Making Bunk Boards for Force 5 Sailboat Trailer

Article By Gene Heard

Making some progress on the Force 5, rolled her upright yesterday. Here are some shots of the cradles I cut from pressure treated 2 x 12. I cut 2 cradles for each end, will separate them with 2 x 4's, giving 4-1/2" wide padded bearing surface to protect the hull. The pattern for the forward cradle has to be adjusted a little, due to the change in curvature near the bow...i.e. the two cradles are a little different.

The pictures of the trailer are a little cluttered, since the old bunks and rollers were still on the trailer. Basically, the trailer had a twist in it. I clamped a 4 x 4 under the two high corners (diagonally) and another 4 x 4 across the top of the low corners, with blocks between them at the intersection.

At first I just pulled up with the bar clamps, but the trailer had too much springback for the travel of the clamps, so I replaced the stacked blocks with a bottle jack. Just pump it past where you want it to be and release, sight across the trailer. Repeat until it settles out straight. Will be varnishing wood soon, plan to use 3 coats of epoxy and 3 coars of spar varnish, as this worked well on my last project, a Venture 22' that I sold to buy the Force 5.

Nothing like "Messing abouit in boats"....

Gene "Gabby" Heard