Hi All I can t help with the curves, but I use short, stainless, deck/dry wall type screws. Nothing but stainless, usually #8 by 1" or less is available. If hard to find, I have used pan head or round head screws. Of course these must be used where the boat never touches. When put through two layers of carpet the head almost buries and changing carpet later is easy, I always use pressure treated wood. It is often yellow pine, harder than pine, cheaper than cypress. It does come wet and will warp. For small boats, has anyone tried the new plastic lumber. It does set and would take a bend - perhaps too much. Off to Annapolis ;-) Cliff Marysville, PA On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 10:18 AM, Andrei Caldararu <andreic@math.wisc.edu>wrote:
Dear all,
the bunks for the trailer for my Monty 17 need to be replaced (they are aged and cracked). I have two questions for the knowledgeable people on this list:
a) the existing bunks are curved, but the 2x6's I bought at my local lumberyard are (obviously) straight. The curved ones should be slightly longer than that the straight-line distance between the mounting holes on the trailer. Where should I drill the screw holes in the wood? Should I do it as if I were mounting the bunks straight, and then let the weight of the boat sag them to the correct shape (easier to mount, but I don't know if the wood is elastic enough to stretch to the required length). Or should I drill the holes as if the bunks were already curved (slightly farther apart), but then I am not sure how I will mount them without some weight to curve them down (the holes in the bunks will not align with the holes on the trailer). Any suggestions? The complicating factor is that my current bunks are in such bad shape that once I take them out, with the boat in the water, there is no way I can put them back in, so I must have a well-thought-out plan since I can not leave the boat in the water at the dock.
b) I read on the internet confusing opinions on whether I should attach the carpeting with only staples, or with glue and staples. Glue and staples is more work, and requires the whole thing to wait 48 hours. Would the carpeting start to bunch up if I didn't put in glue?
Thanks for any help,
Andrei.
P.S. I have posted photos from my Apostle Islands trip this July (solo in the M-17, 4 days), at
http://www.math.wisc.edu/~andreic/gogu/Photo%20Album/2009/Apostle%20Islands%...
A.
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