Looking to rebuild my trailer bunks and lift my boat off the trailer

[BShafer]

I'm in Modesto California and I need to repair/replace the bunk boards for my trailer and I'm looking for some information.

First I run a 2002 Javelin R20 and the trailer is a dual axel. My bunks are loose and the bolts have rusted so I want to replace them but I'm only able to find bunks that are 5ft long. My trailer has four bunks that I want to replace but two of them are are closer to eight foot than five foot. So am I able to use pressure treated wood from the lumber yard or is there something else I should be using
and if so is there a place to buy them that you can referr me to.

If I make my own should I stay with the 2x4 style that is already being used or has anybody out there upgraded to 2x6 if so how did it work out for you.

Last I was reading some interesting ideas for removing the boat from the trailer utilizing the jack plate and was wanting to find out if anyone has some pictures of this process to help me with the vissual on it.

Thanks

BShafer

[mikeyp]

You can use pressure treated lumber, but even a better choice would be composite deck material. And go with 2x6.

[NoCAL]

Bring her up to Galaxie marine and have them do it for you! I just had mine replaced and it was only a couple hundred dollars plus materials. They used pressure treated lumber.

NoCAL

[Ranger 85]

This may be a little hard to understand but I had to replace mine also. I have a Ranger 350V with a Ranger trail trailer what I did was I made up the new bunks with pressure treated lumber and new boat carpet using all new hardware and I also made up new brackets they were just angle iron. I really took my time to measure up everything so that they would fit. When it came time to do the replacement I left the front winch cable hooked up and unstraped everything else. I than used a floor jack with a 2x6 piece of wood covered with carpet and jacked one side at a time at the transom with the jack more to one side the boat raised up on that side and still rested on the other. I only rasied the boat up about 4in. and that gave me the room to remove the old and install the new. This really worked great for me. I left the mount bolts a little loose at the mounting brackets so that when the boat was lowered it would put the bunks right where they had to be on the bottom of the boat. Hope this might give you an idea as to how to get yours done. Good Luck !!!

[Jo Anna Boesch]

There are a few important things to remember when using treated lumber as bunk boards. I know this well, since I live in Louisiana where water is brakish and salty.

1) The EPA changed guidelines for how lumber companies must treat lumber a few years ago (I think 2007). The chemical basis went from using arsenic to a high copper content. As a result, if you do not use either staples (galvanized would be compatable but, galvanized staples would not work, lol, and there is no such thing as copper staples) that are 100% stainless steel, the treatment will destroy your staples.
2) Do not ever glue your carpet on your boards. No matter how hard you try, you will end up with a glue "pellet" or two under the carpet and you can quickly ruin your boat's finish.
3) Wrap your boards 3/4 around but leave at least a 2" strip on bottom open. This is where your hardware (pivot L's, most likely, attached with galvanized lag screws) attach to the board. But the real advantage is that your bunk board can try out. Otherwise, water sinks to the bottom of your boards and gets trapped, causing rot, eventually.

Another option instead of treated lumber is cedar. I have emailed several composite board manufacturers to ask about use as bunk boards. My gut tells me composites are not designed to hold very much weight, but we shall see.

[Adub]

composit lumber is not strong enough, it needs support every 12 inches,
I've built a couple of decks with it, great stuff but not for bunks.

http://www.bbcboards.net...63930

search bunks, a lot of info

[bbnate804]

+1 to jacking up the boat one side at a time. last week when i was working on polishing the boat i put the bottle jack under the corner of the boat back at the transom, supported it with some 2x4 and lifted the boat off the trailer about 5 or 6 inches so i could polish behind the wheel well. if you leave the tongue strapped in the boats not going anywhere. it seemed like plenty room to pull the bunks out.

[calfish1]

stay with the 2x4's. best way is to make them up ahead of time, then go to the lake launch boat and replace the bunks on an empty trailer. dont risk damage to the hull.
west marine has precut bunk carpet and the stainless staples

[HydraSports]

Maybe a good idea to coat the boards in resin to prevent rotting? Nobody seems to do that. Makes sense to me.

Just get cheap resin at Autozone

[Frank A]

did my 389t javalin...got all the need supplies up ahead of time, was able to reuse my boards/bunks, just moved the boards up 3in and redrilled, used all galvinized bolts/washers/ nuts from Lowes, purchase galvinized brackets from local boat repair shop.
Dropped brother & boat at lake to go fishing. I went back to shop did the work from start to finish picked him up about 3:30. Leave bunk angle bracket bolts semi tight, load boat drive over couple speed bumps then tighten them.
One word of advise borrow,buy,rent or steal an air stapler for those stainless staples..(if you steal it you have to take it back and apolige to the owner ....God will forgive ya this time) you'll get back to the lake by noon and you hand want hurt for 3 days.

[896J]

I changed the bunks on my trailer with bunks I made from pressure treated lumber from Home Depot. I lifted the boat one side at a time with floor jacks. The bunks I made have lasted about twice as long as the original bunks and are still in good shape.

[delee36]

pressure treat lumber is softer than the composite...and the carpet actually last longer as a result...or so I am told.

no reason to jack the boat etc...

Measure the bunks...get the new ones prepped and ready to install...grab the tools...take the boat to the lake...launch...remove the old ones, replace the with the new ones...takes about 10 minutes...go fishing.

just be sure you have everything you need as far as tools, hardware, etc. I planned mine to replace all the hardware...screws, brackets everything...took it all with me...swapped them in about 15 minutes.

[skeeter 190]

trailer parts depot has bunk board up to 12'

[Fisher]

Forget the jack.....that just doesn't sound too safe if you don't know exactely what you are doing. I got precut carpet at BPS and treated lumber / galvanized lag bolts from lowe's. Already had a stapler and picked up some stainless stell staples for it. I made the bunks the same lenth as what were on the trailer, told my brother in law we were going fishing, dropped the boat in the water, tied it up, replaced bunks in 5 minutes with his help, then went fishing. Piece of cake!!!!! And the best part is that it maybe cost me $40 total.

Just my 2 cents