Marine Plywood and using composite 2x4" for boat bunks?

[Fisherpete]

Anyone on the board in the GTA happen to have a piece of marine plywood laying around that they could sell/trade me? Roughly 28"x20" is what I am looking for... would be willing to take a bigger piece if that's all you have and want to get rid of it. Doing a rear deck extension on the boat. Might do one up front also, would need a bigger piece for that.

 

Also curious what adhesive people have used to attach marine vinyl to the plywood - and where to source stainless steel staples for pinning the flaps on the underside...

 

Also debating the merits of using composite 2x4's for replacing the bunks and side guides? Any thoughts? Too flexy?

 

Thanks!

 

Cheers

Pete

Edited August 7, 2016 by Fisherpete

[glen]

Canadian tire had SS staples. I used contact cement but any caulk or glue should work.

[glen]

Use normal plywood and paint it. You don't need marine.

[Fisherpete]

Thanks Glen - was actually thinking about using normal 3/4 ply, have tons of it in the garage. Boat is garage kept anyhow and does not sit out in the elements all the time.

[glen]

Use pressure treated on the bunks.

[OhioFisherman]

Home Depot may have SS or Monel staples.

[dave524]

Thanks Glen - was actually thinking about using normal 3/4 ply, have tons of it in the garage. Boat is garage kept anyhow and does not sit out in the elements all the time.

 

Just make sure it is exterior grade plywood

[grimsbylander]

Home Depot does have the stainless staples...just bought some two weeks ago.

[Pikeslayer]

Hey Pete,

Good timing! I'm in the home stretch of giving the 25 yr old Mistress a makeover. I'll save you a lot of time and research, i.e iBoats.com.

- Marine grade/CAC (minimal copper content) plywood is heavy. 60+ lbs a sheets & then you have to source type CAC sealer for cut edges. Lowe's has CAC (equivalent to marine) plywood but I couldn't find the appropriate sealer.

- Commercial grade exterior plywood i.e spruce for roofing, is perfectly fine as long as you double coat epoxy resin on both faces & edges. I paid $20 a sheet for 1/2 inch @ Home Depot. If you're going to use your 3/4, give it a rough sand & tack cloth treatment.

- Best price on 2 part epoxy I found was @ http://www.foghmarine.com You should be able to pick up a small 2 part mixture for around $40 (I needed more).

- As for adhesive, the stuff on the left is difficult to source & $30+ per can. Lepages on the right is the 'same stuff' & readily available @ Home Depot for $20. Good for vinyl & carpet.

 

As for bunk replacement, I replaced the 25 yr old bunks last year with 2x6 cedar wrapped in marine carpet on the submersed surface & puck board on the exposed (above water) face. I'll try to find a pic.

 

& I have excess 1/2 plywood lots of 1/2 SS staples if you need some. I'll take a +50" musky in trade

Edited August 8, 2016 by pikeslayer

[porkpie]

I researched the composite bunks extensively this spring when redoing mine. All the information I found was that it was too flexible and didn't give enough support. I went with cedar.

[DRIFTER_016]

Home Depot may have SS or Monel staples.

 

Canadain Tire carries SS staples.

[Bondar]

I redid my bunks with cedar, and home Depot outdoor carpet. Brush on contact cement and stainless staples

[Tom McCutcheon]

X 3 for the cedar on the bunk replacement Pete. I chose Western Red cedar because it did not have as many knots in the wood. A little more expensive, but I think worth it.

 

I also used marine carpet, but when I stapled it on, (stainless staples) I made sure I left about a 1 to 1&1/2 inch gap down the center strip of the underside. The bunks I replaced were rotted and the carpet was overlapped and stapled on the underside, which I think hastened the rotting process.

[NANUK]

I replaced rotten carpet covered bunk boards on my Shorelander trailer with cedar and screwed 4" strips of 3/4" polyethylene board on top,

4 years and still good.

