Caulking between the floor & frame?

[tony.latham]

I'm about to bolt my floor to the frame. I'm toying with laying down a layer of latex caulk between the steel and wood to prevent any slight chaffing that may occur. Am I over thinking this?

Anyone ever tear down an old trailer and find issues here?

[Greg M]

Just make sure the caulking wont trap water against the wood. For example; if the frame is angle steel with the wood inside the vertical part, water will get trapped if there's no way for it to drain out. That's how the frame on my first build is. I built a wooden sub frame inside the angle to bring the floor of the body up to the tops of the rails. I routed drain channels on the underside of the sub frame.

[tony.latham]

My sandwiched floor will be bolted to 2" square tubing and I live in a dry climate.

[eamarquardt]

Boats are carried on trailers all the time and make only limited contact and with only three or so straps holding the boat to the trailer. I've never heard of any (significant) chaffing.

Chaffing generally occurs when things move relative to one another. No movement, no chaffing. Better, IMHO, to securely fasten your floor to the trailer than to caulk. Better several well disbursed fasteners than just a few fasteners at the extremes of the floor.

As Slow says: "Just my 2 sents".

Cheers,

Gus

[planovet]

I didn't and can't think of a reason why you should.

[jonesnforcampin]

I would say that shifting and chafing COULD occur if you just had a flat bed trailer as the frame flexes slightly. But, as you are putting a camper on it I don't think it will flex much if any.

I plan on making my camper removable on a flat bed trailer, but I will probably still not silicone the deck to the trailer because I have that Henry roof tar stuff on it.