Boat Trailer Bunk Board and Carpet Repair at Sweet Sounds

Now that the great weather is here, drop by Sweet Sounds in Mankato to get your neglected boat trailer in for the repairs that have been put off year after year. While we’ve been known for 25+ years for our expert wiring skills, our staff is also extremely talented when it comes to the rest of the needs of your trailer. We can replace lights, run new wiring and completely remove, replace and recarpet the bunk boards. Read on to see how we do what we do and why your trailer will be in the best hands when at Sweet Sounds.

Bunk Boards

Those big ugly rails. They take more abuse than one might think. They’re always wet. They carry thousands of pounds of weight. They are responsible for holding what might be the third most expensive item you currently own. And they wear out and are usually a nasty mess to replace. The old wood rots. The fasteners and hardware oftentimes rust. Unfortunately most folks don’t maintain them and they always fail at the most inopportune time. Thankfully, Sweet Sounds knows bunk boards and can solve all these problems for you.

Hardware

It all starts with the materials chosen. We will never take shortcuts when it comes to repairing your trailer’s bunk board. We start with treated lumber designed to last for years in harsh, wet conditions. We then only use stainless steel hardware for the bolts, nuts, washers, screws and even the staples to hold the carpet. The carpet is an outdoor, weather grade carpet with a sturdy backing.

Assembly Techniques

Choosing the best materials is only half the battle. If you don’t have the tools and knowledge to disassemble the old parts, fabricate the new parts and then reassemble everything properly, you’ll never get the best result. Feel free to click on any of the photos in this post for a larger view and you will see the attention to detail that we put into every job we perform. As a simple example, on the trailer shown in the photos, the outer most bunk boards have to be bolted from the front side as originally designed from the manufacturer. As such, the bolts must be recessed into the treated lumber and the recessed hole should be supported with a proper washer on both sides. Are all trailers built this way? No, but they should be and it’s the way we fix them.

Next up of course is the carpet. First and foremost, all carpet seams are facing away from the boat. We never want the boat to come in contact with anything except the carpet. Stainless steel staples hold the carpet in place and staples are spaced at about two to three inches apart. That means a 6′ board will have around 60-80 staples holding the carpet in place. It’s never falling off by accident.

The Finished Product

As you can see in the photos below, the replacement bunks are likely to last at least as long as the originals and in the case of the trailer shown in the photos, likely much longer. Our no shortcut approach means you will have a durable, reliable trailer for years to come.

How much is it going to cost

As you may assume, every job is different and based upon the time and materials needed to perform the repair or replacement. On the trailer seen in these photos, we replaced just about everything on the bunks. The wood was rotted in most places and broken in half in other places. The carpet was worn, frayed and had holes through it. The bolts that held the hinges in place were not stainless steel and many of them had rusted in place. Some of the bolts we had to cut off to remove. Others broke in half when loosening them. A few unbolted as they were supposed to. Many of the screws had stripped heads. Some of the screws were snapped in half. We were able to reuse the four stainless steel bolts that were holding the outermost bunks in place. Other than those four bolts, this trailer received new wood on all six bunks, new carpet on all six bunks, new stainless steel hardware to fasten the bunks to the hinges and new stainless steel bolts to fasten the hinges to the frame. Will your trailer need all these things? We hope not but until we get the trailer in our hands, we can’t even begin to guess. Sometimes only the carpet needs to be replaced and all the wood and hardware is reusable. Other times it’s just like what we show here.

More Information

What else should I know? There are a few other important things to cover and answers to questions we get asked often:

1) Does the boat or Jet-ski need to be off the trailer before it gets dropped off at Sweet Sounds? YES YES YES. If the trailer arrives with a boat on it, we will not attempt any work on it. We suggest planning a day at a local lake. Drop the boat in the water with the family, run the trailer to us at Sweet Sounds and go back to the lake and enjoy the day. We’ll give you a call when it’s ready to go. Many local lakes have wonderful county parks attached to them with services.
2) Do we do welding repair? We have the capacity to do welding on steel trailers but we only do very light repairs and only on a case by case basis.
3) Do we paint trailers? Sorry, we do not except for very light touch up.
4) Do we pack trailer bearings? Sorry, no we do not.
5) Can Sweet Sounds store the trailer overnight? Yes, on most occasions we can keep the trailer locked up inside in our secure facility overnight.
6) How long does it take? Most trailers with bunk boards can be finished in a day and we sometimes even have two techs working on the same trailer at the same time to speed up the process.

Of course, Our team of expert technicians can also perform many upgrades for your boat. Speakers, radios, interior lighting, tower speakers, amplifiers and more is all in stock and ready to go for you. Whether you need us to create a custom installation or replace a set of speakers, our team has the tools, training and experience to get the job done efficiently and reliably. We’ve upgraded the sound system in fishing boats, pontoon boats, sport boats and ski boats.

Sweet Sounds gets it right the First Time

If you are in the Mankato or anywhere in the Southern Minnesota area, drop by Sweet Sounds and speak to our team about repairing your trailer. For more information, give us a call or send an e-mail using our contact page.