need help with trailer deck protection?

[maybee383]

i need some advice/help.
i just tore up all the old ply wood and replaced the whole trailer deck on an open 4 place snowmobile trailer. whats the best stain/paint to put down to help protect it.
i'm not very good with this kind of stuff and apparently neither are the local hardware stores becouse they dont have any idea what i should use.
what are you guys using?

thanks in advance

 

[94fordguy]

I replaced mine last year and used Thompsons Water Seal... seemed to do good IMO. I plan to pressure-wash it and give it another coat this fall as I use the trailer for sleds and quads and its getting a little dingee from the summer mud.... The plywood is still in great shape otherwise tho.

 

[MORSNO]

I recoat mine with Thompsons every summer. Still looks good after 5 years.

 

[maybee383]

thanks for all the help, i will go pick some stain up tonight and soak it down.
thanks for the advice

 

[tailslid1]

I just did my 3 place in polyurethane paint. I went to my local paint supplier and asked what I should put on it. He said no matter what I use, it won't look that great in 3 years. So I asked about epoxy, bedliner, and polyurethane.

He said epoxy doesn't move with the wood, so it tends to weather check outside. The bedliner is nice stuff, but its really expensive. I walked by the rack and saw some older looking polyurethane. I asked about it, and he said he'd give it to me if I wanted safety orange. He had two gallons, so I popped one of the lids. Its EXACTLY Arctic Cat orange.

SCORE!!! I put two gallons on 4 sheets of plywood. I did 2 coats on the bottom side and 3 coats on the top side. I also got about 5 or 6 coats on all the edges. I used new green treated plywood, too. She's gonna be slippery when covered with snow, but it should look good for a long time.

One other thing you may want to consider. It seems self explanatory, but sometimes guys forget. Never park your trailer flat & level. The steeper the angle you leave it parked at, the faster the water and/or snow will run off it. The sun is bad enough, but its usually the moisture that kills the wood.

Rick

 

[tailslid1]

Polyurethane Trailer Deck

Here's how it turned out with the polyurethane paint.

 

[Mark's RMK]

Urethane Paint

Were you able to apply with a roller/brush? Or did you have to spray it on?

 

[tailslid1]

I bought 2 gallons of the urethane paint. I rolled two coats on the bottom side of the plywood and 3 coats on the top side. I waited about 6 hours between coats for it to dry properly.

I coated all the edges of the plywood with each surface coat, so they got a total of at least 5. And the plywood just DRANK up the urethane. I'm pretty confident that this will last for quite some time.

I thought about putting ski runners on the trailer, but I decided against it as I only use the trailer a handful of times a year. For flatland riding we can run right out of my back yard.

If money were no object, I'd have used Line-X. Since I'd rather buy parts with my money than trailer coatings, I decided on the urethane.

The added bonus of urethane paint is that it comes in a number of colors. You can match the decking color to your snowmobile if you want.

Rick

 

[94fordguy]

My trailer deck maintenance

So I thought this would be a good place to post my results for reference.

I pulled off the old flat glides, pressure washed the deck, took it out on the highway for a while to dry it off quickly and then put down a nice heavy coat of Thompsons Water Seal to keep it protected. As I mentioned, I replaced the deck last summer so it is relatively new, but has seen a fair amount of use... I figure about 4500 miles worth of driving throughout all last season between about 30-35 sled/quad trips. During the pressure washing, the water was still beading up at first so last years stain job was still intact to some degree.

After a thorough pressure washing/drying

Thompsons HONEY GOLD water seal

Replaced the glides with new Caliber 8" Multi-Glides Wide ski runners

 

[MORSNO]

Look'n good 94fordguy. Not to thread hijack, but did your trailer come with those reverse lights or did you add them? I see a little modification needed on my trailer.

 

[94fordguy]

Look'n good 94fordguy. Not to thread hijack, but did your trailer come with those reverse lights or did you add them? I see a little modification needed on my trailer.

Thanks


I added those last year myself when I re-decked it.... They are VERY handy at night

 

[sevenhundo]

boiled liseed oil works awesome i do it every fall just to keep her freshened up and looking new. Any type of oil should work the problem with paint and bed liners are that the carbides will cut the paints and cause moisture to set underneath the paint or liner and the wood will start to hold the moisture. Did you use treated wood or just reg plywood you might of said but i might of missed this. The thing about oil based stains or oils they obsorb into the actual pore of the wood not just setting ontop. I have had awesome luck with the linseed oil. Keep thet trailer clean as much as you can and the wood will last forever.