My Ramlin’s guide bunks somehow decided to create corrosion, looks like the stainless screw reacted with the wood and the aluminum and the attachment points. Harry at Beavertail arranged for warranty work on my trailer and they sent me two replacement guides w hardware.
I removed the guides and documented the corrosion for your pleasure!
The fix as advised by @Smackdaddy53 was to apply 3M antiskid tape to the flat part of the brace where the wood bunk will get attached and use TefGel on the washers and screws.
The mounting bolts got some TefGel as well, I added two zinc anodes to the ends of the trailer, I moved the stainless retractable straps to a better mount and did away with the 90 deg phalanges that were bolted to the end of the trailer frame.
As usual I thought, two hours max. Nope, After removal, had to get supplies and get organized, so total time for the repair was 4 hours.
Good stuff @Loogie - thanks for the info. You gave me some ideas. I need to do mine, but have bought myself time by screwing through the middle of the plates (inside of the beams) and reseating the existing screws with liquid nail.
It looks like you bought completely new bunks and arms from Ramlin. I am considering cutting the plate off and welding on a new one, using the existing aluminum arms. I’ll create my own boards, but will use your tactics to reduce corrosion.
This will be an offseason chore for sure.
Out of curiosity, what did Ramlin charge you for the bunks? I was quoted $500 for the set with boards a few years ago. I am sure they’ve gone up.
They were free, I had Harry at BT send them pics of the corrosion, he has some leverage w them since he buys a ton of trailers. The trailer is 2023 year group. So I just had to pay shipping, $50 bucks. I have the old ones plan on doing that same and plan on using them on a future boat project.
Btw not sure why anodes aren’t standard on trailer, heck when you replace engine anodes, those could be repurposed if in good shape.
That’s awesome. But it definitely shouldn’t been as bad considering it is less than 3 years old. Agree on anodes, I’ll add this to my offseason list - it isn’t a hard thing to do.
If the guide had pressure treated lumber that could be a contributing factor in the aluminum corrosion. Pressure treated lumber and aluminum are not a good combination.
Picking up a new BT w Ramlin trailer next week. Do you know if they made any design changes on the trailer to prevent this from happening moving forward?
Poles do two things….. they can help steer the boat onto the trailer, but really help when backing the trailer without the boat on it. I cannot see my trailer from my truck in my mirrors without the boat on it, so have to use my cameras.
The side bunks only help guide the boat onto the trailer. They need to be out of the water, or the boat could sit on one when taking it out. But some ramps have sharp angles and make this hard. I cannot see my side bunks when backing so have to use the wheel wells to gauge depth.
I had the same problem with my Ramlin trailer. Ramlin’s response was “You’re not rinsing the bunks thoroughly.” No warranty help, so I purchased new brackets, bunks and half inch longer lag bolts. Used half inch pieces of black starboard between the bunk and bracket which has worked great for the last 6-7 years.
BS - they are the easiest thing to wash on the trailer. It’s the pressure treated issue IMO. Adding the anodes is a no brainer and they should have been doing that.
I recently had to work on my Ramlin and was really surprised how they design and rigged a few things. They have some room for improvement.
It’s pretty hard to rinse between the aluminum plate and bunk! They should be using some sort of barrier between the aluminum and bunk similar to what Loogie did with the adhesive grip tape or the Starboard material if you have clearance to add that extra thickness.
My trailer has tape barrier between the torsion axle and aluminum frame that was there from the trailer builder 26 years ago. (I think I mentioned this previously, I forget).
Anodes would be easy and economical addition and I am all for prevention- but I’m not sure how much they’ll actually contribute being the trailer is dunked for such short periods of time and wouldn’t that be the only time the anode is working? - again, can’t hurt .
While corrosion is accelerated in saltwater I don’t think corrosion only takes place while the trailer is in the water, the anodes should mitigate it at all times.
