winch

[Jcris]

No Title

What do you guy's think of this winch post?

 

[Maclin]

What do you guy's think of this winch post?

"Form follows Function" comes to mind. Looks more than adequate in design.

 

[GA_Boater]

I think you have a proper winch tower and good clearance over the crossmember.

Time to do a test launch to check the changes.

 

[gm280]

Well I made some progress today. I decided not overthinking this was a good idea ( thanks JAS) and used some 3/4" plywood as spacers. The biggest part of the job was deciding how to lift the boat off the bunks. Once I settled on that it went pretty well. Along the way I realized the bunk boards were rather punky where the lags screwed into them. So I pushed them back enough to get them into different spots on the boards. This is a temporary fix but at least it raised the hull off the cross member. I only did this on the brackets below the transom (thanks gm280)
I'm contemplating ordering some ultimate boards. They are made of polyethylene and eliminate the need for carpet. What do you guy's think? They are pricey at $176 per pair but they supposedly last much longer.

Seems every boater looks for a "permanent" bunk material every time it is time to replace them. But honestly, the simple 2 x ? wood with carpet is still the easiest and last a really long time. I would forgo anything else and go back with what you know works. And with a little yearly maintenance, you'll be good to go for years to come and can pocket the rest of the money. JMHO

Also your new bow stop setup looks great as well. :thumb:

 

[JASinIL2006]

I'm contemplating ordering some ultimate boards. They are made of polyethylene and eliminate the need for carpet. What do you guy's think? They are pricey at $176 per pair but they supposedly last much longer.

Personally, I'd worry about the Ultimate boards having enough rigidity. (They even note on their website that the plastic boards will flex more than wood.) It looks like their solution is to sell an even more expensive version that has aluminum channel screwed to the bottom to add rigidity.

If it were my money and I was going to replace the bunks, I'd buy some good wood, a couple strips of carpet and I'd do it myself in an afternoon. To get the additional clearance over the trailer, I'd either use thicker wood or make some spacers (like you did above) out of something more durable than plywood. There's enough fun stuff that I'd like to buy for my boat that I would have a tough time spending big bucks on something as mundane as bunks. Especially when carpeted bunks work just fine.

 

[Jcris]

Once again gentlemen, you have my sincere thanks. I agree the ultimate bunk boards are overkill. I live 5 minutes from Clearlake in California and see every possible bass boat in many different guises. It seems interesting that I've not seen those bunks on any trailers in this area. Enough said.
Considering the cost of everything I've been doing to the trailer I think I'll just modify my existing winch post. I will need to purchase a 4" bow roller and fabricate some "arms" to secure it to the winch support. Which of these bow rollers would fit better?
The first has a more rounded center and the second more pointed. My boat is more rounded so I'm saying probably the second one?

 

[Jcris]

Went by a boat yard today and checked out several different bow rollers. For now I'm going with the yellow one. Saw it on a boat very similar to mine and it looked right. Time to order it up

 

[Jcris]

No Title

I had the new winch post welded into place today, Now some paint and new bunk boards. I could not be happier with the results.
Thanks for all the guidance along the way