I need to replace the bunks and side skirts on my boat trailer. I've read all kinds of conflicting reasons as to what kind of wood to use. Cypress is preferred but it could get expensive and I'm not sure where to buy it in Houston. Others says pressure treated pine while others say untreated pine. The boat is used in saltwater so it will see corrosion.

I don't know much about it, but I can't see why treated lumber would be less desirable the. Non-treated. Unless they just take the approach of why spend the extra, they will have to be replaced due to wear and tear in a similar time frame anyways?

I've read pressure treated lumber is corrosive to some metals so I wasn't sure how it would react to the galvanized trailer.

Mahogany may be easier to find than cypress.

There must be a specialist wood supplier in Houston. I'd call them and ask.

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I need to replace the bunks and side skirts on my boat trailer. I've read all kinds of conflicting reasons as to what kind of wood to use. Cypress is preferred but it could get expensive and I'm not sure where to buy it in Houston. Others says pressure treated pine while others say untreated pine. The boat is used in saltwater so it will see corrosion.

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Try Hardwood Products off Beltway 8 just north of I10, They will have Cypress, may even be able to get it in an S4S if you don't have a table saw, will definitely have it in S2S.

http://hwp.us/lumber/hardwoods/softwood-species.html

Pressure treated with a Teflon strip?

Cypress is crazy easy to find in Houston. Call Masons Mill and Lumber. They are off Old Hempstead Highway and Tidwell. They have a seet ton of it along with many other species of wood.

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If you're going to wrap them anyway, just use one of the composite decking products.

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We replaced the bunks on our bay boat trailer a while back and used a composite 2x4.

Since sold the boat, but it worked fine while we had it. Wasn't a big heavy boat though, so your mileage may vary.

Houston Hardwoods will also have it.

A friend rebuilt a used trailer for his skiff and it looks like he used regular, pressure-treated lumber. I'll ask him what he used.

Looks like the rule of thumb is to not use it in contact with aluminum. With a galvanized trailer and fiberglass hull, PT pine should be fine. Might still go cypress because it's supposed to hold up better to moisture. Thank you all for the help

Confirmed with my friend he used regular, pressure-treated pine for his trailer. His boat is a poling skiff and primarily sees salt water.

I think we need to finally redo ours as well. What would you use for wrapping it?

http://www.etrailer.com/Boat-Trailer-Parts/CE-Smith/CE11330.html

I am going to use the following. You can cut the 18" roll in half and use each 9" length on a 2x4 perfectly.

I'm three months in with new pressure treated bunks wrapped in carpet (galv trailer, glass boat). No issues yet.



Just don't wrap 4 sides of the bunk or it will never dry out.

Regular treated pine is fine. Make sure you get a fairly center cut piece to limit warping.

I liked this guy's video about it

I would think the saltwater would be far more corrosive to a trailer than treated lumber. People use galvanized deck screws in treated wood all the time.