Floor Bolts

[ukuleleblues]

A lot of the plans call for 5-6 3/8 inch carriage bolts per side for the floor. Man that seems like overkill. I was going to use 8 - 1/4 per side and 3 for each of the ends and 4 cross supports. That even sounds excessive. Any reason the for 3/8s that you all know of?

I was going to use stainless steel but wanted to ask if you all think galvanized painted would be OK, I’d loctite the nuts.

[grant whipp]

I've never used more than 4 per side (on an 8'-10' long body), and I use 5/16" x 2" elevator bolts instead of carriage bolts (e-bolts have a flat top, not the domed top of the c-bolts), thru 3/4" plywood floor. Loctite & lock-washers ... yeah, belt & suspenders ... ...! IMHO ... stainless steel bolts & nuts are great if you plan on removing the body fairly often, but if not, then zinc-plated w/aforementioned loctite will work fine for many,many years.

Good luck, and ...

CHEERS!

Grant

(Funny ... spell check wanted to spell loctite as lactate ... ...!)

[KenC]

I too used elevator bolts, five on each sides and two on each ends, mine is a 5 x 10 Benroy. I tried carraige bolts first but I could not get them to grab, they just kept spinning

[jdarkoregon]

I took apart a tent trailer, there were ONLY four screws total holding the floor to the frame,

It don't take many

John

[Steve_Cox]

I used self drilling/tapping trailer floor screws and they seem to work pretty good. I remember spacing them rather sparingly. No need to pre-drill holes in light gauge trailer frames and they are flush with the floor when screwed in. Here's a link Trailer Floor Screws

[jss06]

I used 10 (5 per side) grade 8 1/2" bolts with the floor sandwiched between 2"x2"x1/4" steel plates. The bottom plate is welded flush to the top of the frame.

Overkill? yes.
Will the body ever come off the frame? Only during total destruction.

[Moho]

When disassembling the popup for my frame, Rockwood used galvanized sheet metal screws, roughly #10 or so, there were roughly 15 screws holding the plywood subfloor on and it was still on tight after 32 years.

[Larry C]

I've never used more than 4 per side (on an 8'-10' long body), and I use 5/16" x 2" elevator bolts instead of carriage bolts (e-bolts have a flat top, not the domed top of the c-bolts), thru 3/4" plywood floor. Loctite & lock-washers ... yeah, belt & suspenders ... ...! IMHO ... stainless steel bolts & nuts are great if you plan on removing the body fairly often, but if not, then zinc-plated w/aforementioned loctite will work fine for many,many years.

Good luck, and ...

CHEERS!

Grant

(Funny ... spell check wanted to spell loctite as lactate ... ...!)

I used to work for an industrial distributor, and I can't remember how many people I turned on to elevator bolts. Grant... thanks for a great suggestion. For this application, I doubt there is a better choice.

Larry C