Gelcoat Shavings on Bunks?

[DogDadDave]

Has anyone seen this before? It's like fine plastic shavings and wipes off with no effort. I'm afraid it's gelcoat that was rubbed off by the bunks, but I'm unsure, since it's lightly scattered all over the bottom of the hull.

This boat is new this year and has only been launched maybe a dozen times. I always put the trailer in at least deep enough that the water is at or over the tops of the fenders.

I never come in hot and slam in to the trailer. Always float it gently until I touch the bunks then give it a little power to stop it moving before going the rest of the way with the winch. Most of the time we launch at a place where I can back the trailer parallel to the dock and just push the boat in place manually.

Saturday after launching the boat I noticed what looked like burned/melted streaks on the trailer bunk carpet (unfortunately I took no pictures). I checked to make sure there were no screws or other metal poking through. Without having more carpet material on hand I loaded the boat at the end of the day and noticed this when I got home.

Weather permitting, I plan on launching the boat this weekend and replacing the bunk carpet to start, then checking to make sure there are no deep gouges in the gel coat if the water is clear enough.

 

[AZMark]

Looks like pollen or some other plant material.

Were your bunks still full covered in carpet everywhere? Gelcoat is very hard, it won’t just scrape off easily. My jet ski carrier doesn’t even have carpet on the bunks, just bare wood, and I haven’t noticed issues.

And my boat trailer bunks will get those shiny areas that I think you’re referring to as melted. Those are just higher pressure/wear spots so the carpet gets matted down. Shouldn’t be actually melted or anything.

 

[tdonoughue]

But I do see what you mean. Does kinda look like scraped off stuff. I second what @AZMark suggested about the bunks being covered. Also check particularly where the metal parts are and that none are sticking up above the wood bunks or anything. When my bunk boards died, I found scrapes on my gelcoat first. Followed that back to find the dead boards...

 

[DogDadDave]

Were your bunks still full covered in carpet everywhere?

Still all covered. Just the matted down/worn spots as you mentioned.

 

[DogDadDave]

But I do see what you mean. Does kinda look like scraped off stuff. I second what @AZMark suggested about the bunks being covered. Also check particularly where the metal parts are and that none are sticking up above the wood bunks or anything. When my bunk boards died, I found scrapes on my gelcoat first. Followed that back to find the dead boards...

I'd like to think that with this boat being within 6 months of its maiden voyage everything on it and the trailer would be working as new, but with the stories I hear...

Fortunately, the boards themselves seem to be in good shape and no brackets or screws were sticking up when I looked it over with the boat off.

 

[TimW451]

Looks organic to me, like @AZMark said. If you think you have a lot of friction between the boat and bunks try spraying the bunks with silicone lube. I notice a big difference, much easier to load when I do that.

 

[AZMark]

Looks organic to me, like @AZMark said. If you think you have a lot of friction between the boat an bunks try spraying the bunks with silicon lube. I notice a big difference, much easier to load when I do that.

I just started doing the same with silicone. Seems to work great in moderation. I was hesitant after hearing about people using liquid rollers and the boat sliding way too easily.

 

[Sean R]

I use liquid roller a few times a year BUT be careful it works very well DO NOT unhook the boat from the trailor till you are at the bottom of the launch. The first time I went a little over board with the product and when I unhooked the strap the boat slid back. Luckily, I purposely left the safety chain on, thank God I did. I still use the product and works great but be advised.?

 

[Julian]

@Cobra Jet Steering LLC swears by pledge....much cheaper than any specialized product.

Looks organic to me.

 

[sunbyrned]

Could it be wax residue? Just a guess.

 

[MikeT29]

I recently did the silicone spray on my bunks and noticed a significant improvement when trailing the boat. I only applied to about half of the front bunks and maybe a third of the back bunks, both cases towards the front of the trailer, thinking that is where the friction is highest.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Just be very careful on the ramp as stated leave the bow hook on

 

[Sean R]

@Cobra Jet Steering LLC swears by pledge....much cheaper than any specialized product.

Looks organic to me.

Speaking of pledge, I use it to clean the chrome on my truck, works great on rims, bumpers, etc...and has a nice lemon fresh sent ?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I actually use it to clean the water spots off the hull , spray it on wipe it off

 

[jetboater4life]

This is what gel coat looks like when it's rubbed on bunks. These were my UBB bunks before I carpeted them. When I haul long distances and hit bumpy roads I still see some gelcoat on my bunk carpet. It does not look like what you see in your picture. I agree with others, that what you have is something organic and not gelcoat.

Here is an old post that has lots of pictures.

Yamaha Jet Boaters • View topic - Are UBB destroying my hull?