Any Advice? Trailor decking

[b349]

My 97 RandR fouplace open is in dire need of a new deck. It came with marine grade 5/8" plywood. Is there any cheaper alternatives that may give similiar longevity? Any thoughts would be appreciated? B349

[dlaine]

You may get away with green treated or plain exterior plywood for a while but it will not last as long. Do you want to buy cheap stuff more often or better stuff that will last longer? Those decks take a lot of abuse...

dave

[Odyknuck]

One thought for on the cheap would be construction grade plywood and saturate it with a sealer like Thomsons. There is a much better grade however I can not recall the brand.

[mmgg]

I just use construction stuff,,stain bolth sides,,touch up the damage each spring and spray thompsons around the edges with garden sprayer every year,,,year 5 no rot yet

[billleach]

I used 5/4 pressure treated deck boards works great has been on trailer for 7 years still looks good

[retiredpop]

Another option may be to go with exterior grade fir plywood. It is also made with waterproof glue just like the marine grade but may have some defects like knotholes which are no big deal. Stick with fir if you can because it is a lot harder than pressure treated which is typically very soft and gouges up from the skis. I don't know if you have ski glides or such on your deck but they are a good idea to stop the abuse on the plywood. If you do put them on you could go with pressure treated plywood and save a bundle but my preference is to use marine grade plywood. You'll forget about the extra cost within a few months anyway.

[Sneaky Pete]

I know this off the wall, but when I ran a saw mill the old farmers wanted ash planking for trailer decks. They swore the lasted 20 years of abuse.

[sawman]

we still put ash on for decks on haywagons. iwould want to t&g it for a sled trailer wont be cheap though and then u might want to soak it with trany fluid or some kind of oil.

[meburdick]

There's a REASON that you're just getting around to replacing the deck on a 16 year old trailer... That reason is because the original deck was Marine Grade Plywood. If you're planning to continue running the trailer, put back the OEM grade wood and you'll get a ton of service out of it again. If you're planning on selling the trailer, putting on cheaper wood devalues it quite a bit (like, the cost of a new Marine Grade deck).

[TheBearAK]

Anyone ever thought about getting some of that spray on bed liner stuff? You'd need to put the ski rails on there so the skegs don't tear it up.

Looks like it would cost between $150 and $300 for a 2 place trailer, doing both sides of the plywood.