This year I replaced the load guides with 1 1/2" polyethylene board. no wood.

stuff will probably outlast the trailer

[Fisherpete]

Thanks for all the input guys. Found the stainless staples at depot as well as the spray adhesive that Simon mentioned. I'm just going to use regular 3/4" ply and put some outdoor paint on it. What I'm making is a removeable pedastal to fill in the gap between my two rear pedestals and make a bigger rear casting deck area - will post some pics later. Took a look at the composite lumber - wow, way too much flex. Grabbed some cedar 2x4's to do the bunks and side guides with. When I do the front deck extension which will be a more permanent and bigger project I'll be going with marine ply or at least epoxying the lumber first.

[jedimaster]

Be VERY careful with any pressure treated wood anywhere near an aluminum boat. not sure if yours is fiberglass or aluminum.

[Fisherpete]

Aluminum. Won't be using PT.

[misfish]

I wish I had the pics still Pete of the bunks I did. I just used plane 2x6, painted them with 3 coats of outdoor weather paint. Wrapped with outdoor carpet from home depot. I layed a 1" strip of galvinized along the whole length of carpet on the bottom. Then I screwed it with SS screws. Worked great. Staples IMO are weak. Just saying.

[Smokercrafty]

Pete if you're interested, to wrap your guides, I have a full roll of fireman's hose. When im doing mine, I'll be using this stuff, as I hear it's the crap. Both for durability, and slickness when wet.

[Korber]

Pete,

 

Use any type of plywood but cover it in a layer of West systems resin. (105 resin and 205 hardener) I used them on my boat seats and they have been great all season now. I plan on covering them with vinyl and foam this winter. They have been outside all year now in 3-4 hours of sun a day plus rain and such and haven't worn a bit. The product is expensive but it was worth it in my eyes.

[esoxansteel]

Google Rigatex which is Phenyl coated Baltic Birch smooth as a babys behind on one side and pebble on the other which is slip resistant,

[Fisherpete]

So got it all done, here are my findings. Thanks again everyone for your help.

 

Had noticed on the last trip out that the bunks were spongy - upon removal found that they were totally rotten. Snapped one in half with minimal effort... Scary! I was suprised that this happened after only owning the trailer for 5 years... regular wood wrapped completely in carpet kept the moisture trapped. New bunks have a nice gap in the carpet left open on the bottom side for the moisture to drain.

 

Cedar 2x4's - nice

Stainless staples - nice

Spray adhesive - awesome product - did 3 out of 4 bunks

Contact cement - did the last bunk with it - not ideal for this project in my opinion, the wait time to get tacky enough to work with properly is quite long (15-30 mins) and when you don't wait long enough it soaks thru the other side of the carpet... Makes a royal mess. Spray adhesive was much simpler.

Galvanized/stainless hardware.

 

Did the bunks in the driveway, used a car jack and made a "T" out of short 2x4's to support/lift the side I was working on then inserted a long 2x4 blocked up so it couldn't fall while making the bunk. Worked well.

[Old Ironmaker]

Hi Pete, you are getting some great info here. I redid my trailer 5 years back. I used 2X8 PT for the bunks and wrapped them in a nice commercial grade carpet I sourced from a carpet dealer on Hwy 6 next door to Applegate and James furniture store just north of Caledonia. We have since done 5 re carpets of boats from the same dealer, best prices around and great quality.

 

On the side platforms I used 2x8 PT as well and left them as is. All I did was stapled some cut roofing shingles to make it non slip. It has worked very well. I bucked up and used stainless lag bolts etc. for all the hardware, a few rusted. I brought some pics taken on my phone of them and our local rural Home Hardware gave me replacements no questions asked.

 

Some grinding of rusty spots and a good cleaning then primer and finish with Tremclad (best IMO for touch ups) and the trailer looks fairly new and she's going on 22 years old. Check your roller(s) to ensure they are spinning nice and free. It's a good time to check all hardware and electrical from front to back everything while your at it and replace if needed. Princess Auto has everything you need for a good trailer refurbish.

 

If I bothered to read all your posts you are all done, good job. You must have done that work early in the shade or AC's garage.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Old Ironmaker

[AKRISONER]

inspiring pete

 

was heavily considering laying in a removable deck in the back of the tinner as well but realized that when we are fully loaded with the front casting deck we are heavy enough! maybe some day i will have a bigger boat

 

wheres the pics at though pete!?

[Pigeontroller]

2x4" Bunks??? Ewwwwwww....