basic beginner questions about boat trailers (specifically with aluminum boats)

[fishrdan]

I'm with JimS, if the hull is in good shape, not being deformed, just replace what's there. Going to 2x6 will be an improvement and distribute the load more evenly, and you won't have to reinvent the wheel. (where have I heard that before?... LOL!)

As suggested, make sure the bunks extend 1" past the transom. On my light 14' tinny I cut one side to short, just even with the transom, but actually 1/4" less was being supported due to routing the 2x4's. No problem, it's just a light 150# boat right? It eventually lead the the hull/transom weld cracking at the bunk end that didn't extend far enough.

 

[Doh]

Rib Cracks, happen on the end of the boat's ribs, the outer edges of the bottom.

It is partly the design of older Starcrafts, the ribs end about 1" from the place the bottom turns to make the sides. So the weight of the sides (freeboard) rest on Unsupported 1/8" Aluminum. You will be able to see the rivets and where they end.

So the same as weight pushing down on the water, weight pushing up on the trailer should be centered on the Ribs, not on the outside of the hull's bottom.

 

[jimmwaller]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the input so far. I have one more question. I decided to simply replace what is there but use 2x6s. However, the brackets are really rusted on one side, so as suggested I'm going to go with Tie Down Engineering brackets.

It looks like I just buy the bracket, and then I use... like a U bolt to attach it to the trailer. And then put wood on top, with carpet.

So here's my question: On the current setup, the bunks are suspended probably... I would say about 12" above the trailer. The longest tie down engineering brackets I can find are 12". But my trailer is pretty thick, so by the time I bolt the bracket on there, my bunks will only be suspected about 8" above the trailer.

Which sounds okay, except my tongue extends into the "body" of the trailer, and right now, my bow juuuuust barely clears it. Losing those few inches means that my bow will hit the trailer tongue. So I have a few options:

One, just keep the rusty brackets. Seems bad; they're really rusty.
Two, cut the tongue off. Seems risky.
Three, buy different brackets that extend taller. Any suggestions?
Four, buy some kind of "bracket plate". My current setup looks like it's a Ubolt on the frame, with a little plate above it. And then the brackets are bolted to that plate. Not sure what these are called, but are they common enough to have a name?
Or five, I guess I could do something like... angle the bunks so that the boat is tilted a little upwards (i.e. the bow is higher than the stern). That way, even with lower bunks, the bow would clear the tongue.

Any of these seem doable? Is there an "ideal" solution here?

thanks!!

 

[JimS123]

I've used rusty brackets before. A little Rustoleum Rust Reformer and they will be good as new. Or, is the strength compromised and they should be replaced? Only you can make that determination.

If the new brackets are too short, shim them with pieces of 2x4 or 1x4 , bolted to the new bunks, to make the height proper.

 

[jimmwaller]

@JimS123 ok, I see. You're saying that I should bolt on the new brackets as-is, and then put new bunks on top of shims?

Are you saying that I should just use small pieces of 2x4 or so as shims, or just put like a full additional bunk under my carpeted bunks as a shim?

thanks!!

 

[roscoe]

I would use the new brackets.
Then use 2 2x6's, gives you extra strength and height. A small piece of 2x may crack, split.

Or use 4x4 plus a 2x6 on top.

Another option, may be to lower the rear bracket an inch, if you have enough ground clearance. That will raise the bow of the boat an inch or 2.

 

[JimS123]

@JimS123 ok, I see. You're saying that I should bolt on the new brackets as-is, and then put new bunks on top of shims?

Are you saying that I should just use small pieces of 2x4 or so as shims, or just put like a full additional bunk under my carpeted bunks as a shim?

thanks!!

Hard to design something without actually being there and seeing it. You want the actual bunk board to be in the same place it is now. If the bracket is too short, make the bunk thicker, or better yet find the correct bracket.

 

[jimmwaller]

Hi all,

As per your suggestions, I bought tie down brackets and 2x6s with marine carpet.

