Bunk cover material

[gonefishie]

The dreaded time has come for me to replace the bunks. Has anyone used the slip on cover stuff instead of carpet? Should I stick with carpet?

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Bunk cover material

I replaced my carpeted 2x4 bunks with 2x4s with Bunk skids (or bunk slides). This is for a 15ft welded aluminum flat bottom (combined boat and trailer weight is about 1100 Lbs. but I do not know what the boat itself weighs). My thought is that the carpet just traps in water and accelerates rot, etc. It seems to work OK, but I only have had them on for about a month, so reliability is unknown. My bunk skids were only about $20 from Bass-Pro Shop, so trying it is was not a big expenditure.

TerryMSU

 

[d.boat]

Re: Bunk cover material

I just went to a local glass and plastic shop and bought material - I THINK it's called UHMW? - and installed it on my bunks. Reason is that I didn't find any ready made stuff that was the right dimension for my particulare bunks. It took a little work (not much) to rip it to size (they would have done it too, but I did it myself w/ a fine tooth table saw blade), drill and countersink holes, but after 3-4 years, I'm still very happy. THe boat loads and launches much easier than w/ carpet and I do not believe the UHMW will wear out in my lifetime. I look at the screws every once in a while, but so far none have come loose at all.