Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

So the trailer needed new bunk rails. Looked at all the options but replacing the pressure treated wood with new wood was the most economical, except I wanted something besides carpet. So I tried something I haven't seen on the site. The wife was cleaning out behind the shed....and took out all my extra stuff and said it's time to go. (the stuff, not me, at least not yet).

I had an extra vinyl post jacket from when I build a pergola, and realized a 4x4 was the same width as the 2x4 bunk rails. So I cut the post jacket in half, then bought a second one and did the same. So I ended up with 4 pieces, 100" long, that fit right over the bunk rails. I haven't put the boat on it yet, that will come this weekend. But I would think it would slide on and off easier and not hold in the water like carpet. But I guess we'll see. I countersunk the bolts through the 2x4's to the frame, set the vinyl post on top, and used some stainless sheet metal screws in the sides. (for some reason, I started thinking that using stainless in pressure treated wood caused some kind of corrosion, but haven't check if it's true or why) It looks good, but I guess we'll see. It was definately cheaper than any of the other covers or sliders I've seen. The vinyl was $24 per post, and that got me 2 pieces. In my case, I needed 3 posts. Plus the wood, screws and bolts, I was under $100 for it all, but I had one post already.

I am about to do mine, and the carpet alone is 120 dollars, I like your idea, I dont see why it would not work better than carpet,Tim

Looks great. Let us know how it works for you.

FYI - Looks like stainless will be okay. Here is a very informative web site.


https://www.thespruce.com/pressure-trea ... ty-3536820

[quote="tsmodie"]I am about to do mine, and the carpet alone is 120 dollars, I like your idea, I dont see why it would not work better than carpet,Tim[/quote]

Seriously? I was going to use some leftover indoor/outdoor carpet I had. I didn't even price it out. I would have died to see carpet was that much.

+1 redid mine very much like yours a few years ago myself, and as of now it's worked out perfectly.

Makeover of My Pontoon Trailer

TaylorJim.... that's a great idea... I don't see any reason at all why they won't work.. boat should slide off and on with no problem... your threat caught my eye because I'm replacing my carpeted bunks this weekend.. only this time I'm using one of those plastic polymere kits instead of carpet... also going with pressure treated wood and stainless self tapping screws.... hope mine come out as good as yours is looking...

[quote="ROLAND"]TaylorJim.... that's a great idea... I don't see any reason at all why they won't work.. boat should slide off and on with no problem... your threat caught my eye because I'm replacing my carpeted bunks this weekend.. only this time I'm using one of those plastic polymere kits instead of carpet... also going with pressure treated wood and stainless self tapping screws.... hope mine come out as good as yours is looking...[/quote]

Yup, I looked at those, but they seemed expensive. That's why I figured I'd try this out. Worst case, it doesn't work and I have to carpet the bunks I guess.

[quote="Bamby"]+1 redid mine very much like yours a few years ago myself, and as of now it's worked out perfectly.

Makeover of My Pontoon Trailer[/quote]

Oh yeah, I see that now. I searched for something like that on here, but it seems you never find what your looking for! Glad to hear it's working out for you!

Loaded the boat up today. I purposely didn't go as far into the water as I normally do, the front of the bunks were out of the water a little just to see what happened. I basically took the rope tied to the cleat and pulled it right up on the bunks. It slide right up like nothing. I was lining it up and the wife was laying on the front to hook up the crank line and I figured she would have to crank to pull it up, but I kept pulling, not very hard at all and it just slide right up there. Very happy with it. Highly recommend....well, as long as it holds up, but not sure why it wouldn't.

[quote="ROLAND"]TaylorJim.... that's a great idea... I don't see any reason at all why they won't work.. boat should slide off and on with no problem... your threat caught my eye because I'm replacing my carpeted bunks this weekend.. only this time I'm using one of those plastic polymere kits instead of carpet... also going with pressure treated wood and stainless self tapping screws.... hope mine come out as good as yours is looking...[/quote]

What make are the plastic covers in your pics?? Do you have a pic of the back side of those slides??

[quote="Cape Dave"][quote="ROLAND"]TaylorJim.... that's a great idea... I don't see any reason at all why they won't work.. boat should slide off and on with no problem... your threat caught my eye because I'm replacing my carpeted bunks this weekend.. only this time I'm using one of those plastic polymere kits instead of carpet... also going with pressure treated wood and stainless self tapping screws.... hope mine come out as good as yours is looking...[/quote]

What make are the plastic covers in your pics?? Do you have a pic of the back side of those slides??[/quote]

Cape Dave, where you asking me or Taylor Jim the question? If it was for me, the glide on's that I used are made by a company called Tie Down Engineering. Bought mine on line at trailer parts depot.com once on their website, click on the search box and type in 86162. There they are... Sorry but I don't have any pics of the back side of the slides, they're just a smooth polymere type plastic. They attach with stainless steel screws on both sides. I've taken the boat out a couple of times since I installed the new bunks and glide on's and I can honestly say loading is soooo much smoother.. Seems like the boat just floats up to within 2 feet or so of the stop bunks.. They work great and they're fairly thick so I would think they should last a long long time, which is good 'cause they aint cheap. My bunks are 16 feet long and I had to buy 4 glide on kits to have enough material to do all four. If you scroll back up to my pics you can see how bad of shape my bunks and carpet were in.... also got a lot of nice compliments at the boat launch from fellow boaters. They do look good, but more importantly they work great.

I used pressure treated lumber then the slick that are available from online suppliers. Looking down the rails, they appeared out of square. Turns out the bunk brackets which we we attached by bolts, were not at right angles to the frame. Straightening them, without removing bunk boards first, as I did, has changed the width between the bunks. Anyone know what the dimension should be, inside to inside? Also, is the stainless hardware commonly available?. By the way, the slick kit had almost, but not quite, enough slicks to do the trailer. I think I bought three, but it might have been four.