Trailer Bunk Slides

[PropellerHead]

One of the things I struggle with when retrieving my 23.5 from the water is that, no matter how much I crank on the winch handle, I could not get the boat all the way to the bow stop on the trailer. Loading the boat was always something that I dreaded. I know I'm not alone in this because it's not hard to find pictures on the internet of these boats sitting on the trailer but not quite reaching the bow stop.

This weekend, after putting the boat in the water, I took some time to change one thing on the trailer that has made all the difference. I installed a version of this:

http://www.surfixinc.com/surfix_trailer_bunkslides.html

I didn't actually buy this product. Because I own a table saw so I was able to cut my own from 2'x4' sheet of Star Board from my local Home Depot. I wanted my slides to be 5" wide so it took two panels at $50/each to make enough slides to cover the entire length of both bunks. In retrospect, I think that 4" would have been fine and then I could have cut them all from one sheet and saved $50.

Now I can crank the boat all the way to the bow stop on the ramp. It still takes some muscle but nothing like before. The real pay off though is later when I pull the boat the rest of the way out and the she rolls back on the trailer pulling the stem back another six inches from the bow stop. Now I can crank the boat up to the bow stop with the boat completely out of the water using even less muscle than it took to get her up on the ramp. She rides so much better on the trailer with the stem riding on the bow stop.

I recommend this product. If you don't own a table saw or don't want to bother with fabricating your own slides then I would say that it's worth buying from the link above.

 

[Benny17441]

I see one flaw in that product and that is that it will be easier for the boat to slip off the trailer in case of a small accident on the road. Well the answer to your problem lies in that you do not winch a sailboat into the trailer but float it on. The winch strap serves two purposes 1) guide the boat as it floats towards the center of the trailer and 2) serve as a safety strap when trailering. Many boats do not have a backing plate on the U-bolt pull ring and it is possible to damage the fiberglass at the bow. I'll admit that if you are retrieving at an inadequately slope ramp without a tongue extender that it can be difficult or impossible to float the boat all the way forward but I would resist the urge to winch it on. Consider if possible adjusting the bow stop pole a little further back. Always keep in mind the load balance on the trailer to yield the desired tongue weight with the rails parallel to the ground and the majority of the weight ahead of the axles. Finding a good ramp at a desired location is one of the challenges of trailer boating.

 

[PropellerHead]

The factory 23.5 trailer is equipped with an extension and I used it once. I found that it solved one problem but mad another worse. Yes, I could float the boat all the way to the bow stop but now the angle between the boat and the trailer was greater so that, when I pulled here out, she rolled away from the bow stop even more. In the end, because I couldn't move the boat at all once she was all the way out of the water, she ended up even further from the bow stop. Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I could not find any way to avoid some difficult cranking.

It is true that, the product in question will make it more likely that the boat will come off the trailer when you don't want it to. Before making this mod, I found lots of horror stories on on the internet of people dropping their boat on the ramp or on the road. They usually start with someone forgetting to strap the boat or taking the hook off the stem before the boat was in position. There's definitely added risk but I believe that it is manageable. Maybe less of a benefit with other designs but with this boat & trailer, it made all the difference.

 

[Rick Macdonald]

It took me 15 years to realize that cranking hard on the winch wasn't sliding the boat on the bunks to get it closer to the roller, it was bending the trailer tongue and/or ladder assembly back towards the boat. YMMV.

 

[Rick Webb]

Two other solutions:

While the bunk carpet on mine was still useable I would put some ivory Liquid dish soap on the bunks. Boat would slide right up to the stop using the winch.

When the carpet needed to be replaced I put plastic bunk covers on and they work very well. The disadvantage to these are the boat will slide off easily too. If you keep a safety chain and tie down at the stern it should not be an issue. Frankly, having any boat on a trailer without them is foolish anyway.

 

[PropellerHead]

Agree 100% about the trailer bending before the upgrade. This is definitely no longer the case

I would guess that plastic bunk covers provides a similar effect. I went with Starboard (hdpe) after reading about and pricing all the options i could find.

 

[Rick Macdonald]

Interesting stuff.

Are you saying you can slide the boat on covered bunks when the trail is on flat dry ground, or still on the sloped ramp but out of the water, or while still half floating in the water?

Mental conjecture:

If the boat can be moved on the covered bunks by the winch, then it would seem that when pulling up the ramp (mine is steep and bumpy) after retrieval, a lot of stress is on the ladder and winch. When bouncing down the highway, now that the stern tie-downs are in place, it's mostly the tie-downs and winch/ladder holding the boat on the trailer. I kinda like the idea of all that friction of carpet on the hull doing the lion's share of keeping the boat on the trailer. Hard to prove any of this one way or another.

