Replacing floor in horse trailer--info, please

[deltawave]

I have a Sundowner (I know, I know, trailer non grata for many people, but I've had NO trouble with mine) that is going on 11 years old, and we stripped out everything today and it's time for the floor to be replaced. It's aluminum.

I have never done this and have NO idea where to start! Questions:

1. Do I need to find a Sundowner dealer (the one near us is closed) or can any RV/trailer place do a job like this? Obviously it's not under warranty. :)

2. How difficult/time-consuming a job will this be--how long will I be trailer-less, assuming no long waiting list, etc?

3. Any guesstimates on cost?

4. Should I go with a new aluminum floor? Partial replacement or full? Should I go with lumber, Rumber, something else?!

5. After the new floor is in, should I go with the spray-on Rhino liner, or is there something better, and does that depend on the floor material?

6. Any other words of wisdom? Things to have checked while they're in there taking it apart? I've been toying with the idea of a new trailer, but there are a lot more things ahead of it on the priority list, and this one really is just fine for what I need--I wouldn't mind keeping it another 4-5 years if I had to.

Thanks, please let's not make this a "Sundowners stink" thread. At 11 years old, this one has proven its durability. :)

[Guilherme]

I have a Sundowner (I know, I know, trailer non grata for many people, but I've had NO trouble with mine) that is going on 11 years old, and we stripped out everything today and it's time for the floor to be replaced. It's aluminum.

I have never done this and have NO idea where to start! Questions:

1. Do I need to find a Sundowner dealer (the one near us is closed) or can any RV/trailer place do a job like this? Obviously it's not under warranty. :)

2. How difficult/time-consuming a job will this be--how long will I be trailer-less, assuming no long waiting list, etc?

3. Any guesstimates on cost?

4. Should I go with a new aluminum floor? Partial replacement or full? Should I go with lumber, Rumber, something else?!

5. After the new floor is in, should I go with the spray-on Rhino liner, or is there something better, and does that depend on the floor material?

6. Any other words of wisdom? Things to have checked while they're in there taking it apart? I've been toying with the idea of a new trailer, but there are a lot more things ahead of it on the priority list, and this one really is just fine for what I need--I wouldn't mind keeping it another 4-5 years if I had to.

Thanks, please let's not make this a "Sundowners stink" thread. At 11 years old, this one has proven its durability. :)

1. You might not need to use a Sundowner dealer but I'd start there to get my first "price/quality" point.

A question: how do you know you need to replace the floor? Aluminum generally does not "rust out" like steel. Are you sure you need replacement?

2. No idea.

3. No idea.

4. This will be dermined by the reason(s) for replacement, the configuration of the trailer, and how much money you have.

5. I've seen Rhino linings in cattle and horse trailers. They add a very substantial layer of protection no matter what you put over them (mats, shavings, etc.). Take the lining up the wall a few feet and you've really added protection to the box. It's also easy to clean with a garden hose (and even easier with a pressure washer). I've had two Rhino linings in two different trucks and highly recommend the product. The major competitor, LineX, looks much nicer but the ones I've seen have a very shiny finish that can get slick as glass. Rhino has that type also, but the stock lining is textured and not at all slippery.

6. Before I did a new floor I'd "do the math" on replacing the trailer. Right now you can get good buys and even under the best of circumstances if you really do need a new floor then your trailer has limited value. You might well do better trading for a new/newer unit. Again, not knowing all the specifics it's difficult to make a firm call. Beyond, of course, "doing the math." :)

Good luck in your project.

G.

[CatOnLap]

well, I guess 11 years doesn't seem like very long for a trailer floor to last to me. I had my steel Circle J with the wooden floor for about 15 years in regular weekly use before I had to replace ONE of the floorboards- at the grand cost of about $20.

Sorry I am not more helpful, but now you've got me worried as I just replaced my old steel trailer with an all aluminum one. Is it normal to have to replace the floor after such a short time? Please report back on what you find out!

