Ram-lin trailer WARNING

[djbartholomew]

I have a 2002 ram-lin trailer under my 03 196 (promo boat ) that I trailer two to three time a week to the boat ramp that is one mile from my house. We just use the 196 for skiing the course so my son is always here when we put the boat in the lake. The parking lot is not very big so I just bring the truck and trailer home after we put the boat in the lake so there is one less trailer in the lot, more room for those that don't live on the lake.
This is a very good road that I travel on, but a bump getting on and off the bridge, one that you don't notice if the boat is on the trailer. Well the other day when loading the boat on the trailer my son told me that he heard a scratching sound so after we got the boat off of the ramp we stopped and looked under the boat (just made me sick) I could see at least two scratchs three to four feet long though the gel coat and I saw a blue color (the main hull color is white) no fiber glass. So we took the boat home. After getting the boat on concreat where I could lie down (not on rocks like the parking lot) I could see at least four scratchs and what looked like a rock embedded in the runner mid way of the fender on the runner. We tried to remove the Rock but realized that it wasn't a rock. So we took the boat back to the ramp and I stopped in the lot and found that it was a self tapping lag bolt that was used to hold the running to the top rail of the trailer. So we took the trailer home and found that there was three bolts (plus the one that came out) on one side and two bolts on the other runner starting to get loose. So I am sure that my taking the trailer home empty has alot to do with this but I now stop in the lot right before I load the boat, get out of the truck and go to the back of the trailer and step inside and walk to the front with one hand on each runner to feel for more loose bolts.

[DanielC]

RE: Ram-lin trailer WARNING

There are two common ways to attach the wood bunks to a boat trailer. One way, you cover the bunks with carpet, and use lag screws from the bottom to hold the bunks to the trailer. The other way, you use bolts that go down through the bunk, and put nuts on the under side of the bunk. To use the bolt method, you have to put the uncovered bunk on the trailer, drill matching holes, countersink the top of the holes, put the bolts in, and then cover the bunks with carpet, and then reinstall the bunk. Obviously, the bolt method takes a lot longer to put together, but is is a more secure way to hold the bunks on the trailer. The lag screws will work loose. You need to double nut the bolts, so the nuts will not work loose.
Any method of securing the bunk to the trailer has to be inspected every so often. With the wood getting wet, and sitting in hot sun, and getting wet again, and then sitting wet with the boat on it causes the wood to shrink, and swell, and it will work the bolts loose.
Many trailer builders use the lag screw method, because it is a much faster way to build a trailer. Time is money.

[djbartholomew]

RE: Ram-lin trailer WARNING

Danielc there is no way to put a bolt in the two rails on this trailer so I guess that self tapping lag scews is the only way to attach the wood runners.

[DanielC]

RE: Ram-lin trailer WARNING

Perhaps I did not explain it clearly. You take a trailer bunk board without carpet on it, and set it on the trailer, on the mounts. You then drill up through the hole where the lag screw would go, if you used a lag screw. On the top of the bare board, you countersink the bolt hole so the bolt head is below the surface of the board. Use a carriage bolt.
Take the bunk board off, and now cover it with carpet, with the bolts still in it. Now put the carpet covered board back on the trailer, and bolt it down.

[M3Fan]

RE: Ram-lin trailer WARNING

DanielC, I think the issue here is that the Ram-Lin uses a box frame so there is no access to the underside of the bolts.

[Hollywood]

RE: Ram-lin trailer WARNING

The OP mentions lag screws AND bolts, so it's kind of confusing. The bunks are attached from the top and lag screwed into the metal frame? Are the holes threaded, machine screws???

[djbartholomew]

RE: Ram-lin trailer WARNING

these lag screws (lag bolts) are self tapping. They have a built in drill bit on the end to drill the hole and then tap them self into the top on the box section of the trailer.

[Hollywood]

RE: Ram-lin trailer WARNING

so is it a screw or a bolt???????????????/

[SkiTower]

A picture's worth a thousand words, guys.

My prestige uses a hex head wood screw (lag screw?) to attach the bunks. I wish they were lag bolted like DanielC exsplained.

[AuMDLST]

Ramlins are built with the screw/bolt going from the top down self tapped just as described by author of post and I will be checking very often for this issue.
Ramlin must be using the third uncommon way of building trailers

[DanielC]

I looked at a Ramlin trailer today, briefly. This trailer had the frame rails made out of a "C" channel where the bunks were attached to the trailer. The owner was just pulling his boat out of the water, so I did not get to look close at it.
If I had this type of a trailer, I would drill the holes out on the metal frame of the trailer 5/16 or 3/8. Because of the "C" channel, I could not drill straight up into a new bunk board, so I would mark the underside of the board, and then drill the hole for a carriage bolt. I would then put the board on with the bolt, mark the next hole, loosten the bolt, drill the next hole, and put that bolt in, until all the bolts are in, and in the right place. Remove the nuts, carpet the bunk, and reinstall the carpeted bunk board, and tighten it down and double nut the bolts.