trailer interior

[Adam Walkup]

I recently purchased a very nice used enclosed trailer. The floor is bare plywood, as is the walls. Some of the side wall trim is even missing between the pieces of plywood. I'm curious what product people tend to like for flooring and side wall coverings. It seems like some sort of sheet rubber would be great, maybe with diamond plate runners? This is a nice, very heavy built trailer that I plan on keeping for a while. Would like something durable for the interior.

Thanks

[charlier]

After I purchased my new, enclosed trailer a few years ago, the first thing I did was paint the interior walls white. Seeing numerous trailers with bare plywood walls and how DARK they were inside I decided to lighten things up. Painting the walls white makes a HUGE difference.

For the first year or two I left the floor of the trailer the bare original plywood.

It got dirty and stained in places. A friend of mine borrowed my trailer to move his house. He felt bad about marking up the floor so he sanded it for me. After the sanding was completed, I water sealed the plywood floor and it has held up nicely ever since. I have thought about indoor/outdoor carpet for a floor covering but I don't like the prospect of wet carpeting on the trailer floor and how it may promote rotting of the floor. Then there is also the potential lack of traction that a wet carpet floor in the trailer might create and the potential accident that may result.

Have fun with whatever you decide to do with your trailer's interior.

[Friartuck]

Agree with Charlier suggestion to paint side walls white with high gloss enamel. The attached link is an article on trailering that includes a flooring rubber from Better Life Technology, Lenexa, Kansas:

Antique and Classic Automobile Restoration: Tag Along Trailers

Chris

[Guest martylum]

A personal experience I had with helping a friend transport his heavy 36 Lincoln in his box trailer might interest you. He painted the floor with high gloss enamel when it was new. On a trip through the mountains of W. Virginia, the lateral cornering forces caused the car to shift sideways on the trailer floor. We had to borrow a floor jack and shift it back before we could unload on arrival at a show. This was a ticklish matter with a 5,000+ plus car.

Fortunately the car did not shift sideways enough to damage the body. I installed 3" wide tracks of rubber flooring mat the length of the trailer both sides after this experience. On my own later trip through the PA mountains with this trailer later on no more shifting.

This about friction at least equivalent to the plywood if you cover the floor.

Martin Lum

[Marty Roth]

ALWAYS CROSS-TIE

If you cross your tie-downs, you will be safer on the road. This minimizes the chance of a load shifting sideways.

Years back, on the way from New Orleans to the "old" Pate Swap Meet at Aggie Pate's ranch, one of my traveling buddies brought along another guy who swore he knew how to pull a trailer. This was an open pit heavy steel trailer with my 1965 Cadillac convertible, as well as several other items lashed to the front of the trailer. Less than 2 minutes into this guy's driving on I-20 leaving Longview, TX, he had jack-knifed my Suburban and trailer into a heavy wooden guardrail.

The Caddy went from being a $3,500 car corral offering to being a $300 parts car after it and the trailer took out a section of guard-rail, but at least it did not come off of the trailer.

The Suburban was damaged, the factory receiver hitch cracked, broke, and pierced the gas tank. Both were replaced that day. The equalizer weight-distributing hitch was OK. Since we sold the Caddy, I was able to bring home a red '66 Dodge Dart GT Convertible - V-8, Torqueflyte, P/S and bucket seats for Dale.

You can bet that the Dodge was cross-tied to the trailer.

[Marty Roth]

Trailer interior:

Our newest trailer has white aluminum walls, unpainted aluminum floor, 4 lights in the ceiling, 4 low-mounted lights in the walls, and 4 more 2 ft sections of LED strip lighting under the axles of the cars to be tied down. Looking into the trailer at night looks like Times Square on New Years Eve.

Never again will I have to hold a flashlight in my teeth while crawling under a car in the trailer at night.

Using a pair of heavy plastic ramps means that you can even work under your classic in the safety of your trailer (always chock the wheels).

In the "V" nose of the trailer, the side-walls have mounts for the trailer spare tire, as well as a second spare for the tow-vehicle. For safety, we also have crank-open roof-vents covered with Air-Maxx boxes, and reversable side-wall vents to ensure against fumes.

Spend a little extra for safety.

[jrbartlett]

I've already developed the same solution using some nailed-together 2x6's. Made a solid block with a sloped side for the good tire to climb up. Cheap and strong.

As for the jack-knifing incident, what caused it?

[Marty Roth]

What caused the jack-knifing incident was was a smart-a$$, know-it-all, who claimed to be knowledgeable in trailering, wouldn't listen to my check-list, dropped a piece of notepaper and tried to retrieve it from the floor of the Suburban at 70 mph, swung the steering wheel, and then stood on the brake while changing lanes abruptly, instead of using the TRAILER BRAKE to get out the oscillation he had caused.

In short, he was too busy being a hot-shot instead of taking a minute to learn.

To top it off, the next morning he was quick to advise me that regardless of what he did while driving, his buddy's wife wanted us to know that it was the vehicle owner (ME) who is ultimately financially responsible -- nice guy, huh? No argument there, but I had second thoughts about asking him to take a bus home, especially after he was smoking in my truck every time he thought I wasn't looking.

Kinda makes you appreciate all the really decent folks in our hobby.

[Guest Patrick_M]

I, too< painted the walls of my trailer bright white. Be sure to get a high reflective paint. The floors I sprayed with a pickup bed coating (line-X). It is a rubberized rolled coating. My floor is dark grey, although many colors are available. This coating provides great anti-slip properties, and has been on my trailer for 6+ years. I also highly advise the use of a vent. Old cars are not potty trained, and a very small amount of gasoline can produce a flammable mixture.