Expidia
Commander
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2006
- Messages
- 2,368
Re: What type of guide on's do you use?
That's exactly how I felt about those short post models and the ones with the rollers too. I pictured the wind blowing my boat into the exposed metal on the outside edge. I had also already pictured my backing in too far and having a wave slam the boat down on top of a guide just as you described.
Post a pic of your trailer for us to see the finished product!
I've got a 23 foot deck boat, and all our lakes are in the mouths of canyons so the wind is always blowing. I saw what they wanted for guide ons, so I buil my own with 1 1/2 inch aluminum conduit. I have access to a bending machine at work so I did that myself, too.
I started with just the rear posts. I looked at just buying some, but after seeing a boat lifted up by a wave and coming down on one post, breaking the post and impaling the bottom of the boat ( most of the store bought ones only have the metal post part way up the height of the post), I figured I'd make mine full length aluminum and covered them with 2 inch pvc. I then bolted them to the frame with U and bracket bolts. They still weren't enough to keep the boat on the trailer while loading, so I used the same conduit to build the side bunks. I used them with a 2x6x8 covered with marine carpet (4.59/yd), painted them the same color as the trailer, and they look and work great! I spent less for both sets than just a set of post guides would cost.
The side bunks make loading a snap no matter the wind!
That's exactly how I felt about those short post models and the ones with the rollers too. I pictured the wind blowing my boat into the exposed metal on the outside edge. I had also already pictured my backing in too far and having a wave slam the boat down on top of a guide just as you described.
Post a pic of your trailer for us to see the finished product!