trailer

[pascooter94]

need to put new plywood on my trailer this summer,any do's and donts when it comes to put it down? its a alum trailer.

how thick of wood?

best why to hold it in place,bolts screws,

waterproof the wood,with what?

and what to use for ski runners and what to put down for the track to grip so I dont rip the wood up with the studs in track.

thanks.......

[hydro]

1) How thick? Drill a hole and measure what's there. Get the same thickness of treated plywood.

2) Use the same type and size fasteners that hold down what is there now.

3) If you buy treated plywood you do not need any water "proofing".

4) Ski runners- Try Fleet or the snowmobile suppliers like Dennis Kirk or Shade Tree.

5) For track stud mat, try an agricultural equipment dealer to find some used belting. Old sled tracks will also work if you can locate one.

[DTro]

I thought that the new treated plywood and aluminum don't like each other.

[Shack]

"GREAT SCOTT!"

Not the forbidden topic of treated plywood & aluminum.

Read my words: This thread is dooooooomed now.

Ya, I have heard the non-arsenic treated woods react with aluminum. Have not experienced it myself yet, but have not mated the new treated wood to aluminum yet either. That squarely cracks me up though.

[Macgyver55]

I know nothing about treated plywood and aluminum reaction. What I do know, is that I've rebedded enough trailers with treated and marine plywood to know that marine is the only wood I'll ever use again. Yup, it does cost more, but you'll do it less, and it stays tight and warps far less.

[hydro]

I guess I'll be sorry I recommended that one I see the "marine plywood" detour stepped in as well. For goodness sake, it's just an old trailer deck, use whatever you want.

Go buy a new trailer and see what decking is on it. Make your judgement that way.

[Esox_Magnum]

Not that this may matter but I'm a carpenter and we have to use screw/nails that are made for the new treated woods now, While it's only a nail the new wood will eat a regular 16p nail in a matter of a couple years. It also reacts with alum flashings causing them to discolor and rot in only a few years to. If you are looking to redo it and trade it off in a few years go treated if you plan to keep it a long while spend the extra and go the Marine grade. It will cost double for the marine grade but might last 3 times longer.

[pascooter94]

I didnt think it was going to be this hard to just put on new plywood,

so then were do you find the marine plywood,I would think that a few home stores will have it,then what type of nails or screws do I use?

with the marine plywood do I need to put anything on it to help

it last or its already treated.

[hydro]

Please don't spend your hard earned money on marine plywood. It's just exterior grade with tighter inner plies and visually nice outer plies, and it has no additional weather resistance or other benefits for your purpose. Your'e putting a deck on a snowmobile trailer that will get ripped up by the skiis and studs, and only needs to support relatively light loads. Use the least costly material to accomplish the job.

If you want to know what marine plywood is, look up APA PS 1-95 which is the spec that governs the construction. Don't believe everything you read on the internet. It's not better for general applications just because it has "marine" in the name. Do your research yourself when you have questions, and most importantly, it's your money to spend how you wish.

[Macgyver55]

Unfortunately my trailer doesnt have the luxury to be stored inside, so I just took a minute to call Floe and Sled Bed. The customer service people both told me that they use marine plywood on their trailers, and do not recommend the use of the newer treated plywood due to corrosion issues. This is honestly the first I have heard about that as a problem other than this thread.

Your statement that "It's just exterior grade with tighter inner plies and visually nice outer plies, and it has no additional weather resistance or other benefits for your purpose" I feel is incorrect. I was interested so I did a little research to see what the difference was.

Treated plywood is water resistant, the treatment of plywood under pressure simply does not make the plywood glue waterproof. Whereas marine grade plywood is assembled gap and void-free in all layers, and laminated together with special, water-proof glue that holds the various layers together. Marine grade plywood will not commonly delaminate, bubble, buckle, or warp, all of which treated will.

I'm all for doing something as inexpensively as possible but not at the expense of having to do it over again sooner.

I'd rather be riding....

[hydro]

I wasn't making a comparison to treated material. If you look up the actual spec, it mentions, but does not require additional moisture resistance in the adhesives for marine grade product. As a matter of fact, the glue specification for marine grade references the exterior grade data, so nothing different is required for the "Marine" designation.

[Tully]

For the ski runners we cut an old pickup bedliner we found.

Tully

[Meat-Run]

so where does a guy find the rivets that are for my Floe trailer because that's what the manufacture used.

mr

[LightningBG]

They sell both Marine and Treated at Menards.

According to the guys in the building dept. They said use regular treated. That marine grade was only needed on items that are submerged often or in an enclosed space subject to mold and mildew. For a trailer that has the opportunity to air dry they said it was a waste.

My trailer has decking from 1992 that will replaced for the first time this spring. It was regular treated, store outdoors at all times. I can handle redoing it in another 18 years.

[LightningBG]

Even though I'm not going to use Marine Grade, here is some info from somewhere on the web.

Pressure-treated plywood, often called "Wolmanized" or P.T. plywood, is NOT " Marine grade" plywood, and those designations do not make the two products arbitrarily interchangeable.

Pressure treated plywood is common plywood that has been subjected to pressure treatment with chemicals to prevent the wood from decaying, or rotting. To some degree, it also discourages insect damage because of the chemicals involved . Pressure treated plywood, however, is not suitable for marine use. The treatment of plywood with copper and arsenic compounds under pressure simply does not make the plywood waterproof, and worse, continuous exposure to water will leach the preservative chemicals from the pressure-treated wood.

Again, pressure treated plywood is ordinary, interior-grade plywood that has been chemically-treated, and it is often made with softer woods to enable the penetration of the wood treating chemicals, with no special care effected to eliminate all gaps or voids.

G1S plywood, (good-one-side) is plywood with one side graded "Select" to show no defects or gaps and is an aesthetic consideration.

Exterior grade plywood is made with water-resistant glue, but the exterior shell is the only layer that is made void-free. There may be gaps, voids and the resulting points of weakness in the interior layers. When you cut a sheet of exterior grade plywood, you may expose a gap on the cut surface.

Marine grade plywood, on the other hand, is a different creature. Marine grade plywood is assembled gap and void-free in all layers, and laminated together with special, water-proof glue that holds the various layers together. When immersed, water has absolutely no effect on the glue or the strength of the lamination of marine grade plywood. Marine grade plywood will not commonly delaminate, bubble, buckle, or warp. Upon cutting marine grade plywood, no voids will be discovered on the cut edges. It is also usually constructed of harder woods such as Douglas Fir, or Western Larch.

Marine grade is a superior grade of plywood, and a substantially better product.

Do choose carefully when selecting plywood for marine use. Although it is more expensive, marine-grade plywood, when finished appropriately, will outlast pressure-treated plywood by far. The ordinary glues used in plywood , pressure-treated or not, will eventually fail for structural reasons.