What would you recommend for a non-slip finish for the plywood floor of a cargo trailer?
I have considered a garage floor paint.
Yes, no, or what else?
Thanks,
Bryan
“Objects in mirror appear closer than they are.”
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio
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Replies
Rhino liner, like a spray on truck bed liner.
second the Rino liner...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Thanks to both of you. I will check into it.
I have a 7 x 14 double axle wedge nose trailer on order from Interstate.
I wanted to get something on the floor before I start using it.
Bryan"Objects in mirror appear closer than they are."
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio
I emailed Rhino liner, asking some questions (cost or something basic) and a couple of weeks later I got a postcard/rebate for $50 off. This was a few years ago, and I'm not sure if you can wait that long before you get a floor down.
I just went to their site, and received a $25 off coupon after I filled out some info on me.
Maybe just a way to harvest some information.
I wonder, any idea how much it would cost to get a 7 x 14 floor coated?
Bryan"Objects in mirror appear closer than they are."
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio
I agree a liner product would be my first pick. On my first trailer, I got an industrial enamel and loaded it with shark grit for traction and rolled that on. It did protect the floor, it did wear well, it did have traction, but the ramp was still slick a little when it got snowy. I dont know if a liner would fare there any better or not.
This one, I didnt do anything. So now its a hodgepodge of paint, stain, water spots, spilt stuff, you get the picture. Would have been better to coat that too before I loaded it up, but, I didnt.
Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
If it's an enclosed trailer and it's going to stay dry, you could just use a heavy commercial carpet. That's what's in my van and it works well to keep things from sliding around.
Originally, I thought that I could swap it out for a new piece once it got beat up, but I've got built-in shelves sitting on it now so it would be a bit of a project. But it's been holding up pretty good anyway. Better than I expected.
Rino liner sprayed in an 6' truck bed is about $300 around here. You can find a similar product at some auto parts store in gallon cans for around $90/gallon.. One gallon will do an 8' truck bed (will get two coats/gal.).
I used some last summer to coat 1/4" carbon steel plate that we put in the floor of a gurd shack. The stuff comes with the grit (rubber granules) already in the polyurethane coating, and a special roller. The only color we found available was black.
We placed a small walk-off mat in the shack just to catch some of the dirt that gets tracked in, but the major abuse on the coating is the 360+ pound guard that rolls around on it 12 hrs. a day. We have replaced 3 chairs in the last two years that he has crushed. So far the floor coating is holding up.
You could save some $$ with product like this. Check out an AutoZone, Pepboys, or even a NAPA auto supply might have some.
Dave
A 360 pound dog??? One dog??
You gotta post pics of this beast.
I believe it is a guard as in a person rather than a dog.
I don't have a wide angle lens.
It is a small guard house at the entrance to our employee parking lot. Maybe 5-6' wide inside, from door to door. The guard take up most of that space. When working inside the shack, we have to ask him to get out. At 6'1" and 155 lbs. I don't take up a lot of room, but the place still isn't big eneough for he and me. The light guage steel floor was doomed to fail under the point loads of the chair he sits in. Thinking about trying to hall his big arse out of a hole in the floor makes my back hurt. He's a nice guy, but jeese is he big!
Dave
LOL! Oh, a man, not a dog. When you wrote "rolls around", I envisioned a dog, not a man on a chair. It makes better sense now.
This stuff makes a nice garage floor. I've been thinking about using it in my construction trailer.
http://www.rustoleum.com/brand.asp?frm_brand_id=19&SBL=1
woodguy,
I've been checking on some different products. The coating that you reference from Rustoleum is for concrete. It would probably peel off of the wood.
I checked at Sherwin-Williams for some epoxy coating. They have a 2-part epoxy for wood. It will cost around $150 for 2 1-gallon cans, 1 part each. You can get some grit to put in it, and some sparkles/specks if you want color. You could also use sand if you want more texture.
The S-W guy said to put one coat down first that was thinned by 10%. Once that was dry, he said to put the top coat on with the grit or specks if wanted.
The S-W epoxy will coat 500 SF. It can also be applied to concrete, so I might have enough left to do one bay of my garage, the one that DW's car gets parked in. Or, I'll be selfish, and put it on the shop side.
Another suggestion I was given was to use floor restorer for wood. A truck supply store sells it in kits enough to do a 53' trailer. It goes on clear, and costs around $300. That would be way more than I would ever need.
Again, thanks for all the suggestions so far.
Bryan"Objects in mirror appear closer than they are."
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio
Sorry for the bad advice. Sounds like you found some other good products though.
No problem.
I was just concerned that you might use it as you had stated in your first post, and be dissatisfied with the results.
Bryan"Objects in mirror appear closer than they are."
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio
I used regular oil based floor enamel with the non slip additive that you can get at any paint store. It did wear out in areas where things get dragged across it, but it's easy enough to throw on another coat in the high wear areas.
Also consider painting the side walls with a white gloss enamel while you are at it.
Rich
I did my 16 foot work trailer with oil/polyurethane floor paint. I think it was Lowes house brand, I have a ramp and I put about a quart in my roller bucket and the whole jar of sharkgrip, rolled the ramp with that mixture, added more paint and did the inside floor. Mine was already painted--very thinly- when I got it and one coat did it nicely and even when wet I can not get my foot to slip on the ramp.
That stuff says to prime with a thin coat of the paint, you don't put the non slip stuff in the prime coat. I only have have twenty five bucks in the paint and could not be happier with its durability. Looks good too and I love the shark grip on the ramp.
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Thanks! I'll have to look into that. Is the sharkgrip a product that Lowe's has in the paint dept.?
Bryan"Objects in mirror appear closer than they are."
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio
It is in the Lowes paint dept. It was right by the paint that I bought. When you apply it, you will think that it is not doing anything, when the paint is fully cured is when you can see what it does.Nobody is as good as they seem, nobody is as bad as they seem either.
Do you think there's an issue with leaving the underside of the plywood raw? My trailer gets very little road time, it serves more for storage, and I've seen the beginnings of deterioration underneath. Not alarming yet, but it's there.
I would think you would want the underside of the plywood coated.
The trailer I ordered, and which came in on Friday, is supposed to have the plywood coated on the underside.
You should be able to seal it in some way. I'm not an expert on trailers, so maybe someone else will let you know what to do who is more qualified.
Bryan"Objects in mirror appear closer than they are."
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio
So, here is a picture of my trailer and the tow vehicle, a 1998 Chevy Astro AWD. The trailer is an Interstate 7' x 14' wedgenose. There is just slightly over 16' length in the middle.
I put the final coat of epoxy paint with sharkgrip on the floor this morning. Will post a picture of the inside later.
Now, what kind of ramp does everyone like? I have the double swinging doors on the back, and need a ramp to move my saws in and out of the trailer.
Thanks,
Bryan"Objects in mirror appear closer than they are."
Klakamp Construction, Findlay, Ohio - just south of the Glass City