About to put them on, and I realized... are there any kind of... like, rules for bracket placement? Like how the brackets need to be spaced with a 2x6, or something?

I mean, can I just run a 2x6 with brackets on each end and that's fine? Or do I need a bracket every 5 feet? or 3 feet? or...?

Also, I suspect I don't need brackets right at the very ends..... how far "in" from the ends should I be putting my brackets? I assume that putting it like an inch in is probably overkill, while a foot in might be fine, and then two feet... not sure.

Any bracket spacing guidance would be very appreciated! Thank you all!

 

[M2HB]

I would put a bracket on every trailer crossmember that the bunk is over.

 

[JimS123]

Hi all,

As per your suggestions, I bought tie down brackets and 2x6s with marine carpet.

About to put them on, and I realized... are there any kind of... like, rules for bracket placement? Like how the brackets need to be spaced with a 2x6, or something?

I mean, can I just run a 2x6 with brackets on each end and that's fine? Or do I need a bracket every 5 feet? or 3 feet? or...?

Also, I suspect I don't need brackets right at the very ends..... how far "in" from the ends should I be putting my brackets? I assume that putting it like an inch in is probably overkill, while a foot in might be fine, and then two feet... not sure.

Any bracket spacing guidance would be very appreciated! Thank you all!

Put a bracket on every crossmember. The spacing will depend on how far the crossmembers are apart.

My 3 bunk trailers all have the brackets spaced 8" in from the ends.

The ends of the bunks should be right at the transom, or preferably an inch or 2 beyond. Except, if you have keel rollers. Then the last keel roller should be right under the transom, firmly supporting it, and not past it or not a foot before it. Then the bunks could be a few inches shorter than the transom because the critical support will be made by the roller.

 

[MTboatguy]

Hate to say it, but this has been a bit of a confusing conversation to follow along with, How come nobody asked him to post a couple of pictures of what he has?

That always makes it easier to visualize what he wants.

I have a Starcraft sitting in the driveway on barrels and tires and a trailer I need to reconfigure to fit this boat and a couple of images would really help me out as well.

 

[JimS123]

Hate to say it, but this has been a bit of a confusing conversation to follow along with, How come nobody asked him to post a couple of pictures of what he has?

That always makes it easier to visualize what he wants.

I have a Starcraft sitting in the driveway on barrels and tires and a trailer I need to reconfigure to fit this boat and a couple of images would really help me out as well.

At the onset all he needed to do was replace a couple twobafores. So, pics weren't necessary. But as it progressed even he was getting cornfused because others were offering suggestions for major mods.

Maybe now he should post pics. I'll second the request.

 

[Roccafeller]

hopefully i am posting in the proper section..... I have a 1985 roller trailer. I have been using for 3 seasons, but the other day after launching the boat and parking i noticed the back row of rollers had tilted upwards. The rollers rock side to side, which is normal, but the entire bracket (crossbar) connecting to either side of the trailer frame, tilted backward. I was easily able to rotate it back to normal position. I figure it probably just needs to be tightened, but it is only connected to the frame of the trailer with 1 bolt on either side. If it was meant to not tilt, wouldnt it have more than 1 bolt per side? My trailer does not have a cotter pin for a tilt trailer. I am wondering if this tilting that happened is normal, or should i tighten the hell out of it so it doesnt move.....click my profile pic for a side view of trailer if this helps.

Thanks

 

[MTboatguy]

hopefully i am posting in the proper section..... I have a 1985 roller trailer. I have been using for 3 seasons, but the other day after launching the boat and parking i noticed the back row of rollers had tilted upwards. The rollers rock side to side, which is normal, but the entire bracket (crossbar) connecting to either side of the trailer frame, tilted backward. I was easily able to rotate it back to normal position. I figure it probably just needs to be tightened, but it is only connected to the frame of the trailer with 1 bolt on either side. If it was meant to not tilt, wouldnt it have more than 1 bolt per side? My trailer does not have a cotter pin for a tilt trailer. I am wondering if this tilting that happened is normal, or should i tighten the hell out of it so it doesnt move.....click my profile pic for a side view of trailer if this helps.

