Help me configure my trailer

[Hydrilla]

Some of you may have seen my thread in the boat mods forum for my 1436 flat bottom jon that I picked up recently and am converting to a bass boat. In addition to setting up the boat, I'd also like to convert the trailer to the more traditional front to rear bunks versus how it is set up now.

I am including pics of how it was before I started taking everything off to prep for rust stripping and paint, as well as how it looks now. If you guys could help me figure out the best way to set this up, I'd appreciate it. I don't know where I should run the bunks from/to, where the boat should sit on them, if I should use my current front supports or do something different, and if I should do something with the vertical guides that have PVC rollers on them. Mine are in more of a V shape instead of the typical vertical configuration.

I appreciate any help/advice you can give.

 

[huntinfool]

I posted on your other thread about what I thought. But here goes again. Take the rollers off in the middle. Leave the PVC guides on the outside. Run 2x4's or 4x4's if you need to be higher covered in carpet from the back to the front. You will have to bolt them through the pipe in the rear and probably in the front too. If you can't run them all the way forward then use the adjustable bunk supports to mount the front of the bunks. I would place these on the outside of one of the strakes on your hull that way it kind of locks into place. I will take some pics of mine and see if that would help.

 

[huntinfool]

Here is a shot from the back

And of the other side

Looking up from underneath you can see how the strakes help to line it up.

and how I attached them in the front.


Hope this helps.

 

[Hydrilla]

Thanks again, and I'm sorry to make you duplicate what you wrote. I guess I Just didn't understand exactly/specifically how I needed to do it. Your pictures help a ton.

How do you go about setting up your configuration, lay the boards on there and then set the boat on the trailer, and adjust from there?

 

[huntinfool]

That's what we did. I would think that you could measure out between the strakes so you would have some idea of where to start. Then lay the boards on the trailer and set the boat on it. You will have to mount them somehow or at least clamp them so that when you put the boat on it doesn't move. Once we had these set we just bolted them through the frame and that's it. I would have used just 2x4's but the boat would have hit the fenders. Let me know if you need any thing else or more pics.

Don't worry about me writing it twice...heck I'm not sure I could follow my instruction/direction with my posting. I would need pictures too, that's why I went and took them.

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

ole hunter pretty much summed it up. i have L brackets to bolt my bunk to wich i drilled holes 1" apart for adjusting height

i left the 3 rollers centered on my trailer, helps alot with the loading/unloading but mines also a semi v so it may be a different tune w/ a flat bottom

 

[Hydrilla]

'Preciate the ideas, guys. Mike, I'm pretty sure you're right, I doubt the rollers are doing anything for me at all with this boat.

I still think I want to do something with the vertical guides, it seems like it would be easy for the boat to hit the bases of them with the way it is set up (see pic).

 

[huntinfool]

IMHO you want those close. Think about this the trailer will be at an angle when launching or loading. Those guides will help you line it up when loading and keep it from drifting off to the side when pulling the boat out. Judging from the pic at the top I'd say you have enough room. But only you know how well it loads. Think about loading in a cross wind. You have to come up on the trailer at an angle and once inside of those guides you can give it a bit of throttle and it should load right up.

Mine are on straight only because my trailer sits underneath my boat and I don't have anywhere to mount them at an angle.

Let me go take another pic or two.

 

[huntinfool]

Here are two pics of mine.



As you can see on mine the gunnel is in line with the frame of the trailer. Most guides are L shaped. I couldn't put those on my center brace as they wouldn't fit with out being too long and having to be cut. Then I would not have a way to mount them. I could have used aluminum but I was afraid they would bent too easy and I still would not have any way to mount them. So I came up from the axle. Mine are straight. I'm pretty sure you have enough room...but I'm only looking at pics.

 

[bassboy1]

I prefer vertical guides, if possible. They can be taller that way, without increasing laterally, which will allow them to snag trees when maneuvering in tight quarters, and won't impale you when you walk around the trailer. They still need to be within an inch or so of the gunwales, however.

I too prefer my bunks to be bolted flat to the trailer on a flat bottom. 2 by 4s layed flat, and through bolted will be fine. Extend them as far forward as possible. However, a bunk doesn't provided much aid if it is cantilevered to far, so you shouldn't extend them back more than 6 inches past the frame, or forward more than a foot in front of the frame. Loose the rollers. The trailer for my flatbottom (bigger boat than yours) only has one roller, save for the bow stop. The only function of that roller is to hold my transom saver for my outboard. The only reason I used the roller for that purpose is because it was already on the trailer when I bought it. The boat has never, and never will touch that roller (it can't).

See my article entitled "Trailer Tips" stickied at the top of this forum page.

 

[Hydrilla]

Close guides, I understand. But after loading this boat a few times now, I can tell that having them angled out vs vertical, the boat doesn't make the sharp turn onto the trailer like you'd want it to. It can easily continue up onto the side of the trailer instead of being guided toward the middle/front. Hard to describe, but I'd like to set up some vertical guides if I can. I'm not a welder so I'd have to figure out some sort of bolt on deal.

bassboy1, I read your article a while back when I wasn't thinking a lot about the trailer yet. I re-read it today and it was more helpful this time, since it's relevant to what I'm working on. Thanks 8)

 

[huntinfool]

You could cut the ones you have on your trailer and then use them against the outside frame of the trailer and use U bolts to bolt them to the frame in two places. That would get them straight and move them out a bit, but maybe not enough. If that is the case then i'd say you will have to add an angle bracket outside the frame or bolt to the bracket holding the fender on.

 

[Hydrilla]

Good ideas. And I bought a longer piece of PVC pipe that I could use to raise them up a good bit once I do that.