[deltawave]

Well, you're right, Guilherme, maybe the first step is to have someone who's an expert make that determination. :) I check it 1-2x per year, and it appears to me that this year there has been a fairly significant progression in the typical oxidation that I realize happens to all aluminum unless it's made impervious. :) Specifically, there are one or two areas now where the floorboard has very distinctly corroded right at the back edge of the trailer. (I have all mares, and they all pee the INSTANT they're put in the trailer, so that spot is always a mess) The middle of the floor, where they stand, is also quite a bit more oxidized/corroded than it was a year ago--I get sort of a sense of acceleration, you know? There is maybe a little bit of sponginess to those areas, but I may be imagining things. Certainly there is no obvious loss of integrity other than the couple of small areas right at the back, where the corners of the aluminum pieces are definitely corroded.

[deltawave]

I found an authorized dealer not too far away, yay! And I called them: "Does the floor look like Swiss Cheese?" "Uhhh, NO!" :eek: "Well, bring it in, we'll have a good look top and bottom and see what you need to have done." :yes:

[Guilherme]

I've got an 8 year old Featherlight with no floor issues at all. I'm not real aggressive on maintenance, either. And I've got mostly mares (but they are not "trailer pee fethishistas" ;) ).

Having the dealer look and give you an opinion is a Very Good Thing. If they come back with "major surgery" recommendation I'd go for a second opinion. If they say "minor touch ups" then I'd likely save the time and money on a second look.

If you have the kind of "pee production problem" you describe then you've just laid the outline of a routine maintenace program (thorough fresh water washdown after each use). That may be all you need to do going forward.

Good luck with the dealer and hope things stay "minimalist." :)

G.

[deltawave]

My mares are gross--they will cross their legs and WAIT until they're in the trailer to pee! :lol: Even if they pee just before I put them in they try again immediately after loading. :rolleyes:

I think what I will do regardless of the prognosis on the floor is cut the back mat down to a much smaller and more manageable size, so that can be removed after EVERY trip and the floor kept cleaner. Moving a 5-foot long heavy mat after every trip is just NOT going to happen. And I think no matter what I need some of what my husband called "weep holes" back there for stuff to drain away immediately.

[BuddyRoo]

What's your normal protocol for clean up afterwards?

If they normally urinate in the trailer, you might try throwing down some pelleted shavings in the back end--those things absorb a lot. Also, hosing out afterwards can help as the water doesn't cause as much trouble as the urine.

[JSwan]

I found an authorized dealer not too far away, yay! And I called them: "Does the floor look like Swiss Cheese?" "Uhhh, NO!" :eek: "Well, bring it in, we'll have a good look top and bottom and see what you need to have done." :yes:


My trailer guy says he sees a lot of trailers coming in with holes in the floors. People don't bother to ever lift up the mats and check underneath - some of them have been so bad he's amazed a horse hasn't been killed.

What's really surprising is that in my state the inspector is supposed to inspect the floor annually - no livestock trailers should get to the point of failure. Freakin' scary.

Anyway - I don't know if your floor needs to be replaced or not but have you looked into that Rumber flooring? I think it's pricey though. A lady let me take at look at her new Hawk and the floor seemed pretty substantial. The only question in my mind would be if rumber suffers uv degradation or has other troubles. I haven't read anything either way so have absolutely no idea.

I wonder if putting some baking soda down on the floor of your trailer would help with the "pissy"mares. Guilherme or Rayers might have an answer for that question.

[Tom King]

If yours is the typical Sundowner floor where it's made of a bunch of aluminum planks welded together it will cost a LOT to change the system completely to something else like beams and Rumber.

No need to take it to a horse trailer place though. I'd carry it by some local, experienced, aluminum welders and see what they say. If some of the aluminum planks need to be replaced without replacing the whole floor, the expense shouldn't be too bad.

