Plastic Trailer Slides

C

cemiii

New member
I bought some of these from Champion Trailer for my trailer bunks last year. They work great for me although I've only launched with them a half dozen times. Based on another Brats post, I went to Champion again and found they no longer carry the product.

This got me doing a bunch of online work to see if there is a reason that these may be losing favor. While there are still a lot of people who like them, there were a number of people with heavier fiberglass boats that trashed them as being too tough on fiberglass gel coat. One manufacturer actually recommends theirs for 4500# aluminum hulls but only 1500# fiberglass. The WestMarine reviews were not particularly positive.

I'm starting to maybe rethink this. Any other verdicts out there? Though they have worked fine for me, I mostly float on and off, and I do not want to lead anyone into an expensive mistake. Any first hand damage reports?

Chris
 
I installed a set of plastic trailer slides last year and removed them after several uses when I noticed a blue powder residue on the guiding edges when the boat was off trailer. I concluded that there was some shaving action on the gel coat when the boat was loaded or off loaded. Now using the carpet with a lube spray once in a while.
 
King uses the Slick Bunk material as standard on their trailers.

We have seen some residue from fresh gel coat, but otherwise have had no issues.

The edges of the material needs to be cut at an angle to prevent having a sharp edge presented to the boat's surface.

We sell about 40 trailers a year with this material, and retrofit a handful, and haven't had any complaints.

I'm not sure if the Slick Bunk Poly propelyne is the same material as what Champion used.
 
My trailer came with plastic bunk covers. I have pulled the staples and will pull them off on my next launch and replace with new carpet. I have noticed considerable gelcoat scuffing caused by sliding from side to side. No matter the number or locations of straps,the boat still slides around on the trailer. since I float on and off I see no value to them. Vern/C-Dog
 
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