[mab]

Hi all,

In preparation for when I have a place to go to, I've bought an old rice trailer which needs new wood on the sides/ramps.

The original wood appears to be tongue&groove (which has subsequently been reinforced with ply. I was planning to just use exterior grade hardwood ply as the cheapest option; 3/4" for the sides, 1/2" for the end and 1" for the ramps. I could get T&G (20mm thick) which is similar to the old wood, but seems a little thin for the ramps, and is more expensive than the ply.

before I go and buy the wood I was wondering if anyone had done something similar before and had any views on better ways of doing it?

Having rifled through the assorted tins I inherited, I've found creosote, linseed (both raw & boiled), and some exterior wood treatment stuff (cuprinol 'decorative wood preservative' - looks like black paint). Which (if any) would be best for preserving the new sides and the existing wooden plank floor?

m

[deepinthewoods]

use tanalised ply and paint it how you like. ply will always outlive timber as its half glue already, use the paint to keep water off, use preservative where waters unavoidable.

[mab]

Hmm... Tanalized - I wonder if that's the same as phenolic (that's what's on offer at my local supplier).


Thanks

m

[deepinthewoods]

tanalisation is a high pressure preservative treatment thats known to be safe for animals, phenolic ply has a resin based coating. ive never used phenolic so cant comment on its properties.

[Castle Farm]

I stripped the whole thing back to the frame and put heavy duty weldmesh panels on and then put the floor on.




Sealed the whole thing with rubber and put a drain plug in to wash it out with. A couple of stable mats and re-padded it.

Problem is it's to heavy for my rav4 with the horse in, no bother with a landy, but my rav hasn't got the grunt.

Stuck in the yard now, but handy for storing bags of sheep nuts in.

Make me an offer and save yourself a whole lot of work It's a Lambourn trailer

[Plantoid]

Mab before you spend money ............. have you crawled underneath and  used a toffee hammer to test the axle beams ..  often by the time  the panels need renewing  there is sever rust problems in the lh side of the beams to ward the front and rear .

 I've repaired several by putting new axles on & rerivetting them etc.

I got caught myself inspite of everything  when  I purchased and old AJS 2 tonne trailer  two days before it was needed .
I was avised it was 100 % OK and was using it to come here to Wales .

Like a BF I believed the nice old guy & his wife with out checking it out but I did do a full hub bearing set  repack & fit new hub seals 7 greased all teh grease points etc..

 Two days after getting here I  was going to  put a new ally chequer plate floor in it & sell it for a bit more than I'd paid  ( £750 ).

I  crawled under to find where any bolts were and found a hole as big as my 10 yr old munchkins fist on the rear edge of the front lh side axle . The rust maggots had eaten their way  right through the axle beams at the LH side ..
Pershaps it was something to do with them getting more otf the road edge puddle splashes and stronger de icing salt solutions from the edge of the road.

[Sandy]

Ummm, our 1972 had a huge hole under too but it did look good at one point......I was driving it around and could have done a Fred Flintstone at any monent I was driving...still it did sell for a good price.....look at the undercarrage

[mab]

Umm - I've not crawled underneath yet - the problem with this time of year is that it's never dry when you go & look at a prospective purchase. 

Will have a look tomorrow if it isn't pouring with rain.

Are new axles available? Expensive? I paid 200 for this trailer so I shouldn't expect too much I suppose.

mab

[tizaala]

One of the biggest problems is usualy the brake back plates rusting through, Marine ply is what I used for the floor in mine, totaly waterproof.