Getting back in the Game - Page 2

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

Planks drain and don't peel from rain. Everybody says they are going to keep it covered and painted, blah, blah and double blah. Drag a clothes washer across it once. Paint/sealer only lasts once. Rough cut boards are nicer, soak up oil and stuff. Preservative. Only thing I recommend is full length long boards. (Put in the lengthwise way, not cross-ways. Otherwise there will be swearing.) Rough cut also don't turn into slip and slide. Around here you can get rough cut pine for 50 - 75 cents a board foot. People say to get oak, but for little trailers, You're going to replace boards anyways. just get cheap pine. They do add a little weight, but you were going to go an inch with plywood, so it's about even.

I also recommend any spray paint projects get done INSIDE the trailer. Cheap free sealer, and nobody cares what the inside of the trailer looks like. You'll waste so much time worrying about trailer condition it's not worth it. As long as it's legal.

Just make sure your rough cut boards are reasonably dry, as they dry out they shrink leaving huge gaps between each pair of boards. I re-decked my crane truck with rough cut fir from a tree that I had cut and transported to a local guy that had a band mill.

Hauling a scrap vehicle won't fall through the gaps.

Sorry for the delay. Still have yet to assemble the trailer. Life won't wait, and the weather sucks here in the Pacific Northwet when I gotta do everything outside. Hope to get it together before the end of the year.

Lots of mills here, timber is a major industry. Pretty much all the lumber is high temp kiln dried, so I have to worry about swelling rather than shrinkage. It rains nine months out of the year here. Snows sometimes. Did a little last week but not enough to have fun in the Jeep or Subaru.

The best decking material that i can think of for a trailer would be pressure treated 2x6 or 2x8. It doesn't need any care and will likely last 20 years or more out there in the elements. What you wanna do is look at the endgrain and put the crown facing up. That way the boards don't cup and hold water. Use a sixteen penny nail as a spacer between your decking boards as you are laying them. That little bit of space between the boards allows them to shrink or swell without causing any problems.

If you had a small 4x8 trailer ... a 4x8 sheet of pressure treated plywood would be just right. You could probably get by with 1/2" but 5/8" or 3/4" thick would be better.


Another thing that's gaining popularity these days is what's called composite decking & boarding. It's made out of recycled plastic and sawdust. That's being used on a lot of high end jobs now because it's maintenance free and lasts indefinitely. It doesn't swell or shrink so that's a plus. It is kind of expensive to buy though.

Kinda concerned with pressure treated wood because it's corrosive, code requires galvanized or stainless fasteners and hardware in construction. Plus that $#!t is heavy, had to carry 16 foot 2x6, 2x8 through soft muddy backfill, really sucks, or sinks me down. Built alot of decks with Trex, the composite decking you described. Heavy material too, gets hot in summer and slick as snot on a doorknob in winter.

Originally Posted by Soobthang

Kinda concerned with pressure treated wood because it's corrosive, code requires galvanized or stainless fasteners and hardware in construction. Plus that $#!t is heavy, had to carry 16 foot 2x6, 2x8 through soft muddy backfill, really sucks, or sinks me down. Built alot of decks with Trex, the composite decking you described. Heavy material too, gets hot in summer and slick as snot on a doorknob in winter.

I was primarily thinking about low maintenance and durability. They most often use Southern Yellow Pine and then drop a whole lift lift of that stuff into a vat of water and preservative. Next they seal the vat and pressurize it to drive that stuff right into the core of the wood. Point being ... it's about twice as heavy as K.D. because it's so heavily laden with water. It takes about six months for it to dry out after it's been installed for it to be somewhere near normal weight. SYP is rugged enough without getting the density you would get with oak planking .... or ... heaven forbid ... ironwood.

I think you could manage the corrosion issue just fine with a bit of Vicor or IWS as a barrier between the wood and the steel framing of the trailer. 1/4" x 2 1/2" galvanized lag screws are heavily galvanized so that shouldn't be an issue.

As for trex ... it's just an idea. Personally, i would go with PT but it's an option.

This is getting way over thought. It's a harbor freight trailer. It won't last that long. Not trying to bring you down, but it won't. Don't do the composite. Slippery when wet. Same with treated. You don't notice it on flat surfaces. Just plain old rough cut true dimension wood. I wouldn't worry about shrinkage on it, and if you're worried about stuff falling through an inch gap in a trailer, you're not loading it right.

For 20 bucks you can get enough rough cut. You could go 2 inch on the floor, but for the size of that trailer it's over kill. You'll never haul anything heavy enough to need that thick of wood in a thin wall trailer.

You're going to find you're going to sell trailer anyways. Everybody starts small and regrets it.

Just make it so it's useful and legal. Next time you're at the yard, look at the trailers that are coming in. You see someone with an aluminum trailer, and shiny truck. And you know you shake your head, because it's just not cost effective.