New trailer order question

[Suwannee Dave]

Has anyone ever ordered a new trailer and had the builder leave out the interior plywood liner? Seems like this would save some time in a conversion build. Would it make the trailer structurally unsound for towing home?

[pvangel]

I asked that question to ATC and they said they would not ship without the plywood, that was an all aluminum trailer if it makes a difference. I just took all the plywood off mine and really the only thing holding it together is the thin skin on the outside, aside from where the tubes are welded together.

[H2Nut]

When I ordered mine the trailer guy stated the same thing - the plywood is part of the structural support of the trailer.

[pvangel]

Mine was not a big deal to remove, probably and hr or so and it was off

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

My advice if you wanna insulate, leave the plywood,
add foam panels and a second layer of plywood, floor ,
Walls & ceiling

[Prem]

Depends on if the ribs are all welded together (steel or aluminum). If they are NOT welded, then yeah, the interior plywood is really providing structural support. It also depends on whether you want to keep the trailer from gaining unnecessary weight. (Increasing weight is hard on automatic transmissions, even in 1-ton trucks. Don't "axe" me how I know, just never drive steep roads and downshift as a form of braking. Your torque converter fins can come apart and trash the clutch cluster.)
<---each of those is a thousand bucks

If you find that the ribs are not all welded top and bottom, you could remove all the plywood and cross-brace the ribs with metal strap attached to the ribs with flathead machine screws, rivets or self-tapping screws. Then you can put foam weather stripping tape over the ribs, but not over the fasteners. It levels everything out so you don't end up with bowed, interior plywood on top of every fastener. If you're really thinking ahead and want longevity for your work, you seal both sides of the plywood and the end grain against humidity (with a non-toxic sealer) so warpage doesn't become an issue. Winter is the worst, because sleeping in it causes lots of condensation inside the walls.

Fore wat itz woyth,

Prem

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Prem

How well does a dehumidifier work inside the trailer in winter time ?

It should help with that & also heating both, I just got one for 25 pints at 410 watts
will report back in a week or so what the results are

[Prem]

I'm hoping you will tell me.

(All they sell around here in the winter is humidifiers. lol. You can't find a dehumidifier for sale here in the summer either, because our humidity is often in the single digits.)

[rando18]

My advice if you wanna insulate, leave the plywood,
add foam panels and a second layer of plywood, floor ,
Walls & ceiling

I've thought that was a good idea myself.
If you find that you are thinking like me,
be scared. Rando

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Actually I just ordered a new trailer that has wood walls & they agreed to install the plywood on the exterior no extra charge.

So it screwless metal siding, then the plywood, then wood wall studs -
from there I will add 3"+ of foam insulation and more plywood to the interior

Jerry

[DTCOOPER]

Actually I just ordered a new trailer that has wood walls & they agreed to install the plywood on the exterior no extra charge.

So it screwless metal siding, then the plywood, then wood wall studs -
from there I will add 3"+ of foam insulation and more plywood to the interior

Jerry

Jerry,
How does the screwless skin attach to the wood ?

[8ball_99]

Glue or double sided tape. Which works pretty good inless you ever have to replace a piece of the skin for any reason. The the screwless sucks because you will destroy the metal trying to remove it.. Since its overlapped front to rear if you damage a rear corner this could be a big problem.

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

There is a product by 3M called 560 is a glue / epoxie ?
Come on 8 ball , don't scare me ...
I can get a sheet of 48" x 8 ft for $63 -
worst case if you do the whole side it's $300

Or just get another new trailer :-))