Using Trailer Deck as Floor

[Absinthe]

I purchased a 5x10 trailer built by a local manufacturer who added decking like this:



Would it be a good ideal to keep this decking on and attach my walls directly to the deck?

I was thinking I could add a vapor barrier to the deck and one sheet of 1/4 ply before attaching the walls.

Thoughts on the benefits/drawbacks of going this route vs building a sandwich floor?

TY

[OP827]

I think this is what GPW ended up doing, i.e. replaced OSB to boards on his FoamStream and seemed to be happy with that decision.

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[Absinthe]

I think this is what GPW ended up doing, i.e. replaced OSB to boards on his FoamStream and seemed to be happy with that decision.

Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk

Do you have any more clarity to this?

I looked through GPW's images and could not find an exact image of the floor in this way.

My goal here is to identify whether I SHOULD use the existing floor on my trailer OR replace it with the standard sandwich, insulated floor others have used and which would yield better results.

Thank you,

[OP827]

I do not recall seeing pictured of the GPW's FoamStream board floor, but the discussion about the board floor started here.
Hope it helps with your design options.

[OP827]

Board floor is heavier than thin ply-foam-ply sandwich floor, but it is cheaper and quicker when it is already there and minimising overall weight is not a main goal.

[Absinthe]

Board floor is heavier than thin ply-foam-ply sandwich floor, but it is cheaper and quicker when it is already there and minimising overall weight is not a main goal.

Great! Thank you for that! This saves quite a bit of time and effort and weight is not an issue.

[swoody126]

if you do use the board deck you will still have to add a solid waterproof surface over it

the boards will shrink as they dry out and rain n dust will splash/come up inside the trailer if you don't

trailer manufacturers even leave a bit of space between the boards to begin with so dirt/trash can sift it's way thru the cracks

more thinking is in order IMHO

sw

[Apples]

If you're going to overlay, say, 1/2" marine ply (no gaps, exterior glue) to serve as the interior floor of your trailer cabin, then why not remove every other 2 X 8 that's now on the trailer? Keep the outermost boards, of course, and work your way to center.

I haven't counted the number of boards on your trailer deck in the pictures, so don't know if my OCD would be satisfied with the end result...

[rjgimp]

Yeah, If weight is not an issue and those are the floor dimensions you want, I would absolutely keep that floor. As far as a finish surface, I would soak it with 'the Mix' (a 75/25 mixture of polyurethane and varnish for waterproofing, enter it in the search box in the upper right) and cover it with nice sheet vinyl flooring. You wont get splinters in your socks in the morning and spilled coffee (or beer or whatever) will clean up far easier.

[JasenC]

The dimensional lumber is going to move around as the seasons change even quite a bit. Even skinning it with ply you'll most likely end up with an uneven floor possible buckling plus there's no good way to keep moisture from creeping in between it and your plywood floor which will just add to the issue.
Plus those decks tend to be doug fir which is heavy as in 2-3 lbs a ln.ft. a torsion box floor is going to be far more stable.

[tony.latham]

That's a heavy trailer. Anything you can do to lighten it up will be a checkmark on the positive side of the ledger. I'd pull the boards and either save them to use for a future project or sell them. Weight builds up fast during camper construction.



Tony

[S. Heisley]

That's a heavy trailer. Anything you can do to lighten it up will be a checkmark on the positive side of the ledger. I'd pull the boards and either save them to use for a future project or sell them. Weight builds up fast during camper construction.



Tony