Bunks verses Rollers

[Chubminnow]

I have a 19' jon-boat with a homemade trailer...right now the trailer has bunks and to be honest it has always been a real pain to load back onto the trailer, so I've been considering taking the bunks off and replacing them with rollers. Does anyone here have any input on this? Doo you think the rollers would make any noticable difference?

[Danny]

Don't know about the rollers, but you might try spraying your bunks with silicone. I know a friend who did that, and his ranger would actually slide off the trailer as he backed down a ramp, unless he kept it hooked up.

Good luck,

Tight lines and God Bless

Danny

[Grumpy]

My previous boat was a 14' V-Hull with a 15 HP motor on it. When I first got it, it had bunks and like you I had a terrible time loading it on the trailor. After breaking my back (liteally) for about a year, I saw an ad for the rollers and bought a set. It was the smartest move I ever made with that boat. As Danny mentioned though, the only drawback, if that is the right word, is that you MUST KEEP IT HOOKED UP until you are at the water--it sure didn't take much for it to slide off the rollers, which was what I wanted anyhow. It wasn't a problem and was definately much easier on my back.

Grumpy

Our God and the soldier we alike adore.
But at the brink of danger, not before:
After deliverance, both alike requited,
God is forgotten, the soldier slighted.

Anonymous

[DSPCHAMY]

This is a true story....

My Grandfather fished with his fiberglass boat his whole life, he had bunks and always un hooked it at the top of the ramp. My Father and I came down from Minnesota with our "Yankee" Lund fishing boat. We loaded up everything in the boat at the top of the ramp and I jumped in to get the boat off the trailer when we got down to the water. Unkown to me or my father, my grandfather had unhooked the front of the boat. When my father stepped on the break near the waters edge it shot me and the boat off the trailer. When the boat hit the concrete it drove my butt through the seat breaking the seat all the way around the mount and broke my tailbone on the pedistal. I managed to pull the motor up, in mid flight I might add, in order to save it, and on later consideration if probably kept the boat from flipping over on top of me.

My grandfather looked at my dad and said, you **** near got that yankee POS in the water.

Needless to say, my boat has bunks, and I will never own a boat that dosen't

[Moose1am]

My trailer has two 12 ft long 2 by 4's mounted on edge on the trailer. Each board is about 2.5 ft apart. My boat is an aluminum flat bottom john boat type bass boat. I have carpet covering the wooden 2x4's. I am able to back the boat down the ramp without the boat slipping off the trailer. I unhook the boat from the tow rope and unhook the safety chains as well. Then I hook a 70 ft long rope to the bow of the boat and the trailer. Then when I back the boat into the water and it starts to float off the trailer it will go back into the water until the rope catches the boat. I can even drive the truck and trailer up the ramp until the back of the boat trailer is free of the water's edge. I fish an electric motor only pit that has a very shallow concrete boat ramp. The pitch of the concrete ramp is shallow. If I launch at a lake with steeper ramps I normally will keep the safety chains hooked up to the boat so that it can't slip off the trailer until the boat is floating off the trailer in the water.

I have at times wanted to redo my carpet on the 2 x 4 rails as I call them to help the boat slide of the trailer a little easier. If I used rollers it would come off while backing down the ramp and that's not a good thing.

With the long rope method and quick snaps on each end of that long rope I can easily launch the boat by myself.
Regards,

Moose1am

[PRO V LE]

If you get the chance look at the bottom of a boat that has been on rollers for awhile. It will look like someone got PO'ed with a hammer. All the weight is concentrated in one area and not spread out like bunk's provide. Just my 2 cents :7
Dave.

[Chubminnow]

You all sure have presented me with some good insight on this subject and I certainly appreciate it. It looks there are pro's and con's to each version. After reading your all's experiences it tends to make me reconsider the bunks I have now. Sort of makes me think bunks are the way to go except I just need to take another look at the carpet on them, maybe treat it with silicone as Danny suggested or maybe try to find another carpet that's more slick when wet.

As I stated before, right now it's not a problem unloading the rascal, the problem comes when I'm trying to put it back on the trailer. At 19' long and 7' wide this thing takes up a fair amount of space. I'm sure you all have seen these huge jon-boats before plus this one is full dressed out inside with carpet, storage compartments on each side, a console, etc, so not counting my 250 lbs, there ain't no telling how much it actually weighs.

Thanks again guys!

