Side Bunk Placement

[Bugzilla46310]

Will be replacing the side bunks as the wood is rotten. Going through the threads, I saw it was stated the bunks should be about 1” from the hull. Mine are about 4”. I could not find anything on the height. I was wanting to move the bunk brackets from the top of the trailer frame to the bottom. Are there any rule of thumb for side bunk location? The current bunks are 2x4. I may go a little larger as I have some rough cut 3x6 pine I can plane down.

 

[youmansjason]

If you lower the side bunks, keep in mind that when your boat is floating in the water it is sitting higher than when it's sitting on the trailer out of the water. Current height looks pretty good. If anything, you might want to consider making the wood bunks longer and/or shifting forward the mounting bracket a few inches.

 

[redneck joe]

I put mine less than an inch and are prob 2" higher and 4" farther forward. Been a game changer for loading in the wind/current. Thinking about adding a small set forward of the wheels.

 

[Jeff J]

Skill level has something to do with it. I think the side bunks on mine couldn’t be positioned much better but my better half usually runs over them at least once when she loads.

 

[roscoe]

With trailer in the water,
At the usual or typical loading depth,
The top of the side bunk should be at least
1 to 2 inches out of the water.

 

[airshot]

My side bunks are less than an inch from the sides, probably closer to a half inch. Also much longer closer to 60" long on my 16' boat. Set this way, my boat goes on correctly every time, wind, current etc makes no difference. Often see folks struggle with small, short side guides, spaced to far apart.
I load and unload by myself, most times I am far faster than others because my boat goes on correctly every time....

 

[Bugzilla46310]

My side bunks are less than an inch from the sides, probably closer to a half inch. Also much longer closer to 60" long on my 16' boat. Set this way, my boat goes on correctly every time, wind, current etc makes no difference. Often see folks struggle with small, short side guides, spaced to far apart.
I load and unload by myself, most times I am far faster than others because my boat goes on correctly every time....

With the longer bunks, do you 1 bunk support bracket or 2 per bunk board?

 

[airshot]

Mine has two side supports on each side. Mine might be considered overkill, but it works and works very well. My last three boats had long side guides set close to the hull and never had an issue loading.

 

[JimS123]

That looks like a beautiful trailer. With all the rollers why do you need side bunks? If you launch and load with the rear roller just underwater, the side bunks should never come into play.

Regardless, since they are already there, I would just keep them in the same position.

 

[Bugzilla46310]

That looks like a beautiful trailer. With all the rollers why do you need side bunks? If you launch and load with the rear roller just underwater, the side bunks should never come into play.

Regardless, since they are already there, I would just keep them in the same position.

That’s one of the reasons I joined this forum, to get other more knowledgeable opinions so I don’t reinvent the wheel! I’m retiring this year and this is my first boat, except for a 12’ aluminum Sea Nymph I had 30 years ago. Being a Reliability Engineer my whole career I tend to over analyze situations before I make a change so I don’t worsen the situation! Just picked up the boat a few months ago and it won’t see water until spring.

 

[redneck joe]

Well you picked the correct forum. I have been all over them since I first joined one in 2006 this is by far the best. Only issue i have is there are too many Steelers fans around here.....

 

[redneck joe]

Have someone take pics while loading at normal depth and normal ramp. The angle of a ramp in Florida has completely different loading challenges that one at a 45 degree angle here in the hollers of Tennessee. Just dipping trailer in to hit the rear keel roller won't work here. I dip in deep, powerload about three feet, side bunks keep me true on the back end in wind, current and load.

 

[Bugzilla46310]

Have someone take pics while loading at normal depth and normal ramp. The angle of a ramp in Florida has completely different loading challenges that one at a 45 degree angle here in the hollers of Tennessee. Just dipping trailer in to hit the rear keel roller won't work here. I dip in deep, powerload about three feet, side bunks keep me true on the back end in wind, current and load.

Off topic, but other forums I’m in have a “location“ field with the posters name, join date, post count where the poster can have their town and state listed. That would be helpful on this forum for several reasons, one of which you just noted.

 

[redneck joe]

You can put that in profile I think, for sure in sig line and there is a members map where you can pin yourself

 

[redneck joe]

Can't find the map.

 

[JimS123]

Have someone take pics while loading at normal depth and normal ramp. The angle of a ramp in Florida has completely different loading challenges that one at a 45 degree angle here in the hollers of Tennessee. Just dipping trailer in to hit the rear keel roller won't work here. I dip in deep, powerload about three feet, side bunks keep me true on the back end in wind, current and load.

All very true. We are lucky where I live in that all of the state and local ramps are built to a reasonable standard depth and angle. Nevertheless, we have been to a couple of private campgrounds where the ramps were challenging, to say the least.

A bunk trailer will always be better with side bunks because it is more forgiving. Off a little one way or the other and the boat may be crooked, but still manageable. Roller trailers, though don't work well if all the rollers are all submerged. The keel needs to be lined up perfectly with the keel rollers.

In all my years of boating there was only one local ramp that I had problems with. Problem solved - we found a better ramp.