Bass Runner
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2004
- Messages
- 746
What would be a good wood to use for new bunks and would you treat or not? 
What is Jasco i have never heard of it.
I looked at thier post and they say ace, lowes, ect. carry thier products but have checked the stores local around here and some have heard of it but don't carry it. Crap sounded like good stuff too.
I've been going through the same thing lately. I have a trailer that really wasn't set up properly for my boat and had to switch from fixed (welded into place) brackets that held 2X4's on edge to adjustable bunks.<br /><br />Two suggestions:<br /><br />First, if all you really need is a broader base of support and your current welded brackets support a 2X4 on edge (so the boat contacts the 2" side and the 4" side is bolted to the bracket), you might be able to simply replace the 2X4 with a 4X4 or a 4X6 to make a broader contact for the boat. Those two boards would have the same vertical dimension as a 2X4 on edge.<br /><br />As an alternative, it sounds like you actually need to find hardware to convert your set up to adjustable bunks because the existing welded bracket just won't work. This is what happened to me. What I did was go to a boat shop that had a variety of boats on trailers in the lot - their new and used and customers' boats that were being stored on trailers. I just looked at them until I found a setup that I thought would work with my trailer and boat. I brought the parts guy out and he looked at exactly what parts I needed and ordered them for me. <br /><br />In retrospect, I could have ordered the parts on line, but I wasn't sure exacty what I needed and found if valuable to have another person critique my plan and help order the parts. <br /><br />Basically what I came up with was brackets that attach to the cross members of my trailer which have swivel parts that bolt onto the new bunks. I can now adjust them up and down as well as in and out the width of the boat. The swivels ensure the bunks fit the exact bottom of my boat. <br /><br />Tnis is not unusual - this is how most bunk tailers, except for very small boats, are set up. There are a variety of brackets out there - a poster above gave you a link to the most common type. That type doesn't happen to work on my particular set up so I needed something a little different. But that's why I suggest you look at some boats-on-trailers to see what would work for you, and then find those parts on line or in a parts catalogue.<br /><br />While I was waiting for the parts, I made the new bunks. In my case, I made some 2X8 bunks (most people use 2X6, but 2X8 will work better with my boat and give me peace of mind). <br /><br />I made the bunks out of all pressure treated wood and covered the contact surface with UHMW plastic using countersunk stainless screws. For my boat and usage, UHMW works better than carpeting. If I were to use carpeting, I would have bought it at Home Depot rather than the boat store. They have some all weather grey rubber backed carpeting that looks identical to what they sell as bunk carpeting, and it's about 1/3 the cost.<br /><br />If you need any more suggestions on this set up, let me know.