[WIZARD]

I have an 18' deep vee aluminum boat and the trailer had carpeted bunks. Several weeks ago I noticed that the carpet was showing signs of wear, and I had always had problems getting the boat back on the trailer. Last week I purchased from BPS 10 "super slick"pads that are about 3"wide by 10" long and 3/8" thick. I installed 5 on each bunk with the stainless steel screws provided. What a difference it made and the bonus is that I don't have to change the carpet on the 2 x 6 bunks.

Wizard

[Moose1am]

I put new carpet on my wooden boat trailer rails. I purchased the cheap blue indoor/outdoor carpet this spring. By summer the boat had already torn the carpet off a section of one of the wooden boards.

I now have to take all the carpet off the boards, remove all the staples and then put new carpet back on the rails. I already have all the tools and equipment necessary to get the job done. I even purchased a 750 Watt DC to AC power Inverter so that I can run my AC powered Nail Gun at the Launch ramp. There is no power at the launch ramp nor any dusk to dawn lights.

I have to unload the boat and park it along the bank so that I can work on the carpet.

I highly recommend that you get some really heavy duty indoor/outdoor carpet if you put new carpet on your trailer.

Do the job right the first time and you won't have to do it over again. I wish I had adhered to this advice myself now.

I am telling my story to help others not repeat my mistake.

I have a 16' long Fisher marine Water Strider III bass boat. It's fully carpeted with raised casting decks and storage areas. It weights about 3000lbs with everything. I can move this boat sideways about 2" when I back up to the side of it and push my back into the side of the boat. I normally don't have much trouble putting the boat back on the trailer. I have an old Holsclaw trailer. I just start the motor and give it just a little bit more gas than idle speed and run the boat up on the trailer. As long as I don't hit the trailer lights on either side I am good to go. At times I don't get the boat all the way up on the trailer.

I have a plastic walkway that is bolted to the trailer tongue. I can walk out on this to help retrieve or launch the boat if I have to. So far I have not really had to use the walkway. I got it from Bass Pro Shops online catalog. I thought it was aluminum when I saw it in the catalog and ordered it. I was sure surprised when it arrived and I found out it was Rubbermaid plastic instead of metal.

Most of the time I can run the boat up to the trailer stop and hook the safety chains right up to the boat and jump into the back of my pickup truck and then into the cab without getting my feet wet. So launching and recovering my boat with the wooden rails on the boat trailer is pretty simple.

My only trouble has been one time when I got my trucks back wheels too far in the water and the algae made the ramp so slippery that I could not get traction and pull out. I ended up slipping further and further back down the ramp each time I tried to pull out. This was without the boat on the trailer. In the summer time the algae is really a bitch on this ramp. I had to be pulled out that day by a 4 wheel drive truck. Since then I purchased a nice towing web that I keep in my truck. I also go over to the ramp several times in the summer and sweep the algae off the concrete with a stiff broom.

I have seen a few other people launching their boats who slipped on the concrete ramp. They were wearing sneakers and that makes the algae even more slippery. At one launch ramp I saw a guy fall three times in a row as the ramp was so slippery. Those ramps need to be treated with some copper sulfate crystals once a month to kill the algae on the ramp. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I saw one older guy slip on a ramp and when he tried to grab his boat he caught something sharp and cut his arm really bad. I use to be an EMT on the fire dept and have always carried a small first aid kit with me in my truck and in my boat. Old habits die hard. LOL But my first aid kit is much smaller these days. I was able to treat his cut and put a bandage on the wound to keep it from getting infected.

We need a boat dock where I fish so that launching and recovering boats would be much easier and faster.

[Chubminnow]

I have seen those skid pads you mentioned...I'll have to look into getting me a few of those.

[trentonc2000]

the rollers will create bumps in the bottom of the hull over time.

Either spray the bunks with silicone or put the glide slicks on them. The spray is cheaper, but you will have to reapply often.

Either way you go, do not remove the bow strap until the boat is in the water or you'll be picking the boat off the ramp.

good luck

[freeves]

One caution I would offer. You should not use rollers on aluminum boats as it puts undue stress on the bottom of your boat at each point where the roller touches the boat. You might want to try some of those "slick sticks" you can attach to your bunks, or do as I'm going to do. I just had back surgery after jerking my 18 ft Wareagle around and popping a disk, so I'm gonna put a power wench on my trailer. At about 200 bucks that seems like the best solution for me.