Trailer guide-on board clearance

[Maynard G. Krebs]

What is the recommended distance between the pontoons and the boards? This seems excessive...

I was thinking of using some urethane pucks to shim them out. The type used for body-lifts on pickup trucks would be about right since they are available from 1-3" high.

 

[Maynard G. Krebs]

36 views and no replies. Am I the only one with guide boards on their trailer?

 

[qapd]

I will try to measure mine this weekend if that will help?

I found these pictures from my underskinning project. You can tell by the picture my guides are much closer than yours. They look within 1/2" to 3/4" away from the log.

 

[cwag911]

36 views and no replies. Am I the only one with guide boards on their trailer?

I'd love to help you but I don't have a trailer. Many people keep their boat in the water. For my thoughts though, I would think you wouldn't want them too close so you don't have to be dead on when putting the toon back on the trailer. It gives you a little wiggle room. My $.02

 

[Maynard G. Krebs]

I will try to measure mine this weekend if that will help?

Very much so. I've spent a couple of hours searching for the answer and for what I thought was a simple question there's a surprising lack of info out there.

 

[RiverBill]

Maynard,

My inside guides are a few inches away from the tubes, See picture in the Gallery (new 22 SSI) My out side guides are about 1 inch from the tubes. Makes for easy loading in the wind!

RiverBill

 

[Geoffrey & Brenda]

Maynard, i have a different style bunks, short uprights, that i installed myself.

I set the ones at the rear about 3" from the toons, and the ones at the front 1 1/2".

You can see them in the gallery photos of my underskin.

Hope this helps!

 

[Maynard G. Krebs]

RB, G&B thanks. The pics help, those are closer than I thought they would be. As it is, mine looks like it could get hung-up on the edge of the bunk if it drifts all the way over to one side. I guess I'll install some 3" blocks and see how it goes.

 

[CcanDo]

RB, G&B thanks. The pics help, those are closer than I thought they would be. As it is, mine looks like it could get hung-up on the edge of the bunk if it drifts all the way over to one side. I guess I'll install some 3" blocks and see how it goes.

The picture, you share, is a typical guide bunk installation. Shimming the guides create better control, but also add risk of fastener failure. Wheras, the vertical posts are not adjustable, either shims or relocating the support posts are both options. Support posts are often clamped in place with "U" bolts.

The "U" bolt solution will provide the desired adjustable margin. The other feature provided, is "vertical" guide adjustment. Whereas, the trailer/ramp angles are relative to water lne, the rear-most guide part is submerged (doing nothing) while the front is to tall (interfering with crossmembers, bow and etc.)

Something you may consider, adjust the guide bunk lower in the front, creating an equal front to rear, exposed guide margin when the trailer is at the loading water depth. You may find loading to be safer after those adjustments.

 

[Maynard G. Krebs]

The uprights that the boards are bolted to are welded in place so no options there. You're right about the angle of the launch ramp, ours are steep which causes most of the guides to be useless. With my previous boats I've always guided them onto the trailers without power, just using dock lines until the bow could be reached with the winch to finish the task. It may not have the coolness of driving onto the trailer but nothing gets damaged.

 

[Toonafish]

I installed mine myself, my trailer came with four upright posts with a plastic collar over them, so i changed them to the carpeted side peice.

I have mine set at about 4" in the back and about 2" in the front, you dont want them too tight as you might damage you pontoons if you dont load straight.

These are usually made out of wood with carpeting can you add a small piece of wood at each post behind the carpeted wood, to close the gap.

 

[CcanDo]

The uprights that the boards are bolted to are welded in place so no options there. You're right about the angle of the launch ramp, ours are steep which causes most of the guides to be useless. With my previous boats I've always guided them onto the trailers without power, just using dock lines until the bow could be reached with the winch to finish the task. It may not have the coolness of driving onto the trailer but nothing gets damaged.

My point of creating adjustable up-rights was for simultaneously solving two issues. Presently, the margin between the guide and tube is great enough to allow the tube to rest on the bunk. Therefore, you seem to be considering a shim to close that margin. The shim will require longer fasteners, creating an over-hung load potential that may cause the fastener or original material to fail. The launch, guide angle can be adjusted with your present design. The up-rights can be shortened to create the desired trapazoid angle. In so doing, the lever arm of the front/forward up-right(s) will be shortened and create improved rigidity as shims are to be added. Or, the present up-rights can be cut off and re-welded.

 

[CcanDo]

The uprights that the boards are bolted to are welded in place so no options there. You're right about the angle of the launch ramp, ours are steep which causes most of the guides to be useless. With my previous boats I've always guided them onto the trailers without power, just using dock lines until the bow could be reached with the winch to finish the task. It may not have the coolness of driving onto the trailer but nothing gets damaged.

