Orientation of bunks for deck down storage

OldDog

New Member
Hello all,

I have a question on deck down storage of Lasers. I have read that the gunnels are the strongest part of the boat. When I first bought my boat I had it on bunks awaiting the arrival of my new trailer. While the boat was sitting deck down it was really resting on the crest of the fore deck not really the gunnels.

For those of you who store your Lasers deck down how do you orient your bunks? Do you place them perpendicular to the boat centerline and in what location? Would there be any bennefit to placing the boards parallel to the centerline so as to maximize gunnel support? (see the enclosed picture)

Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • Laser Stored on deck.bmp
    960.1 KB · Views: 92
To spread the load on the perpendicular boards, you should take into account the crown on the deck - it's approx a 1" drop from the center to the gunnel, you can either set up so that the edges take all the weight, or evenly spread from gunnel into the center.

The parallel setup is faster to build and does a fine job supporting the hull

But, sitting on a kittyhawk (your other post) in the garage is by far the easiest and will support the hull just as well
 
Mine run perpendicular to the centerline of the boat, at the mast step and rear of the cockpit. These points have bracing between the deck and hull.

My bunks are 12" wide and have 4" of open cell foam on them (plenty of "give"), so matching the angle of the deck is not super-critical.
 

Back
Top