Bunks of Trex or other synthetic wood?

[Kymasabe]

I just bought a new galv. trailer for my boat, bunks are only 5 ft long 2x4's and I want to add another set of bunk brackets and make new bunks aprox 8 ft long. I've been seeing alot of boaters adding Starboard over their bunks or other slick-stick type thing to make the boat easier to load/unload. The question I have is...has anyone made a bunk board using Trex boards or any other synthetic.plastic lumber? I was thinking of making my bunks with pressure treated 2x6's and adding a 2x6 Trex board right on top. One side of the Trex is textured like the grain in wood but the other side is smooth and slick....and fairly cheap.
And it can be cut/drilled/screwed/countersunk/lagged like wood.
Anyone tried it yet?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Bunks of Trex or other synthetic wood?

sound like it would work well, but may hokd water between the 2 layers, increasing the rot problem. even pressure treated rots.

 

[new_boater]

Re: Bunks of Trex or other synthetic wood?

is trex strong enough by itself ?
what about double stack of it?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Bunks of Trex or other synthetic wood?

seriously doubt it as it is recommended to be on 16 inch center for decking.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Bunks of Trex or other synthetic wood?

I was thinking of making my bunks with pressure treated 2x6's and adding a 2x6 Trex board right on top.

So you just want to use the Trex as the slick stuff instead of starboard type stuff?

I would not use Trex, isn't Trex composite of wood and plastic?
It is also kinda heavy. But they do now make full synthetic deck boards that would not have wood in them.

There is a guy on ebay from Florida I think selling bunk slicks.
They are merely bars of white polysomething but quite reasonable.

 

[mvn]

Re: Bunks of Trex or other synthetic wood?

Having built a large multi-level deck around my pool with Trex and also having a bunk trailer for the boat, I would not consider using Trex for bunks for a number of reasons.

1. Structurally, it sucks. It can't even support its own weight hence the 16" on center maximum when building decks.
2. Its heavy, not that it would really matter in this case though.
3. It's not cheap...but then again this is boating so it's a moot point!!
4. Even wet, I find that it's not that slippery. It's always wet around the pool and no one has slipped yet.

To be honest with you, I find my carpetted bunks good enough. If you really want to add a slippery top surface, you could always go down to your neighbourhood plastics supply house and get some ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) sheet/strip and laminate it to the top of a piece of pressure treated SPF. But, as previously mentioned, moisture will get trapped between the two materials.