I am in the process of reconditioning my 222 O'Day bunk trailer. The 2X8 wood support that the shoal draft keel sits on is being replaced with pressure treated lumber. The old board is covered with an outdoor carpeting,,,,Question,since a previous owner tacked on a thin piece of plywood over the carpet leads me to believe he may have wanted the boat to slide better on the keel support. I'm thinking not to carpet the new support and even gluing on a piece of smooth formica that can be butter up with grease.. What do you think? Been done before? Not a good idea?
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Wet treated pine lumber is pretty damn
slippery when it is wet. Grease it with some tallow if you want to further reduce the friction. To get some tallow: buy some beef suet for the birds or trim the fat from your next steak and cut it into small pieces and roast it in the oven at about 300 degrees until it has melted and the little pieces that you put in the pan are light brown. Strain the liquid into a tin can and let it cool. Be careful it will be HOT to start with.
slippery when it is wet. Grease it with some tallow if you want to further reduce the friction. To get some tallow: buy some beef suet for the birds or trim the fat from your next steak and cut it into small pieces and roast it in the oven at about 300 degrees until it has melted and the little pieces that you put in the pan are light brown. Strain the liquid into a tin can and let it cool. Be careful it will be HOT to start with.
Get rid of the plywood
Plywood on top of a carpeted bunk, sounds like the keel did not rest on the bunk and the plywood was used as a shim. A sailboat should be floated onto the trailer with bunks not powered or winched on like a power boat. The trailer must be in deep enough for the bow to be pulled up to the front trailer chock with little effort or a couple turns of the winch. If you can not do this, trailer mods need be done such as; a tongue extension, bow roller or angling the side bunks. Because of the ramp angle the keel will not be touching the keel bunk until the trailer is pulled up the ramp. If I was a keel, I would like to sit on a piece of carpet rather than plywood.
Plywood on top of a carpeted bunk, sounds like the keel did not rest on the bunk and the plywood was used as a shim. A sailboat should be floated onto the trailer with bunks not powered or winched on like a power boat. The trailer must be in deep enough for the bow to be pulled up to the front trailer chock with little effort or a couple turns of the winch. If you can not do this, trailer mods need be done such as; a tongue extension, bow roller or angling the side bunks. Because of the ramp angle the keel will not be touching the keel bunk until the trailer is pulled up the ramp. If I was a keel, I would like to sit on a piece of carpet rather than plywood.
Plywood is very thin...........
That surprised me as the 1/8 plywood being so thin that it made me think it was there to be a slippery surface rather than as a shim. I have now replaced the bunk wood with pressure treated material and new carpet. However I did glue a piece of Formica to the topside of the keel support. I won't be able to check the launch / retreive till next year as the ramp at my marina is shallow and when I went to launch this spring I couldn't get the tongue extention to pull out and used the marina lift to put the boat in the water. While the boat was supended I lowered the centerboard only to find the something bit a chunk about 3" out of the back side of the centerboard. So this fall I'll also have the boat lifted to remove the centerboard and then put on the trailer.
That surprised me as the 1/8 plywood being so thin that it made me think it was there to be a slippery surface rather than as a shim. I have now replaced the bunk wood with pressure treated material and new carpet. However I did glue a piece of Formica to the topside of the keel support. I won't be able to check the launch / retreive till next year as the ramp at my marina is shallow and when I went to launch this spring I couldn't get the tongue extention to pull out and used the marina lift to put the boat in the water. While the boat was supended I lowered the centerboard only to find the something bit a chunk about 3" out of the back side of the centerboard. So this fall I'll also have the boat lifted to remove the centerboard and then put on the trailer.
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