 

[PropellerHead]

Yes, i can now overcome the friction of the bunks with the winch and bring the boat forward in all those conditions. I don't believe that the friction of the bunks provide the lion's share of the force holding the boat on the trailer no matter how much friction there is.

 

[PropellerHead]

Also, i believe that there is now far less stress on the frame than before because I'm putting allot less force on the winch.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

What many of you do not realize the trailer is at an angle and if trying to winch it in all the way like propeller Head is trying to do, when you pull the boat out the angle of the bow will not be seated right on the trailer thus putting a lot of pull on that strap and over time will pull the bow eye out. The best way is to get it up as far as you can on the trailer and when on level surface better with the mast down, pull forward and stop. Tighten up the strap and then do it again until it is all the way up. After ten to twenty miles , pull over and recheck. I helped to design the trailer

 

[Rick Webb]

If you try to pull the trailer all the way up while the boat's stern is still floating at the ramp you have two things working against you. First the water in the ballast tank is working against you second the trailer is at an angle and you are pulling the bow into the bunks rather than along them.

I pull the boat up to level ground allow the tank to fully drain and then draw the boat into the bow stop with the trailer winch. Tighten the winch strap then push and tug on the stern. the jiggling allows the boat to move forward. Repeat as necessary. The trailer rides so much better when the boat is secured to the bow stop.

 

[Rick Macdonald]

I've had some success as Dave said, slamming on the brakes on level ground to move the boat up. I only move the boat on the trailer a few hundred yards to and from my marina (once a year), so I don't bother anymore. I think I had best results for getting the boat to slide when years ago I followed Rick Webb's idea and squirted liquid soap on the bunks before retrieving.

 

[PropellerHead]

I do not have the original winch and maybe it was more powerful than mine but there was no amount of cranking that would move the boat once all of its weight was on the trailer. It did creep some on the road which i attributed to the spring action of the bending trailer but i could never get her all the way to the bow stop.

 

[DJN51]

I always pull boat out just enough to drain ballast tank, close valve, refloat boat cranks up every time

 

[PropellerHead]

I always pull boat out just enough to drain ballast tank, close valve, refloat boat cranks up every time

After you pull out the second time, doesn't the bow move back from the stop as the boat rolls back on the bunks? I've used this technique as well but I still ended up with a gap no matter what I did. Also, the ramps available to me are always busy and that kind of back and forth agitates the power boaters.

 

[DJN51]

I just back in enough to float boat above bunks and winch then,maybe our ramps aren,t as steep.Slip boat so only pulled out 10 times!!

 

[BobbyFunn]

This is what's going on, no?

You bring home from store and the boat fits perfect against the stop.
At the boat ramp the level boat is making contact with trailer stop at ramp angle.
You pull the boat out of the ramp and there is a gap. The top part of bow rotates away from the stop.

This is an exaggerated example, but this happens to me all the time too. The best solution for a boat without a keel is to barely soak the aft bunks, then pull the boat out of the water unto the dry bunks bunk, like a powerboat. By the time the boat is at the bow stop it should be just floating at the rear bunks or not at all floating.

Here's the rub. The bow and a couple feet back is going to have to drag on the front dry bunk(s) for a long distance. That's a lot of distance to have sand or mangrove seeds rolling between the bunks and hull.

I think the solution is some combination of
1) Raise rear bunks, lower front bunks
2) Place a keel roller where the bow would contact the trailer when loading, then a keel roller (instead of a carpet) for the bow near the bow stop.

This would let you back up the trailer to wet the rear bunks, pull boat to winch. When the bow makes contact with the front bow roller or bunk it will lift off the secondary keel roller. By the time the boat is at the winch it would be the same angle as the trailer.

I used to torque the winch strap but then realized all i was doing was bending the trailer around a plastic 170 hull. :0

It also means your boat will roll off the trailer once it has enough water or angle.

 

[PropellerHead]

Or you can take the easy way out and throw on some nice $50 bunk slides

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

One thing to consider before doing that. Make sure no pressure or weight is forcing the center board into the keel tray

 

[BobbyFunn]

One thing to consider before doing that. Make sure no pressure or weight is forcing the center board into the keel tray

Speaking of that...

The 170 i have has a wieghted centerboard. I didnt like the idea of the rigging holding that suspended while bouncing all over the road.

I used to have 4 inch keel roller under the bow repkacing the carpet bunk. When i didnt like it there i instead repurposed it to a centerboad rest. This also lets me remove the centerboard without damaging the leading edge on the horizontal cross-member.

It does not roll, but that is ok. The rope is redneck. I check that often and ontend to find a perm solution.