IMHO, there is nothing cool about driving onto a trailer, with any boat. Granted, there are times when that may be the only alternative, at least at the time, percieved path of least resistance. I have seen more boats damaged by driving onto the trailer than those that were hand loaded.

 

[Friar]

For starters, I am glad this subject is being addressed - I have had numerous problems with my trailer and a primary issue has been with the guide-ons. Generally I am mechanically and spatially deficient; all I could determine was that the guide-on were not helping load the boat very much and often were causing more problems than not :angry: Basically on each side I had two iron posts with a 2x6 carpeted bunk six feet long attached to them. Each post is attached to the trailer frame crossmember with one U-bolt each, then the bunk was attached to the top of the posts on it side so that the 2 inch side of the bunk is what touched the pontoon (the trailer is for a tri-toon although I only have two 32" ellipticals and I presumed this would be the setup for a tri-toon). Regardless, it doesn't work well - first the bunks moved when touched by the pontoon because of the one U-bolt attachment; a year ago, one of the post bent; last week with barely any force, the screws holding the bunk on the other side sheared off and suddenly I had an iron post touching/scrapping the pontoon. No real damage was done other than a small scratch but it had the potential for gouging a hole in the pontoon.

Anyway, I have removed the guides completely and am getting 4 new post which each will have an individual wood bunk. I was just going to put them on at equal heights and distances from the pontoons, but thanks to the comments of CCanDo and Toonafish, I am going to try: one - having the rear two bunks higher than the front and two - vary the distance of the bunks to the pontoons from front to rear. Since it seems I am always loading in a crosswind, hopefully this will reduce the problem on the rear end drifting off the bunks while the front of the pontoons are centered.

 

[WoodenPontoon]

I have my guides mounted about 2' from the inside edges of the toons. Additionally, my bunk boards are less than 2 inches from the bottom of the spray shields. I have both ends at the same height.

I cannot understand why you would want the forward ends lower than the back. The problem is that the back ones are often under the surface during loading, taking the forward ends closer to the water's surface is not going to bring to back ones above the water.

What you really need to do is elevate the rear of the bunks during loading, so that they are closer to or above the surface. This elevated height would have to return to normal as the trailer is moved up the ramp. Floating bunk supports would provide the added height during loading and would also be able to return to a height which would not damage the boat while leaving the ramp.

Just my 2 cents!

Dan

 

[CcanDo]

The Rancher was going down the road when he saw his neighbor jacking up his barn. The curious Rancher, then stopped to ask his neighbor what he was doing. The neighbor, indignately explained, he was jacking up the barn, because his mules balked when their ears hit the door frame.

The Rancher, then asked if the neighbor had considered creating an acceptable margin by removing dirt from the door-way. The neighbor responded, you fool, it's not their feet, it's their ears.

 

[SFC J]

I have same problem with my trailer, as I dont think when I got the setup, they actualy adjusted the inside bunks to the boat itself. Im talking like 5-8 inches clearance. Im gonna move them both within 2 inches, and see how that works. I may even ad the ouside roller guides also.

 

[Maynard G. Krebs]

One thing I'd like to request is that new members that post a question about a problem, please come back and post your results. We want to hear the end of the story, no matter how small.

Kaydano's post prompted me to put up an after pic. Now there's 1 3/4" clearance.

I had a pressure treated beam laying around so it got cut down and put to use. The indoor/outdoor carpet came from Lowes, an 8' x 6' roll for $20. I have enough left over to do the bunks when they need it. Haven't had a chance to try them out yet, I'm still waiting to get the upholstery debacle sorted out.

 

[CcanDo]

Kaydano's post prompted me to put up an after pic. Now there's 1 3/4" clearance.

I had a pressure treated beam laying around so it got cut down and put to use. The indoor/outdoor carpet came from Lowes, an 8' x 6' roll for $20. I have enough left over to do the bunks when they need it. Haven't had a chance to try them out yet, I'm still waiting to get the upholstery debacle sorted out.

Thanks for showing, beautiful, someone spent a lot of time polishing ! Your guide rails are well done.....My only concern is interference at the Bow, loading or unloading, especially on a steep ramp. When on the steep ramp, the "floating" transom will create a much greater margin from the tube rear, to bunks. That angle change/margin may cause the Bow to interfere with the front of the guide rail, if not worse, hang up. Should that become a problem, by lowering the front of the guide rail, the interference would be eliminated.

Good luck and please, keep us informed !

 

[Remediation]

You have done a great job on your rebuilding the bunks. Did you polish the tubes off the trailer? If so, how did you get the boat off.