Trailer Floor

[Anderzander]

My neighbour has kindly been lending me his trailer and won’t take any payment for it - so I’d like to put a new floor in it, some LED lights, and source a handbrake cable.

My question is - what to use for the floor? 
 

I’ve heard of some plastic material being used / but I don’t know of any brand names?   I’ve also seen phenolic resin ply, with a non slip bonded material on it that looks good.

Anyone share their wisdom to help me help him out please ? 😊

[Arjan]

What sort of trailer is it ?

 

[Anderzander]

Sorry - just an open one with sides .... drop down removable tailgate, galv chassis, long A frame......

I don’t even have any pictures.

[steve b]

Is it an Ifor ? My experience of replacement resin plywood is I will never buy it again , it did not make 5 years old before starting to delaminate . 

All cut edges had copious amounts of paint and lots of non hardening mastic/putty on all joints and outer edge to trailer frame .

I've been looking at thin ( 16mm) Keruing planking , not cheap but the resin ply was £400 or so to do 14' x 6'6" bed .

Also worth pricing up a replacement from Ifor or possibly aluminium chequer plate too depending on use etc.

Steve 

[Arjan]

Flatbed with sides......

Well, We used 22 mm waterproof boards (multiplex), 22 mms grooved and treated planks, Aluminum treadplate over the years and they all have pro's and cons.

I like the waterproof boards for the 3-axle.

[Anderzander]

It’s a German make - the chap used to drive HGV’s, bought it new in Germany many years ago and brought it back on his wagon. Might be Heinemann .. but is a lot nicer than the others I’ve seen with that on the side.

Its just used for light(ish) duty stuff - and has a ply floor on it at the moment - but it’s knackered - water’s got into the edges and rotted them away.

[Retroanaconda]

I did my Ifor with 18mm phenolic plywood three years ago. I sealed the edges but water has eventually got in and it’s slowly delaminating. I’ll probably get another year or two out of it and then it’ll need doing again.

If you could get it in one piece it would last longer, but would be very expensive. The phenolic ply was about £40 a sheet from the builders merchant so a couple of hundred quid every five years I can probably live with.

[ianmayco68]

There's a board we used to use when I worked at IAE on the panels for barns and other farm related stuff called bull board I think it was plastic looking stuff about 18mm thick , don't know whether that would be any good .

cheers Ian

[Ozzy50]

Buffalo board. Top stuff. Or scaffolding planks suitably treated/stained. 

[Badger110]

Phenolyic board comes from many different suppliers who will use under par materials to construct it, including the incorrect glues and inferior timber.

 

Buffalo board hasn't failed on me yet in years of using it, however it doesn't hold well if you have sharp objects on it ( stands with metal legs strapped down ) as they dig in to the surface.  Even so the ones we used on Traffic light flatbeds still didn't delaminate but ended up with holes in them.

18mm 8x4 sheets are apprx £80 a sheet and it's pure BB graded plywood, not asian plywood.

If you do order it, make sure it's marked with Buffalo Board, if it isn't, send it back.

 

[Happyoldgit]

Keuring is good wood but hideously heavy. My big Ifor needs doing and will be looking at some of the commercial boarding made from recycled plastics in due course. I wont be fixing it with anything that requires drilling the boards but rather use a light mastic adhesive.

[Retroanaconda]

That’s a good idea, 18mm Stokbord could work well and will never rot.

Would be rather slippery mind!

[miketomcat]

8 hours ago, Retroanaconda said:

That’s a good idea, 18mm Stokbord could work well and will never rot.

Would be rather slippery mind!

I would also use stokbord or similar. It's recycled plastic so will not rot. Every other plywood type I've used has just rotted out annoyingly quickly.

Mike

[Ed Poore]

Local trailer place to me (CLH Trailers) uses either aluminium chequer plate or Buffalo Board. Chris doesn't compromise on quality so the Buffalo Board holds up well - the only thing you must do is seal any cut edges - doesn't really matter what with but they've just got to be sealed.

[LiftedDisco]

Try searching for Thermoplastic Honeycomb Panels - there are a number of options out there and they now use this for lightweight (but strong) bodybuilding for van conversions etc.

 

I’ve also seen it used for boarding on scaffold towers etc - the thickness will depend on what you have for support structure and what sort of weight you are putting on / in the trailer.  I’ve used some 18mm thick with a non-slip finish on a project and it’s easy to work.

 

Hope this helps...

 

[Blanco]

Phenolic plywood comes in dramatically different qualities, if you use  it ( and I would) get a proper 'Buffalo' board or the equivilent from someone that knows trailers, there is a lot of cheaper stuff around that looks superficially similar but is intended as non-stick shuttering, essentially for one off use.

[reb78]

I have never found Stokbord To be strong enough for much weight unless its so supported beneath that you may as well miss out the stokbord! I carry other land rovers and cars on my flatbed from time to time. I wouldn't feel comfortable putting them on a stokbord bed. 

[Nonimouse]

I'd drop down to the local saw mill and see if they can get you some Douglas Fir planks...

[BogMonster]

Phenolic ply is OK for anything which isn't likely to damage the surface of the board but it gets ripped up easily. I've had an Ifor GD85 which still has the original floor (now about 10 years old I guess) but with quite a lot of superficial damage from carting rock and sharp things - no sign of it going soft though so the original material must be pretty decent. Using a digger or anything really requires a metal floor, which is what the 12' TT3621 tipper has, the downside of metal is that it is much more slippy for hard loads.