Re-decking my car trailer

[jaybee]

"  how strong is that man made decking material I see on various 'home project ' shows on satelite TV?"                                                                                                                                                                                                               Cros, that stuff makes excellent decking but isn't strong enough to drive a car on.  It's used just for the decking, the understructure still has to be made of wood.

[GPster]

I thought about decking it with aluminum or something else but I like wood.  It's easy to screw a chock or anything to plus I've already bought the 20' treated 2x10's.  The untreated ones lasted 10 years.  These should last over 20 years and I don't think I'll still be hauling junkers around when I'm 80 years old....well maybe not...

In twenty years you'll only be 76 but '32 Chevy truck cabs on Ebay for $400.00 will be a thing of the past. But there will probably still be some of those Buick trucks out there. GPster

[purplepickup]

In twenty years you'll only be 76 but '32 Chevy truck cabs on Ebay for $400.00 will be a thing of the past. But there will probably still be some of those Buick trucks out there. GPster

LOL!  I don't know Joe, there might be quite a few '31 Chevy truck things on ebay in 20 years.  I'll probably be putting my junk up for auction to pay my nursing home bill.  Hmmm.....I wonder if they let you play with torches, grinders, and  welders during craft hour at the old folks home......

I've got to stop by the guy's house that bought my Buick truck.  Last I knew he and his sons were coming right along on it.  I heard they had it running.  As goofy as it looked, it had some good points too.  Definitely not a cookie cutter truck.

there is a steel understructure on the trailer.  perhaps the span or spacing of the cross pieces  is tooo wide?

When I was thinking about different options I considered the synthetic decking material but it's only 6" wide and the span between the supports is 24".  If a car was sitting on the trailer where a tire was just sitting on one board right between the understructure supports and I hit a bump, it would probably drop thru.  I did consider welding some 1x1 1/2 angle lengthwise to help support the deck boards.....maybe even leaving some of the middle open.   It would look nice but I blew it off as another one of my hairbrained ideas.  It would take two pieces of angle back to back, it would weigh more, it would be much more expensive.....   Sometimes I tend to make an easy job complicated when I start thinking about it.   Just replacing the wood is a lot easier.

This shows what I was thinking.  The blue is the angle I'd have to add

[47wood]

Pressure treat wood will outlast you ...especially if you hit it with a pressure washer every 3 years or so, or mop it with a mild bleach solution every couple of years.