Thanks

You have basically the same trailer I have and you will break a bolt before you will get it tight enough to not rock a small amount when you launch and and recover, just make sure it is tight, EZ loader used good quality jam nuts on those cross sections.

 

[Roccafeller]

great, thanks for the info. Was worried since it was the first time it happened. didnt want to break something.

 

[jimmwaller]

Hi all, finally got a chance to get down there and take photos. Uploading and posting them now!

 

[jimmwaller]

OK, first photo... here's the current setup. Hard to see, but the bunks go from about 2" behind the transom (need to lengthen the bunks) to about where the red line is:


As you can see, the front of the boat is totally unsupported. So my plan is to add in two (one on each side) 8-foot 2x6s (like the one under the boat... I bought redwood, hopefully that's a decent choice) for the stern, and then two 4' 2x6s a little further up under the bow.

So, about the details....

The first thing that I never noticed about this trailer until I started thinking about this is that it doesn't seem to have the right crossmembers. The crossmembers I see on other trailers are nice thick 4x3 tubes. On this one, they seem to be angle pieces:



And there are only three of them... Here, here, and here:



Yep. I don't have a rear crossbar. I have no idea why not. It doesn't look like it's broken off, and there are no bolt holes.... it just doesn't look like there was ever a rear crossbar. And the two main crossbars are basically right over the axle:



So those somehow don't seem.... very strong. they're also the angle pieces. Seems like a strange choice. At the moment, there are keel rollers bolted to the angle pieces, but like I mentioned, the boat doesn't even touch them, so I have no idea how strong they are.


So currently, there are two bunks, but they're attached right to the trailer frame. here is a photo showing the way the bunks are attached, but also showing how there's no rear crossbar:




So here's my plan at the moment: I want to replace those 2x4 bunks, because they're garbage. I bought some 2x6s, and I'm going to put 8ft sections under the stern, probably just using the brackets that are there. And then, I bought some tie down engineering brackets. I'm going to put 4ft sections up under the bow. I can either put these bow sections on the crossbars, but they're angle pieces. Is that a problem? If that's totally normal, I'll just put the tie down brackets on the angle pieces, and that's easy. If not, the guy at the trailer store said that these tie down brackets can just be bolted to the frame, and they won't swivel, but that's fine. Is this accurate?

And then, I'll probably just put a piece of 4x4 or something where the rear crossbar should go, for stability. The brackets are on the frame, but I just feel like there should be some kind of something in that space.

So that's my plan. Basically just using tie down brackets on the trailer frame. Good idea? bad idea?

Thanks!!

 

[jimmwaller]

well, parts all came in.... barring any of that being a bad idea, I think I'm going to go for it! Last chance to tell me that I'm an idiot for using the tie down brackets sideways

thanks!

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Funny, I was thinking of "Gator" trailers when I wrote that.

My bunk trailers have, typically, had one center roller on the back cross member. Somewhat useful for alignment but very useful for an outboard trailering support.

Old thread but, yes! And depending on the launch angle/depth, it will help guide the boat safely without having to be Herculean while winching a boat back onto a steep, unsubmerged bunk trailer.

Someone else described it well: the rollers carry the boat onto the trailer and just before it snugs to the winch stanchion guide the bunks comfortably lift the boat, and it sits snuggly with (???) say 1/6th or 1/8th of the vertical load on the keel and bulk of it borne by the bunks.

That’s how I’ve done trailers since 1992 based on my observation of the ease with which my 1964 MFG Niagara (die-molded fiberglass). It worked so well it perplexed me, and I obsessed over it one day, repeatedly launching/reloading on the lawn for a couple hours. I saw why the bunks were angle like they were, and that they were precisely located where the horizontal load plane of the hull bottom transferred to stronger vertical planes (the shears the chines and transom on that boat).

That’s worked well over a bunch of fiberglass and aluminum boats.