Do Caliber Marine Slides Need To Cover The Entire Bunk?

Updated 06/26/2026 | Published 06/20/2026

Question:

I have a tritoon boat with 6 2x4 slides that are 20 foot long. I have carpet now and want to upgrade donate 17” slides go on top of the carpet and do you need to cover all 20’ of each board

asked by: Jeremy

Expert Reply:

Hey Jeremy, thanks for reaching out. The 3" wide Caliber Marine Slides # CA66AJ will work just fine on your 4" wide bunks, and yes, they can be installed right over the existing bunk carpet.

You don't necessarily need to cover the entire 20' length of each bunk, but you do want to cover the areas where the pontoons are actually making contact with the bunks during loading and unloading.

For a tritoon, most guys will install enough slide material to cover the primary contact areas rather than running it the full length of every bunk. The more coverage you have, the easier the boat will slide, but it isn't required to cover all 20' of each board for the slides to be effective. If you're looking for the smoothest loading possible, I'd extend the slides over as much of the contact area as practical, especially near the rear of the trailer where most of the loading friction occurs.

I've included a picture showing a typical setup.

Do you usually launch by yourself? Or with a helper or two?

expert reply by: Jesse M

Caliber Marine Slides for Boat Trailer Bunks
(click to enlarge)

Mark S.

6/25/2026

I spread out the five slides evenly on my 7.5 ft. Carpeted bunks, leaving about 3.5in. At either end and in-between each slide. They keep my aluminum boat off the carpet and let's it slide easily when launching.

Jesse M.

6/25/2026

@MarkS Awesome! Glad to hear the slides are working out. Thanks for sharing your setup!

Stan

6/25/2026

I have a Pro Line 20’. I installed the slides about four inches apart over the carpeted bunks. It’s a lot easier to load and unload the boat! The carpet on top of the bunks was worn anyway. So this was an easy fix.