I plan on taking my boat out myself often times, so I want it to be easy to load and unload. I’ve heard that side bunks can help with the loading process, helping to guide the boat onto the trailer more easily. Being a non-standard setup, I knew I’d have to custom build the side bunks, as I did the bottom bunks.

I found some brackets at a local boat store that were close to the angle and length I needed. The thing that made my setup tricky was that the trailer framing formed a V, so the side framing wasn’t vertical, it actually angled in a bit. I couldn’t find brackets with the exact angle I needed, but found that if I created a spacer to make the brackets vertical, they worked nearly perfectly.

I used some cutting board material to fashion the wedge shaped spacers. They are weather proof, and wouldn’t shrink over time like wood might. I drilled a hole that one of the bolts would go through to hold it into place. I then used two stainless steel bolts to attach the bracket to the trailer with the wedge putting the bracket into the proper position.

For the bunks themselves, I again used treated 2″x4″s with the left over marine carpet from the bottom bunks. Since the didn’t need any fancy notching or anything, I didn’t use glue this time, just two rows of galvanized roofing nails to hold each edge of the carpeting. I then sanded, primed and painted the brackets black to match the trailer, bolted the bunks onto the brackets and insto-presto, side bunks! I’ve now loaded the boat twice by myself and the bunks definitely make it almost effortless to guide it properly in place.

The brackets bolted in place with wedges to position them properly

A better look at the spacer wedges for the brackets

The side bunks in place

The trailer with all bunks in place, after dumping the boat into the lake