This was a pretty easy and inexpensive addition, but from what I read around different forums, an important one to help protect your transom, motor and mount. Transom mounts are very commonly attached to the roller on the back of your trailer, but since I don’t have any rollers, being fully ‘bunked’, I got a bolt on version.

The ‘Bolt on Transom Saver’ that I got from Gander Mountain is quite simple to use. I just drilled one 1/4″ hole in the rear cross member of the trailer, and bolted the attachment point to it with included hardware. A pin than passes through the bracket and the transom saver itself to hold that end in place. On the motor end, rubber pads on the ‘mouth’ cushion the motors lower end. Before I installed the tilt/trim unit, I had to use a ratcheting strap to hold the motor down against the transom saver, or else it would have the potential to pop out when you went over a bump and the motor bounced. With the tilt/trim unit in place, I can now just used the included rubber ‘bungee’ strap to hold it in place, and then put a slight downward pressure with the tilt/trim unit. Note that most of these transom savers say that they are for use only with a tilt/trim unit for this reason.

The transom saver bolted to the trailer cross member

Full view of the transom saver in use

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

As I mentioned in a previous post, my trailer was originally setup for a V-hull boat. I have a flat bottomed Jon boat. I would have to custom build some bunks to hold it. I wanted the bunks to allow the boat to sit as low as possible on the trailer to make loading and unloading easier. They also had to handle the elements, so I don’t have to replace them any time soon.

I found some black marine carpet at my local boat shop, 12″ wide and 12′ long, so I got two rolls. I had previously bought two 8′ treated 2″x4″s to use as temporary bunks to get the boat home, and I would use these for the final bunks as well. For length, I want the transom to sit over the cross member at the back of the trailer, so I made the back of the bunks hang over the cross member by 1″. I made the front correspond to the angle of the trailer as the framing approached the tongue. This part was easy.

The harder part now was to get the bunks to sit level, as the trailer has a ‘V’ angle to most of the cross members. I ended up notching out the wood at an angle where it sat over one of these angled members so that in the end the tops would be level to support the boat properly. The rear cross member was slightly lower than the others, so I had to had some blocks to support the bunks. I then drilled holes and countersunk them for stainless-steel bolts that would hold them securely to the trailer framing.

A bunk notched out to sit level on the trailer framing

Both notched bunks on the trailer while boat is suspended

The bottom of the bunks, showing notches and spacer blocks

The tops of the bunks showing the countersunk bolt holes

Test fitting the bunks onto the trailer

With the bunks fitting nicely, I moved on to carpeting them. I used some leftover vinyl tile adhesive on the top and sides of the bunks to help hold the carpet into place while I attached it, and hopefully help prevent it from wrinkling or coming loose later in use. Once dry, I laid the bunks upside down onto the back side of the carpet and slowly molded the sides to conform to the boards. Some creative trimming with a sharp utility knife helps it all to fit. Finally I used a row of galvanized roofing nails spaced about 4″ apart to secure one edge of the carpet to the bunks, than followed it with another row to secure the other edge. I hope to get a number of years of use before the chemicals in the wood are able to eat away the nails (the new chemicals in treated lumber will eat most metals, so use stainless steel where possible), and they should last much longer than staples would have.

The bunks covered with vinyl tile glue using an 1/8

Forming the carpet onto the bunks

One bunk completed, the other under way

Trimming around the spacer blocks was trickiest

Carpet attached, bolts in place

Bunks attached, boat lowered into place

In the end, I’m quite happy with how they turned out. They look great, fit the trailer like a glove, and are functioning perfectly.

I looked around for a used trailer once I had ordered the boat. With this being a wider than usual boat for this length, most of the trailers seemed a bit narrow to me, being 48″ between the fenders. My boat is 48″ wide at the bottom, so if I wanted the boat to sit low on the trailer to make getting it in the water easier, the fenders would probably interfere.

I found a wider trailer, 60″ between the fenders, which seemed like a nice fit, and it was in decent shape, so I bought it. It was made for a V-hull, and was setup with tilting rollers in the back, and also has the tilt option in the middle of the trailer to tip the whole thing up if required. I originally planned on keeping the tilt roller bars in the back, and simply convert them to bunks, but the guy at the boat store suggested it would be overkill, just get the bunks as low to the trailer as possible and it would be plenty easy to load and unload that way. The axle can be adjusted forward and backward, and there are ‘walking planks’ built in to make loading and unloading easier as well.

I didn’t think to take any pictures when I got the trailer home, so I don’t have any of the unmodified trailer, but here are some after I started removing unnecessary items, like the rollers. I wire-wheeled some of areas on the trailer that didn’t look so good, then primed with Rustoleum primer, and finished with Gloss Black Rustoleum. This helped it look better, and will hopefully help keep it rust free for a while.

The trailer with most of the rollers removed

A sideways view including the tongue

A view from the winch, which I later replaced

A view from the back

Tilting brackets that the main rollers attached to

So this spring I decided I wanted to get back into fishing, which I did pretty often as a kid. I wanted a boat that would allow me to easily take along a friend or two to do pan and game fishing on inland lakes. Something small enough that I could go out by myself, and fit it in my small garage, and something light enough that I could haul it with a more fuel efficient vehicle than the pickup I have now.

I decided a 14′ aluminum jon boat would meet my needs. I wanted to have casting decks in it, so I got the widest I could find to help with stability, a Lowe 1448T, 48″ wide at the bottom with a 70″ beam. I was hoping to get one used to cut costs a bit, but that’s not a very common boat, so after searching Craig’s List and e-Bay for a month, I bit the bullet and ordered one new from my local fishing/boating store at the end of May.

As luck would have it, the flooding we had in the midwest delayed the shipment of the boat until the beginning of July. Yea, ironic that a boat can’t be delivered due to flooding. In the meantime, I found a motor for it on Craig’s List and a trailer as well.

The motor is a 1989 25hp Mercury long shaft. The boat is rated for 25hp, and I got the tall transom, so this motor should be a perfect match. The motor included the remote shifter/throttle as I plan on having a console in this boat instead of piloting it from the back with a tiller.

The trailer was setup with rollers for a v-hull boat. It’s wider than most trailers meant for smaller boats, 60″ between the fenders, so it would easily hold my boat. Electrical worked, tires were good, and all around it appears to be a good, sturdy trailer.

I’ve been out on the boat a few times now, I’ll start including posts with pictures on what I’ve done to get it to where it is now, and will continue documenting the modifications that I make, as I plan on making this a sort of “Ultimate Bass Boat”. Stay tuned, and feel free to ask questions if you’re interested!