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Good, or a harebrained idea??
toad67
Member Posts: 13,009 ✭✭✭✭
Have a 5x10 utility trailer that gets used quite a bit for hauling various items/materials. Lately it's had a fairly substantial diet of crushed, and round rock, up to 8", as well as a bunch of bark chips. I replaced the deck boards last year with 2x6 PT, but as with all PT, they shrunk up and I now have gaps between the deck boards, allowing material to fall thru. Going to have to haul about 5 yards of top soil for some new grass and don't want the dirt to fall thru the cracks and make a mess, as well as lose material that I paid for. How well do you guys think that using some spray in foam out of a can would work? I could always knife it out if it came down to it.
Comments
Todd, you could also caulk the gaps, less of a mess.
OR, lay in a cheap tarp when you need to.
Al
The gaps are larger than what caulk would fill, 1/2" plus, and a tarp would be tough to shovel the material out of off.
Might work, but also might cause your boards to prematurely deteriorate in the long run (rain/moisture not draining off well). I think you would do better to just lay a big tarp down before loading. I do that with mine when I haul dirt. Works well because I can use the overlap to fold back over the load and keep dirt from blowing out as I drive.
Cheap tarp would be the cowboy way, much less effort, time and likely more than one use.
Next time go with recycled polymer/sawdust decking.
Temp. just lay and screw down 1/4" plywood over top of current wood. Cut to size. The tarps will get into a headache cause I tried that on my 5x8 trailer and it balled up and made me sweat a lot.
What is the decking you are referring to Dale? I need to do the side boards shortly.
A piece of 1/4" plywood was my other thought Walt.
Agree use a tarp
We use one on the trailers and in the back of the pickup trucks
Easy to put down you can use the tarp to unload by pulling the tarp if not to loaded or to heavy speeds up unloading and clean up
Some time back i bought a fancy version clamps on the tailgate and with a crank roll out the tarp load it and you just wind it back up to unload
But have not used it as just a plain old tarp does as well
Will add 40 some years ago the guys i worked with did the same on construction sites
Where I learned about it works great
I use a Harbor Freight tarp for that very purpose .
If you caulk all the cracks, you'll have a boat. Those cracks drain a lot of water from whatever you're hauling and prevents water from standing on the wood, the tarp is temporary.
Walt, I would have to go to HD to get a name, polymer/sawdust with hard rubber like polymer cover. I can send photos tomorrow if useful. I hane had peices in high elevation sunlight nearly ten years and it is slightly faded. Tough stuff.
Dad use to go to flooring store and get their scrap linoleum rolls to tack down in the bed when we hauled something like that in the old farm trailers
Cardboard!
Trying to shovel anything off of a tarp is a PAIN in the *.
That's why you don't shovel all the way to the bottom. You shovel off the top and then pull the rest out on the tarp. Easy day. Being able to slide the tarp out can save a lot of shoveling as well.
I shovel down to the tarp and then just pull the front of the tarp to the rear of the trailer to dump the rest.
But ......... yes, shoveling off of a tarp is No Bueno for sure.
This is how I would do it as well. Lot easier to shovel off trailer.
Having the air space those cracks provide will also keep the bed in good shape a lot longer. Drainage is a GOOD thing on an open area with outdoor exposure.
What is this "shovel" you speak of?
Shovel is used by DOT as a prop.
Originally invented to move loose material with.
ply wood and then a good oily preservative
Grasshopper has it. Spray foam won’t work
One problem is that it's a 5 x 10 trailer & plywood is 4 x 8. I have the same size trailer & the bed is worn from use. Can't find 5 x 10 plywood but (@savage170 ) I'm liking the linoleum solution.
Cut two sheets of plywood 4x5 foot. Start at the rear of the trailer work towards front. The two pieces that are 4x3 foot that are left over, out of each one cut a 2x21/2 foot pieces and finish covering the bed.
Here ya go, @Toolman286 ! $91.06/sheet plus shipping.
I'd feel better about tearing up a bunch of cheap tarps than I wold ruining that marine plywood as a trailer deck!
@NeoBlackdog I agree about tearing up another "expensive" sheet of plywood. To save on shoveling I bought a dump trailer. Wish I'd have bought it sooner. It's also very popular with friends & neighbors 😀. I still want to redo the utility trailer bed & linoleum seems easier & is much more cost effective.
I had the same problem years back. We have a sheet metal shop near by. Went over there and they had many scrap (damaged) pieces of "sheet metal". Got 2 pieces for cheap and it worked out just fine. Still have those pieces🙄