Replacing pontoon bunks on trailer

[Jackcrab]

Need to replace a bunk on trailer. Need carpet and what about Teflon sliders

 

[a1nowell]

Jackcrab,
If you have not started this project yet remember NOT to use treated lumber for your bunks,! Evan if you carpet over them the chemical reaction will leach through.

 

[Fastatv]

Need to replace a bunk on trailer. Need carpet and what about Teflon sliders

Easiest way is to have everything ready and put the boat in the water while you do the work. But on my last toon, I used my floor jack, and a piece of 4x4 and 6x6, jacked up the rear, installed the bunks, then went forward, did the same thing. This was actually a great deal of work tho. It took a giant ( borrowed ) jack stand and many pieces of wood to build it up high enough to support the toon ( cross members ) for safety as I did the work. And in reality, because of safety, I would not really recommend this. Hindsight for me, I would have still used my floor jack and wood, but I would have also borrowed an engine puller to lift the toon up by the aft eye, then the forward eye. Again, safety is the primary issue here.

 

[lncoop]

Personally I wouldn't waste time or money installing sliders, and if you're replacing one bunk you might as well do yourself a flavor and replace them all. I did mine summer before last. Picked up a couple of buddies on the way to the river, launched the boat and sent them out cruising then called them to come get me when I was done. As I recall it took an hour or so. You could also just drop the boat in the water and tie up or beach it.

 

[MASTERBrian]

This is something I just did. I had one bunk bad and just replaced all four. I lucked out and got a great deal on the carpet from another forum's member for the cost of shipping.

To get the boat in the air, I built a platform using concrete blocks, needed them anyway, then capped that with a couple of 2 x 12 scaffold plank I had laying around and shimmed with scrap wood. Before I built the platform, I lowered the nose of the trailer as low as I could. I then built the platform and jacked it up as high as I could, this lifted the back off the trailer. I then built another platform for the front and then lowered the trailer and the entire boat was then off the trailer by about 2-4". Depending where I was working on the trailer, I had to raise or lower the trailer to get some clearance at times, but it worked great.

Someone else had suggested, after the fact, that they just placed 2x material across the members on the trailer and jacked up the boat one side at a time. Which way is better, is debatable....his seemed very simple, but the boat is only held up by a jack, so keep head, arms, hands, etc out from under places. With my method, my boat was going no where and couldn't fall. I had supports that needed straightening and my hands were in bad places at times, so for me, my method was safer in my mind!

The water method is of course preferred, if you are very close to water.

One other thing I did was replace my 2x4 bunks with 2x6 bunks and she sits much nicer on the trailer, but haven't tried loading or unloading yet. I'm assuming that should be better as well!

Seems like a big task, but amazingly easy!

 

[Jeffromxer]

I just replaced the bunks on my toon trailer. I have found out that toons are very hard on carpet so I decided to go with Caliber bunk wraps. So far I have over a dozen loads and unloads on them and they still look great with little or no wear. They have a lifetime warranty too. I did use treated wood, so I hope I am okay since the wraps are a solid plastic barrior between the logs and the wood. The wraps are supposed to reduce friction for loading and unloading. The difference is minimal at best but they do seem to hold up fairly well. So far at least.