Bunk questions...

[zelone]

Last year, I had a lot of work done on the trailer, brakes, bearings, etc. I really don't use the trailer much, because I have the Airdock, but I wanted to be able to take the boat to new destinations, if I had the opportunity. So, last week a friend borrows my trailer to pick up a project boat he found, with no motor, drive, etc. Once he got the boat to his place, he calls me and says he "lost" an outer bunk and wanted to see if it was ok to just bolt on a new piece of wood from Home Depot and cover it with a cheap piece of carpet. I have some OCD issues, so I told him, just bolt the wood on, but don't go sticking any old mismatched piece of carpet on.
I figured I would redo all the bunks at this point and make them all the same.

I'm wondering, is there a better material then "bunk carpet"?

Instead of lag bolts, would carriage bolts, countersunk from the hull side, be a better option? Only drawback I can think of is the boat would need to be jacked up real high, or removed from the trailer, to replace them next time. With lock washers, or nuts with nylon, they would not work themselves loose, like the lag bolts do.

Thanks in advance!

 

[itsdgm]

If you don't like lag bolts you could countersink blind nuts into the wood then bolt from underneath. I'd be afraid to boot anything from the top for fear of it loosening up and rubbing the hull.