers uses UHMW on the sides of a conveyor and keeps it polished with Mother's Paste to keep it slick.
By the way, I have trailer supplies and all types of industrial
supplies and hardware (about 80,000 SKU's) if I can help anyone with anything I'll do my best.

[DWill3332]

Today was the first time I had launched the boat since putting on the bunk slides. It was mid-80's here today and the water was like glass. We trailered the toon down to Lake Eufaula (Lake Walter F. George is the official name) which is about an hour south of us. I had never launched at this ramp so I was not real sure of what I would find. The ramp was about "normal" - not too steep and not too shallow.

I put a little slack in the strap but I left the strap and the safety cable attached as I had read where others who switched to the bunk slides almost lost their boat when it slid while they were backing down the ramp. I backed the boat into the water and all the slack came out of the strap. I got on the boat, fired up the motor, unhooked the strap and cable, and it slid right off with very little effort. The wife pulled the trailer out to the parking area. Everyone got on the boat and we headed out.

We went down river for about an hour and a half just cruising along at about 12 to 15 MPH. We saw a HUGE gator out in the middle of the lake. If my cousin's pictures come out, I'll post some. While we were watching the gator, a pair of bald eagles flew over. Great day on the water!

[layne4]

Understand Trex has no structural value, what if it was installed on top of the existing bunks? Any thoughts if that would work?
Not stuck on trex, just looking to save some $$ for gas this summer!!

[GXPWeasel]

Understand Trex has no structural value, what if it was installed on top of the existing bunks? Any thoughts if that would work?
Not stuck on trex, just looking to save some $$ for gas this summer!!

For what you would spend on the trex, you could buy an entire tank of gas on my boat. I don't see you re-couping that $$ very quickly. Sure you could screw the trex over teh existing bunks, but you're getting awfully thick bunks then, and they will weight about 3x as much as regular bunk boards too.