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Posts: 667
Location: Wisconsin | Anyone have any luck with the hard plastic slides added to top of the bunks? Sometimes it would be nice on a shallow launch to be able to get the boat off/on a bit easier and was thinking these may just be the solution. Any ill effects vs the carpeting?
Thanks
Edited by Clammer 4/23/2015 2:10 PM
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Posts: 319
Location: Tomahawk,Wis | I had them on my other boat over the carpeting... also used the end pieces on the bunks..
They seemed to help slide the boat a little easier.. |
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Posts: 5874
| Spray your carpet bunks with silicone. Boat will slide off easily. bu8t be careful to keep the boat winch strap connected on ramps until you back it in!
Edited by Shep 4/24/2015 8:51 AM
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Posts: 140
Location: Scandia MN | I have a 15 ft. Carolina Skiff I use as my small water / river boat. This one is a lot heavier then the Alumacraft Waterfowler it replaced. It came on a bunk trailer and was very tough to launch and load without floating it on. I got two sets of the plastic skids you speak of and was amazed at the difference it made. They are almost too slick so I put carpet covered wood strips on the front 2-3 feet of the bunks. The wood strips also took up the space the plastic created so the fiberglass hull rests evenly on the bunks. The only issue I can warn you about is push lightly the first time you launch so your boat doesn't rocket off the trailer. I speak from experience here! |
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Posts: 1209
| Have used the sliding pucks. Very slippery for hundreds of loads and unloads. Make sure the winch strap is on till floating. Seem less slippery now but still good products. Can't say they are better or worse for wear on the hill of a glass boat. |
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Posts: 667
Location: Wisconsin | Thanks all for the input. I may try the silicone first to see how that is, But will go with the plastic strips if I still need more "slickiness" |
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Posts: 32926
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | You can apply the silicone spray when the bunks are wet, while you are out fishing it will dry. Be careful not to disconnect the boat until you are backed in as was warned, the boat will literally fall off the trailer. A couple dollar can will last you all season applied once every few weeks. |
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Posts: 859
Location: MN | Above is dead on. I have seen two boats end up on the ramp vs the water. |
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Posts: 295
| NathanH - 4/24/2015 6:42 PM
Above is dead on. I have seen two boats end up on the ramp vs the water.
Grab a rack of beer and go to the local high traffic boat launch memorial day weekend for a couple hours... You cant make some of that stuff up. |
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| bryantukkah - 4/24/2015 7:04 PM
Grab a rack of beer and go to the local high traffic boat launch memorial day weekend for a couple hours... You cant make some of that stuff up.
Best comedy routines ever can be seen for free at any boat launch! Lots of talented comedians out there... |
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Posts: 859
Location: MN | Last time I launched the guy taking out took 30 minutes and dropped his boat off the trailer in the parking lot. No joke. |
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Posts: 300
| Where can I get some of the silicone spray? |
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Posts: 1749
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | Walmart, any auto parts store, or any hardware store will carry silicone spray. |
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Posts: 300
| Is it like a WD40 or something like that? Wasn't sure if it was something in the sporting goods area or in the automotive area. Thanks. |
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Posts: 1749
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | Automotive. |
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Posts: 410
Location: With my son on the water | On my last boat I had to replace the carpet and when I took the carpet off it was literally full of sand from the gravel roads. Then I looked at the bottom of my boat and long story short I ended up replacing 12 rivets because the sand on the carpet acted like sand paper.
So then I installed the plastic strip which to me are great. I never had ANY wear on the bottom of the hull again. I even put a few black marks with a magic marker to test it. I never had to replace carpet again either. That was on an aluminum hull.
Now I own a glass boat (Tuffy) and yes the spray on silicone works well for reducing friction but I don't think it keeps the carpet clean. I would like to put the plastic strips on again to avoid the sand in the carpet but I don't know how it works on glass?
But I sure would like feedback on using plastic strips on a boat like a Tuffy.
Thanks and have a good day.  |
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Posts: 457
Location: Minneconia | What plastic strips? |
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Posts: 410
Location: With my son on the water | I don't have the name of the plastic strips I used but they came in sections about 15 inches long, and were 3 inches wide. They had about 4 channels running the entire length and about 5 raised sections. I had them on the entire length of my bunks and left about 1 inch in-between. When the trailer would come out the water the water would rinse out the grooves.
Does anyone have any feedback how these would work on glass? |
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Posts: 319
Location: Tomahawk,Wis | I used to have some on a Tuffy Esox Mag They worked great .. |
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Posts: 163
| Shep - 4/24/2015 9:50 AM
Spray your carpet bunks with silicone. Boat will slide off easily. bu8t be careful to keep the boat winch strap connected on ramps until you back it in!
Did this to my new bunks today. Worked very well! Thanks for the tip! |
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Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | If you want extremely slippery, try "Slip Plate" on your bunks (no carpet needed), its a super bonding graphite paint used for gravity boxes to allow the corn & other grains to slide easily when unloading. You can get it at most farm supply/coop stores...I painted the bottom of both my airboat and flat bottom river boat with it so they would slide over logs, etc. the airboat will run on wet grass, snow, etc. and very easy to load on the trailer. Definitely have to make sure your strap and safety chain are on at all times that boat is not in water. I have never power loaded Esox Maniac either (17'6" Skeeter glass bass boat). just barely need to have rear of bunks in water.
Have fun!
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 5/4/2015 6:46 AM
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bunk slides