[deltawave]

I do use pellets and fairly deep sawdust in the trailer, and scoop out every bit of the wet stuff after every trip, always. Then I let the mats air dry, but don't pull the mats out every time. They're WAY too heavy. That's why I may, in future, just have a short section of mat instead of the whole giant one that covers half the floor. Easy to lift out and clean every time. :yes:

[spotmenow]

Well, Sundowner has agreed to replace the frame of our trailer (the floor is fine) and it is going to cost between $5k and $6k because they have to take the whole thing apart; I would think replacing the floor would be much cheaper/simpler.

I wouldn't take it to Congelosi in Montgomery, NY...they've had our trailer for 3 1/2 months and LIED to us and told us it was started over a month ago. Never touched it. Not sure where to bring it now...let us know if you find a good Sundowner repair shop in the New England area.

[deltawave]

I'm in SW Michigan. :)

[promlightshine]

So, an ll year old floor is better than replacing the whole frame.
Orchard trailers in whately, ma was doing a lot of floors. Due to the fact that they were at odds with sundowner the last I heard was sundowner would reimburse me but I'd have to pay orchard.

What they did was replace the frames and put down a rumber(rumbalt"??) floor. with the aluminum skins you'd get another 20 years. So, if and when I have to replace my floor or frame I'm going to look at that option.

I'm actually going to book a trailer check at turbillion this fall. I go annually to orchard but since tourbillion (smithfield , RI) is now a dealer and have a repair center I'd like to get thier opinion of my frame and options.

Anyway, just some ideas re: a floor and also what others are doing.

[fitzwilliam]

I have a 15 year old Sundowner and have had no problems with it, we pulled up the mats this year (as we do every year) and there is some corrosion where the mare usually rides, it did not seem to affect the integrity of the floor, if we still had a local Sundowner dealership I would take it there to double check, however we do not have any good trailer dealers in our area right now, as far as moving the mats we have a gripper tool I got with my new stall mats, it makes moving the trailer mats a breeze, I can move them by myself, no problem, you can get one from Heidi at Premier Equestrian www.dressagearena.net or probably at any local supplier of stall mats, it's only about $25.00 and saves your back! Good Luck

[IFG]

Good luck on your floor. A trick I use to pull the mats out easily is to attach a vise to the mat. Works great because it acts like a handle. I am much smaller than you, and I can move the mats in and out pretty easily by myself. I use pretty bog vices with the screw tightening.

I have a gelding, but he pees the minute the trailer makes its first stop.

We were picked for drug testing at an event, and he would not pee. For hours. They finally let us go. I said, follow me to the gas station, and you can get a sample. The opted not to, but the minute that I pulled in to the gas station and stopped, he let go.

[Absolut Equestrian]

Why don't you try calling Sundowner and ask? We replaced a floor in an older Shoop two horse. We called Shoop, and they told us exactly what kind of wood to use...they even looked up our model number and could tell us how much and what dimensions of lumber we would need to complete the floor. :)

[deltawave]

So now I've found a well-respected local welding/framing shop VERY close by (like 4 miles) and am very tempted to go there, at least for a 2nd opinion. Maybe a 1st opinion if my work schedule lives up to what it looks like this week! :eek: The Sundowner place is an hour away.

Another thing I found was an official WERM dealer only 25 minutes from here, yay! What do you all think of the wisdom of putting WERM down on a floor that's structurally sound but not new? Assuming my floor passes the soundness test, it's very tempting.

[hoofhearted]

Deltawave,

About 5 years ago, I pulled up the mats in my old Hart 2 horse ( a 3 foot mat in the front and a 4 foot mat in the back - with the seam in the exact pee spot for a gelding) and found 3 little pencil sized holes all the way though the aluminum floor. I took it too a reputable welder guy and he said the floor was fine, but I wanted something done. He welded two 3' X 7' pieces of new aluminum down on top and charged me almost $1000. He discouraged me from putting any type of "sealer" down on top of the "new" floor because if anything go through, it would be trapped and possibly do more damage that couldn't be seen. An expensive lesson to learn about cleaning and hosing the trailer out regularly. I did put down a pretty thick duct tape patch on top of that mat seam to try and keep anything from going through again, but it got caught on the fork alot. I am much more dilegent with my new trailer - but my new horse refuses to pee in the trailer so far. Very nice, but his eyes must be yellow after those 8 hour hauls.

