Self Centering Bunk Glides by Tie Down Engineering
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:43 am
Well, thanks to the input from all, especially chill'nthemost, I bit the bullet and installed some http://www.easternmarine.com/self-cente ... mber-86162 Self Centering Bunk Glides, made by Tie Down Engineering, Atlanta, GA.
I decided to go with full bunk length installation. My bunks are 20' long, so I ordered 5 kits - delivered to my door for around $265 or something like that. Nothing left over. 5 kits resulted in the exact amount of Glides.
As mentioned above, although these are made by Tie Down, they don't do retail sales. I bought these from Eastern Marine. Eastern Marine customer service was great for answering telephone questions before the order. I also had no problems in placing an order from their webpage. The five boxes were delivered as expected, and without damage to packaging. All ordered items were included - nothing missing from inside the boxes, and all five boxes were delivered the same day.
I'm so glad I did this project. When I removed the carpet from my bunks, low and behold - the wood is simply pressure treated pine! Now, I'm not a chemist, but several people on here say that the chemicals from the treated wood can leach through the carpet and screw up the aluminum logs.
So, I went to the local marina, paid my fee, dropped my boat into a empty slip, and then drove home to do the work.
It took about 6 hours to remove the carpet and install the glides. Had I known the existing wood was simply treated, I would have saved a bunch of heartache and back ache, and just bought new boards from Lowe's.
Once the carpet was off, installation was a breeze. If I didn't have to remove the carpet, I'm betting in one hour or so, these could be fully installed.
I put a rounded end on each end of the boards, starting at the rear and working my way forward. Just chop off the curved end on the middle pieces. Butt them end to end, and insert the included stainless steel screws. 200 screws later, and you're done! I predrilled the plastic edges, to help get the screw started. Predrilling the wood is not needed.
When I went to the marina to pick up my boat, I decided to take it for a midnight spin.... See my other posting for reaching 31 mph!!! Geeze, it's amazing what low humidity and 'mirror smooth' cold water will allow....
The boat loaded like a dream. I got to show off a bit at the launch/ramp. It was 11:30pm or so... I thought the place would be deserted. A tiny V-hull with a 60 merc was starting to load as I returned to the marina. I drove slowly thru the no wake zone to get to the dock to tie my boat. I tied my boat, got my trailer, backed it into the water beside him, loaded my bulky pontoon, and pulled out of the water, while the oher boat was still fiddle farting around trying to get their boat onto the trailer. It was very easy to drive onto the trailer. Since it was so late, I didnt bother to try to see how it unloaded.
I'll update this after I've unloaded and loaded a few more times.
I decided to go with full bunk length installation. My bunks are 20' long, so I ordered 5 kits - delivered to my door for around $265 or something like that. Nothing left over. 5 kits resulted in the exact amount of Glides.
As mentioned above, although these are made by Tie Down, they don't do retail sales. I bought these from Eastern Marine. Eastern Marine customer service was great for answering telephone questions before the order. I also had no problems in placing an order from their webpage. The five boxes were delivered as expected, and without damage to packaging. All ordered items were included - nothing missing from inside the boxes, and all five boxes were delivered the same day.
I'm so glad I did this project. When I removed the carpet from my bunks, low and behold - the wood is simply pressure treated pine! Now, I'm not a chemist, but several people on here say that the chemicals from the treated wood can leach through the carpet and screw up the aluminum logs.
So, I went to the local marina, paid my fee, dropped my boat into a empty slip, and then drove home to do the work.
It took about 6 hours to remove the carpet and install the glides. Had I known the existing wood was simply treated, I would have saved a bunch of heartache and back ache, and just bought new boards from Lowe's.
Once the carpet was off, installation was a breeze. If I didn't have to remove the carpet, I'm betting in one hour or so, these could be fully installed.
I put a rounded end on each end of the boards, starting at the rear and working my way forward. Just chop off the curved end on the middle pieces. Butt them end to end, and insert the included stainless steel screws. 200 screws later, and you're done! I predrilled the plastic edges, to help get the screw started. Predrilling the wood is not needed.
When I went to the marina to pick up my boat, I decided to take it for a midnight spin.... See my other posting for reaching 31 mph!!! Geeze, it's amazing what low humidity and 'mirror smooth' cold water will allow....
The boat loaded like a dream. I got to show off a bit at the launch/ramp. It was 11:30pm or so... I thought the place would be deserted. A tiny V-hull with a 60 merc was starting to load as I returned to the marina. I drove slowly thru the no wake zone to get to the dock to tie my boat. I tied my boat, got my trailer, backed it into the water beside him, loaded my bulky pontoon, and pulled out of the water, while the oher boat was still fiddle farting around trying to get their boat onto the trailer. It was very easy to drive onto the trailer. Since it was so late, I didnt bother to try to see how it unloaded.
I'll update this after I've unloaded and loaded a few more times.