Anyone know good places in Conroe or surrounding area to buy boat trailer parts, like bunks, brackets, hubs, bearings etc? Or maybe a shop or someone who does good work at a reasonable price doing bunk replacement or other trailer work?
Ned, You may want to get in touch with Odom Trailer off F.M. 1314 (just south of Hwy 105...on the left after you cross the RR tracks). They have kept my bearings in top shape since I bought my Trailstar in 2005. They do bearings, lights, etc. Not sure if they replace bunkers.
Thanks Guys. I'll check out Husky. I found a place over on the east side of Houston, but their prices to do the bunks was way more that I'm going to pay.
Thanks for all the feedback guys. Looks like I'm going to do this one myself to save some money. Got a couple of proposals and labor alone is going to run between $600 to $800 bucks with at least $250 to $300 in parts. Worst part is they are saying 2 weeks to get it done.. I'm figuring I can do the work and do this for around $450 over a weekend.
I'm looking at using this Gatorbak product instead of carpeted bunks. www.gatorbak.com/ Should be a lot faster than covering 4 bunks with carpet and it looks like a great product.
If anyone has any horror stories about this stuff let me know. I need to get my parts ordered and on the way so I can get it done.
Gotta be careful with the plastic bunks & covers, your boat will slide out like a fried egg off teflon. Ron K had the poly bunks on his old trailer, had to swim after his boat once.
I do everything labor-wise myself (that I can), so I only noted parts places. Sorry Ned.
For those prices I would turn it into a do it yourself project on the bunks. I have done it twice (Tracker and Champion trailers).
Best to measure the length of the wood bunks and build the replacements (new wood and carpet) first. I used waterproof / weatherproof liquid nail product to bond the carpet along with tack nails on the underside of my bunks and this seemed to work ok. Once the new bunks were built - went to the boat ramp and docked my boat and replaced the old bunks with the new ones.
The bunks on my trailer have countersunk bolts that go all the way through from the top and through angle brackets on the bottom. I would have to put the boards on first and drill all the holes and put bolts in place before I put the carpet on the board. That's why I think the covers might be a better option since I can go ahead and mount the boards and then install the covers.
I did the ones on my old Tracker trailer with carpet and it was an easy job, but the boards mounted to the trailer with lag bolts from the underside so I didn't have to worry about lining up bolts with the brackets.
The bunks on my trailer have countersunk bolts that go all the way through from the top and through angle brackets on the bottom. I would have to put the boards on first and drill all the holes and put bolts in place before I put the carpet on the board. That's why I think the covers might be a better option since I can go ahead and mount the boards and then install the covers.
I did the ones on my old Tracker trailer with carpet and it was an easy job, but the boards mounted to the trailer with lag bolts from the underside so I didn't have to worry about lining up bolts with the brackets.
Mine were the same? (I think...) mine had the pointed (for wood use) lag bolts that bolted through metal holes from under the wood bunks. I had to replace some rusty lag bolts in the process.
-- Edited by fish thief on Wednesday 24th of August 2016 03:16:12 PM
Ned just swing around the corner to R&R marine and talk to Rick. He might have or be able to get new brackets that you can just sink some lag screws in and be done with it. Literally 2 minutes from your house.
Yes, use lags from the bottom & treated lumber. Coat you lags with goo as well, helps seal the hole. Your brackets, if you went through from the top before, should be fine for running 1" lags up from the bottom. Just a bracket to sit on. If you need, I'll see if I can get down there to help, done it many times.
K