Bunk Board Replacement

[Freedom]

there are so many other options for bunk boards these days that i would be hard pressed to use actual wood and carpet. once you account for wood, glue, carpet, waste of all of the above & time, you might as well order synthetic or pre-coated. most come @ varying lengths to perfectly match your old ones. just my 2 cents.

At the very least some sort of plastic instead of carpet. Did bunks with the caliber wrap this year went on fairly easy.

 

[Rowdie]

During the covid shutdown I had the time to replace mine. I used 2 by 6 green treated. I replaced all the brackets as they were the reason I had to replace them. I had 2 gallons of wood glue that our old shop teacher had. I caked them in that glue and used the extra carpet that came with my boat. The guy I bought it from had just recarpeted it and had extra.
It's a Ranger 620 2003. I wad shocked at how bad the brackets rusted. They're working great so far.

 

[MSA]

Aluminum boat?

no, fiberglass

 

[Davey Crockett]

If it was me I'd take this route. Talked to surveyor who said he has found charred stakes from 1800's surveys in surprising good condition. I have done it on a few outdoor projects and it looks good and it's cheap.




What is charred wood good for?

It is a non-toxic way to make wood resistant to rot, insects, and weathering. Charred timber will last for 80-100 years without repainting or restaining.

 

[Auggie]

I'm working on my boat trailer at the moment. The boards I'm using are cedar Hampton Premium planks. I'll use a 3M aerosol glue then use a million stainless steel staples.

 

[FightingSioux]

As long as there is no direct contact it should be fine. Galvanic corrosion requires a direct contact between materials. Since carpet is a buffer there should be no issue. Electrolysis requires the metals to be touching to create a charge. Treated lumber contains copper which is where the corosion with dissimilar metals take place. Carpet removes that contact.

True until you get the bunks wet! Wet carpet is a great conductor. If you could epoxy the wood it might work for a little bit until the epoxy fails. I would not use green treat with aluminum boats just to be safe

 

[Fester]

True until you get the bunks wet! Wet carpet is a great conductor. If you could epoxy the wood it might work for a little bit until the epoxy fails. I would not use green treat with aluminum boats just to be safe

I am not an expert on galvanic corrosion but I always had the understanding that the dissimilar metals needed to touch. I suppose a guy could test this by sticking aluminum in a bucket of water with separation to some copper and see what happens. As long as there is no charge to the water like would be during plating(or saline, acids etc) I don't believe anything would happen other then the normal corrosion...now if they were touching I believe it's a different story. I could be wrong on this but like I said a guy could test it if really concerned. If I was doing bunks right now I would have no worry with greent treat and carpet..boat bottoms are also painted(unless wore off) creating a barrier..just my 2 cents.

 

[risingsun]

So green treat is okay on a galvanized trailer and aluminum boat?

Have had zero issues.

 

[deleted member]

https://cudapowersports.com/collections/bunk-boards/products/black-forever-bunk-boards-2x6

https://www.ultimatebunkboards.com/

there are a few products like this out there....

 

[Weekender]

When I bought my previous boat, the trailer had a similar product to the above post for bunks. It was really hard on the gel coat on the bottom of the boat, actually wore through into the fiberglass in a couple of spots. I had them removed and went back to normal carpeted bunks. I would not recommend anything like that for a fiberglass boat.

 

[FightingSioux]

I am not an expert on galvanic corrosion but I always had the understanding that the dissimilar metals needed to touch. I suppose a guy could test this by sticking aluminum in a bucket of water with separation to some copper and see what happens. As long as there is no charge to the water like would be during plating(or saline, acids etc) I don't believe anything would happen other then the normal corrosion...now if they were touching I believe it's a different story. I could be wrong on this but like I said a guy could test it if really concerned. If I was doing bunks right now I would have no worry with greent treat and carpet..boat bottoms are also painted(unless wore off) creating a barrier..just my 2 cents.

Galvanic corrosion isnt the concern with pressure treated wood and aluminum. The copper in the wood will react with the aluminum and cause it to corrode. Aluminum also pits when it corrodes so through wall pits are a bigger threat that the aluminum being attacked by general corrosion. Any little nick in the coating of an aluminum boat that is in contact with the bunks will be under threat from corrosion.

 

[Fester]

Galvanic corrosion isnt the concern with pressure treated wood and aluminum. The copper in the wood will react with the aluminum and cause it to corrode. Aluminum also pits when it corrodes so through wall pits are a bigger threat that the aluminum being attacked by general corrosion. Any little nick in the coating of an aluminum boat that is in contact with the bunks will be under threat from corrosion.

Isn’t that called galvanic corrosion? Copper and aluminum…

 

[zoops]

Just redid my bunks with wood & carpet, cost me about $100. I'm guessing the set I had was original, over 20 years old. The synthetic boards would cost around $500 and I do wonder about their performance on fiberglass. Can imagine they'd be nice, but on a boat I don't know I'll keep for 10+ years it was a pretty easy decision.

 

[wslayer]

Should be fine with treated but I would put a few coats of sealer on it, otherwise "any" sign of heavy wear on the carpeted bunks would be enough to freak me out and you'd be pulling them again.

 

[FightingSioux]

Isn’t that called galvanic corrosion? Copper and aluminum…

If it was copper metal connected to aluminum metal then yes. This is a little more complex. Looks like modern pressure treated wood is not covered in a copper containing compound (CCA) and is actually coated with micronized copper. That copper might migrate from the wood through the wet carpet but possibly not so you could be fine. Not sure how good micronized copper adheres to wood and if it can migrate if the wood gets wet.

 

[Fester]

If it was copper metal connected to aluminum metal then yes. This is a little more complex. Looks like modern pressure treated wood is not covered in a copper containing compound (CCA) and is actually coated with micronized copper. That copper might migrate from the wood through the wet carpet but possibly not so you could be fine. Not sure how good micronized copper adheres to wood and if it can migrate if the wood gets wet.

So what's it called then?

 

[tikkalover]

Corrosion

 

[FightingSioux]

So what's it called then?

If it is micronized copper then it would be galvanic if in contact with aluminum. If it’s CCA or some other copper ion solution it would just be general corrosion.

 

[SDMF]

Who's on first?

 

[tikkalover]

You guys are making my head hurt