TexP51

Lake Limestone - 13,800 acre lake between DFW & Houston near Groesbeck, TX

Wake of - Appreciate your taking the time to explain your setup. Thx

Finished our boat lift. Went this weekend to FLA and hauled a new-to-me 2002 Elite V C4 Air Warrior back to TX and got to see how it fit on the system. Spaced the bunks at 40” and they worked perfect.

There are bias ply tires, and the more expensive premium radial tires - usually sold for long distance trailering. Either come in load ratings of A-E. A is lowest, and E is the highest weight supporting capacity. Tire manuf.s handle load through plys on belted tires. Semis, dump trucks, etc use large belted ply tires for the tires weight capabilities,, sacrificing ride comfort of a radial for payload needs. Air pressure is the most critical thing to tire life. One other suggestion - get the tires balanced. Some people think you don’t need to, and maybe they don’t if it’s slow speed and very short distances, but tires will last longer and you’ll find the boat trim screws not falling out as much if you get up balanced!

That’s a good tire, but just get a tire rated for your big heavy boat and you should be fine. The load rating is most important think on a replacement trailer tire. Add trailer and boat (GVWR), add fuel, and any add ons. Divide number by 4 for a tandem trailer to get load per tire. Some marine dealers don’t balance tires, but if your’re trailering long distances your bearings will thank you - and have much longer life. Dry rot, low air pressure and curbs kill most boat tires before you leave to get on the road, add heat from the overloaded tire and they let go. I use a 3000# empty steel 26’ pipe trailer and have found the road tires that last the longest are the highest weight capacity at the lowest air pressure. Some manuf. say 1650# @ 80psi, where another does the same @35psi - I go with the second tire. Travel safe.

Well I got the new bunks on my lift converting from pontoon to v-drive. I’m picking up a used 2002 Elite V C4 Air Warrior this weekend and driving it to Texas from Florida. I had to get this project moving. Screwed two 2x12x14s together and using table saw cut a 15 degree angle to top edge. Boards sit upright on the boat lift cradle, and are spaced at 5’ apart at back cradle, and 4’ 10” at front cradle. Cradles are 12’ apart. Bunks sit at 8” over front cradle and 14” off back cradle. I also added stanchion bumpers that aren’t in the pics on both cradles to guide the boat. BH-USA was very helpful and had everything I needed. I did have to use longer 5” SS bolts for the bracket/bunk mount since the bunks are som much thicker. Many people only do one 2x12, but I wanted to be sure. Biggest challenge was the bunk timber is very heavy when it’s doubled up, so working with it takes serious muscle. I still waiting on the glide/covers that I ordered that will sit on the face of the bunk and keep the boat from sitting on wood.

Newbie here - ‘02 Elite V C4 - wondering about bunk height for proper shaft clearance for those of you that have boat lifts. I’m planning on switching our boat house bunks from pontoon configuration over to a V-drive setup for our Centurion. Plan is to place (2) 2x12x14 treated boards screwed together and mounted on end, resting on the lift’s cross-cradle as a bunk. I’m putting a 10 degree cut on the top of the 2x12’s to provide some angle, and cover that 3” edge profile w/ synthetic gator bunk cover. Wow, four of those treated 2x12x14’s weigh close to 300#! I’ve seen Mastercraft boat lift setup similar w/ 2x10’s. Are my 2x12’s overkill?