Best Materials for Covering Utility Trailer Floor and Sides with PMF

[leblanda]

Hi

I'm doing a multipurpose trailer that I will use as utility trailer and enclosed trailer.
Multi-purpose Build started
Now I'm searching what I should put to cover the plywood floor and side of the utility trailer.

Can I use PMF for the floor and the side?
Can I PMF all side of the plywood? So the wood will be fully enclosed.
If I use PMF. Regular latex will be strong enough to resist for a utlility trailer.
Can/should I cover the Canvas with bed liner?
What should be the steps if I go the bedliner route? Glue + canvas + unknow + bedliner?

Any inputs?

Thanks

Dan

 

[Pmullen503]

I covered the floor with PMF in my hauler/camper. It's been good but it depends a little on what you plan to haul. I use mine to move things with wheels; motorcycles, lawn mowers, and lumber/sheets of plywood etc. Things that aren't particularly hard on the floor.

If I was hauling scrap metal, that would get pretty beat up in no time and not easy to repair.

 

[leblanda]

I covered the floor with PMF in my hauler/camper. It's been good but it depends a little on what you plan to haul. I use mine to move things with wheels; motorcycles, lawn mowers, and lumber/sheets of plywood etc. Things that aren't particularly hard on the floor.

If I was hauling scrap metal, that would get pretty beat up in no time and not easy to repair.

do you see any issue doing pmf on all face? full wrap around.

 

[Pmullen503]

If this is a foamie, you want to wrap the wall canvas under the floor to hold the walls to the floor. Otherwise, you can do it either way. Though it might be difficult to get the stiff canvas to wrap tightly around an edge like that.

What I recommend is to seal the edges of the plywood with several coats of thinned polyurethane before covering.

 

[leblanda]

I read a lot on PMF since the last year.
The recommend method is TBII + canvas+ 50-50 paint/water + 75-25% Paint/water + 2 coat of paint.
I also saw people doing TBII + canvas+ TBII + 2 coat of paint.
Here is my questions.
Does the TBII over Canvas create a harder shell?
If paint over Canvas is the way to go can we use interior primer for the diluted paint since exterior latex is really expensive nearby?

Thanks

 

[Pmullen503]

Another source of cheap paint is "Oops" paint. Something that was incorrectly mixed and therefore useless to the paint store. Another source is Habitat For Humanity stores often have partial cans of otherwise good paint for next to nothing.

As far as hardness, you are ultimately limited by the soft substrate. It is better to have a more flexible paint when you get a dent. You can steam those dents out with a wet rag and an iron. Place the wet rag over the dent and iron it with an iron hot enough to create steam. The dent magically disappears.

 

[leblanda]

My question on the hardness is related to plywood used as utility trailer floor not foamie.

does canvas covered plywood with a second coat of TB over canvas will offer better impact and scratch resistance than paint over canvas.
And can we paint over the second TB coat?

thanks

 

[Pmullen503]

Yes, you can paint over a second coat of TB2. That's how I did my foamy over a decade ago. The nice thing about PMF is that scratches are easy to repair; just wash the dirt off and add another coat of paint when the floor/walls start to look beat up.

If you are worried about the hardness of the floor, give it a couple coats of epoxy resin instead of the TB2. The paint will get scratched but another coat of paint will freshen things up. It depends on what you might be hauling.

 

[leblanda]

So you sand the the foam/wood + TB Coat + Canvas + Second TB coat + SAND + 2 unthinned paint coat?
Instead of
sand the the foam+ TB + Canvas + thinned paint + thinned paint + 2 unthinned paint coat finish coating

Thanks

 

[Pmullen503]

I didn't thin my paint coats. I don't think it would hurt but I don't think it's necessary either.

I wouldn't thin TB2 more than 10% either.