Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

My brother and I are both recarpeting the trailer bunks on our pontoon boats. We decided to jack up the boats one side at a time and do the repairs. We came up with the idea of building a TEE from 4x4's to span three decking crossmembers. Using two of these supports, front and back, and two six ton bottle jacks, we can easily jack the boat up a couple of inches to get the boards out, one at a time. Recarpet, mount the board and remove the second one for repair. The boat cant move sideways at all, as it is still sitting on the bunks from the opposite toon. Seemed to be very stable and we were careful to make straight cuts on the posts so everything is square. This allows us to do the repair inside the shop, dead of winter...no dropping the boat in a slip somewhere to free up the trailer. Thought these pics may be of use to someone else. .. but its definitely a two man job in my opinion. We have the carpet ordered, but we've already done a test lift on this setup ahead of time and it worked great.

I re-did mine last summer, I have the plastic skids in leu of the carpet, one of them floated off on the ramp while launching.
The plastic covering on the bunks was fine and we reused all of it. However about half of the bunks were rotten and we had to replace them. Make sure you check the integrity of the bunks/wood as moisture gets trapped there.

Good thinking - seems like a clean and simple approach!

Fiddlebick... I like that idea of jacking the boat up.. That never entered my mind when I redid my bunks. We put the boat in the lake, tied it up and my wife sat there under the bimini drinking lime-a-rita's and reading her book while we did the bunks back at the boat storage building.

Flanker.. I did the same thing, my carpet on my bunks was shot and when we took a closer look at it we discovered that part of the bunks were rotten, so we redid everything including replacing all the wood on the bunks, then went to plastic "slide on" bunks over the treated wood. Works great and the wood dried out so much quicker without the carpet holding the moisture.

I had considered putting plastic on the bunks, or the other synthetic products, but my boat is a 26 footer on a trailer better suited for a 24 toon, and we trailer every time we boat, often pulling around 30 miles that involves some steep pulls. I have heard how slick the plastic is, and I fear she'd slip too easily. I pull on some narrow stretches at times, through town at times, and I just feel better with the friction the of the carpet. An emergency slam on the brakes might be trouble? Its cheaper too.

fiddlebick wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 10:54 am

... I have heard how slick the plastic is, and I fear she'd slip too easily.

Late to the party, but...

I am 24' on a 24' trailer. My bunks have the plastic slides. Never thought of any issue until the last time we pulled the boat - the day before Sally. Noticed after Sally the boat seemed to have shifted back about 4" from the front stops. I don't know for sure if it slid on the ride home, or if Sally pushed it a bit - which could very well be the case. It's "storm location" is on the front of the house in the "L" formed by the house footprint. Fortunately the winch held it.

It's only about 7 flat miles from ramp to home, and I can tell you I will be watching much more closely next time we head to the ramp!

Saltwart in crpet covered bunks will severely corrode (as in put holes in) aluminum pontoons. So will bare pressure treated wood bunks.

I use PT bunks with nylon/teflon skids mounted on top of the bunks on my ‘toon and airboat trailers.

I like the way you jacked up the boat to replace the carpet on the bunks.. when we re-did our bunks a few years back it was a pain in the ass. Had to put the boat in the water, tie it up to the shore while my wife stayed on the boat sipping her favorite cocktail and reading her book... then took the boat back to the storage building where we spent several hours making the changes, then back to the lake. It worked for us, but I would have much rather done it your way.. that was good thinking. Someone mentioned with the plastic bunks they felt their boat slid back about 4 inches from the front stops. Just my opinion but don't see how that could happen unless the cinch strap wasn't rolled up tight. Mine has never moved a bit even after going to plastic bunks. But I could see where slamming on your breaks or a sharp turn to the left or right to avoid something in the road could be a problem. Also I don't worry about the boat sliding off at the launch because we never undo the cinch until we're backed down deep enough for me to start the motor, and never pull it out till it's cinched tight... Just an observation, nothing more.