[Tom King]

I would feel fine about getting the floor fixed and putting the WERM on it. Just to put the welder on his toes, ask him what type of welders he uses to weld aluminum and what type of plasma cutter and how long he's been welding aluminum. Tell him you have a friend on the internet who claims to be a welding expert looking after you who has stuff sitting on the moon he welded.

[deltawave]

you have a friend on the internet who claims to be a welding expert looking after you who has stuff sitting on the moon he welded

OMG, that would get me some funny looks for sure! :D My hubby's an engineer and can speak the language--I may have him come along just so I don't have to pull out my dumb look and have it be legitimate for a change. :p Normally I use the dumb look to see if some good old boy is going to try to take advantage of me, then I use the withering stare--which is dispensed along with motherhood. I find the dumb look works less and less as I get older and grayer, alas. ;)

[deltawave]

Update: Wayne the Welder took a look and is going to sandblast the whole thing for a soundness check, but he thinks that just a few sections could be replaced by "splicing" in some sections of the floor with new decking and riveting that in. Now I just have to find 2 pieces of Sundowner decking and have that delivered to them. Talked to the WERM guy and he seems good to work with. Hopefully I can get the deed done for between 1 and 2K, soup to nuts.

[LittleblackMorgan]

WOW I cant believe how much people charge to weld in new aluminum. I know aluminum welding is a specialty but a 4x8 sheet of aluminum (.063) is about 60-70 bucks. The 10 footers around a hundered. WOW. I used to buy aluminum all the time with baken enamel finish...the mill finish was significantly cheaper. I assume they use the finished stuff for the floors, since thats what they use on the body. Whoa.
I had the entire support system re welded into my steel 2h BP last year, reinforced too, as well as complete rewiring and new brakes (complete with drums) everything was repacked...lites replaced with new LED units...AND new tires, with a spare...for under 3k...

[AKB]

We had the floors replaced on both of our Sundowners last summer. Since they were still under warranty (barely), Sundowner did them for free. We were starting to get corrosion and some tiny holes in the floors back near the ramp. The West VA dealer we went to did the job very easily. We had to wait a month or so until he had the floors delivered to him by Sundowner. Then, I dropped each trailer off and picked it up a couple of days later.

A Sundowner dealer could probably give you some idea of the usual price over the telephone. Most of them have replaced quite a few floors. We replaced our floors with plain, uncoated, aluminum. I have no idea if that was the best choice, but it was free so I didn't question it. We love our Sundowner trailers. They are spacious and well designed. Several of our neighbors have horses who are bad loaders. They get right in my trailer, probably because it is light and roomy.

[cyndi]

Wow, my Featherlite is 17 years old and my aluminum floor is still going strong....some slight pitting...but I am very bad at hosing it out...and use it a lot. I keep looking at new trailers, but just can't really justify buying one just because mine is 17 years old. :lol:

[Tom King]

It shouldn't be too hard to find something that will work even if it's not an extrusion from Sundowner. Just do a search for "extruded aluminum plank" in the large cities nearest you and you will find stuff like this:

http://www.mcnichols.com/products/grating/plank/aluminum/productDetails.html#width

There are typically a bunch of different sizes and I would think you can find some the same height and width as the ones in your trailer. Most trailer manufacturers don't even have their own special extrusions made. They just use standard stuff.

[deltawave]

The quote of 1-2 grand includes the WERM (including prep), not just the aluminum work. :) The aluminum is surprisingly cheap and the welding/riveting work should be quick and simple.

I wound up getting new floor plank material right from Sundowner, easy peasy, drop-shipped right to the welder. Cost me less than $80 to buy and ship 3 4-foot sections to Wayne the Welder. Sundowner does make their own, and although the precise type that's in my trailer is no longer made, they have something that will retrofit just fine.

[Paco Corporation]

Paco Corporation offers various styles of steel, stainless steel, and aluminum bar grating.
http://www.pacograting.com