Wood sided trailer is having issues. Suggestions wanted

[John61CT]

Maybe just scrape / glue to get underneath tight & stable, then just paint.

Glidden Gripper primer sticks to everything (except silicon & poly plastic) and is a decent waterproofer in multi coat layers.

Then your outer UV stable paint of choice.

Cheap, simple, easy to maintain

[Tomterrific]

I have a similar problem. I used oil based paint over thinned polyurethane. First was some thinned poly soaked in, then oil based high bond primer, then a coat of white Rustoleum. I get small cracks in the paint. I think the Rustoleum is too hard for my wood but it may be I painted over the polyurethane. I merely paint over the crack with more Rustoleum. I may paint the entire trailer with latex someday as I think that will be more elastic.

I should add, my roof is elastomeric roof coating and my trailer sits outside in Ohio. No problems with the roof!

Tt

[greygoos]

I built the last trailer with MDO that is used for outdoor signs. I then sealed all the seams with fiberglass tape and epoxy, then coated in bed liner. After 3500 hundred miles or so I have noticed that the bed liner was coming off at one of the seams. I re coated the area with epoxy then bed liner. So far so good.

[tony.latham]

I built the last trailer with MDO that is used for outdoor signs. I then sealed all the seams with fiberglass tape and epoxy, then coated in bed liner. After 3500 hundred miles or so I have noticed that the bed liner was coming off at one of the seams. I re coated the area with epoxy then bed liner. So far so good.

Which bed liner and why do you think it came off the fiberglass? Blush maybe?

T

[Woodbutcher]

I don't believe you can add another coating of anything and fix the problem. You have a problem with expansion and contraction do to weather, heat and humidity. That will not change with a coat of anything. Even covering the outside with a Flex Seal type product will not stop the bed liner and plywood from continuing to de laminate from each other, as the wood moves. You also have considerably more finish on the outside of the trailer then you do on the inside. This will also play a part in the wood moving. If this was my trailer I would pull off the lights, windows Etc and skin in with Aluminum. Pull the Band aid off and do it right and be able to insure you will have no more problems. If you don't like the natural aluminum look, buy painted aluminum. These are just my thoughts. It is what I would do if this was my trailer.

[Karen Clancy]

Steve , why would the expansion & contraction effect it and not on a steel bed of a pickup . On a pickup bed you have expansion & contraction with steel also & not to mention flex of the bed with every bump . Even with a contractors truck with tools & material being dropped in and dragged across the bedliner I have not seen it fail like that . I have it on my under trailer shoes boxes with no problems . There constructed with plywood , then primed , then sprayed with rust oleum paint then sprayed with bed liner it's been 2 years . They also sit out in the elements & sometimes hang under while we are on the road . I don't remember what brand I used but do remember while I was shopping for it a couple of the brands it stated do not use on wood .

[Woodbutcher]

I would think the metal truck body given it's thickness would not expand as much as wood can. Plus wood has to deal with moisture, even when it is finished. I would also think your last statement may be the most telling....not to be used on wood.

[redbicycle]

Another time consuming but possible option might be a router set to take off the top 1/8". This would take all the bed liner and a minimum amount of wood. A belt sander for where the router doesn't fit and next an orbital and finally a wood file for a few spots. Once this is done your down to bare wood for aluminum skinning or paint. Any options you choose are going to be time consuming I think.


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[Woodbutcher]

Aluminum skin can go right over the old bed liner, just cover it up.

[greygoos]

I built the last trailer with MDO that is used for outdoor signs. I then sealed all the seams with fiberglass tape and epoxy, then coated in bed liner. After 3500 hundred miles or so I have noticed that the bed liner was coming off at one of the seams. I re coated the area with epoxy then bed liner. So far so good.

Which bed liner and why do you think it came off the fiberglass? Blush maybe?

T

My feeling is that it came off at the seam from expansion and contraction. It is also the only spot on the build where I didnt round off the edges.

[John61CT]

Not to mention the bending and flexing at angle joins.

Steel truck beds are more rigid, better engineered than our DIY jobs.

And that's in addition to adherence to prepped metal sheet vs unfinished wood.

[lacofdfireman]

Aluminum skin can go right over the old bed liner, just cover it up.

This may be the way to go. Also can’t you paint the aluminum? You said buy painted if I don’t like the bare aluminum look but I’d think you could paint the Aluminum couldn’t I?

Also any idea what thickness I would use for aluminum and how much it would cost for a 4x8 profile trailer? Also as far as attaching could I just glue it to the existing Raptor liner with not sanding it down? What do you glue the aluminum on with?




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[halfdome, Danny]

You can buy anodized aluminum sheets to cover your trailer, the stuff is beautiful, not cheap but well worth it, see my signature photos.
It dosen't oxidize or need polishing, It comes in colors too.
As far as painting aluminum you would need to create a tooth by sanding that I wouldn't recommend.
I attach aluminum with contact cement but not sure if your previous coating would be compatable with contact cement.
Some float their aluminum and hold it in place with aluminum trim, something I think would be your best option.
Danny

[fishboat]

Moisture is getting through the bedliner coating and entering the unsealed plywood causing it to swell, breaking the bedliner coating COhesion(coating sticking to itself)..the result is the cracking you're seeing. Once a crack appears, more moisture enters the wood and the cracking expands enough for you to see. I suspect if you took a magnifying glass and looked very closely at surfaces that appear fine to the naked eye, you'd see some cracking you haven't noticed..yet.

The bedliner appears to be moisture-permeable. If moisture gets through the liner, and that liner is sprayed on a truck-bed..no issues as the truck bed already has a exterior-durable coating on it. As long as the liner maintains ADhesion(coating sticking to the substrate) to the truck bed..all appears well. Steel doesn't absorb water, nor does it expand and contract with temp and moisture in the same order(s) of magnitude as wood does. Think microns vs millimeters.

Some thoughts::

>Spraying the bedliner, or any hopefully exterior-durable topcoat, on unfinished(unsealed) wood...not good. It's a fast, hope-for-the-best approach.

>"Sealing" the outside of unfinished wood without "sealing" the inside in the same fashion..not good. The greatest stability in wood or wood-composite panels is achieved by finishing all sides equally. Woodworkers building frame-panel cabinets or tables (or wide wall trim) always account for wood movement. Movement is limited by 6-sided finishing. The potential for wood movement in an exterior application is much greater than inside the house. Granted..wood composite panels will have much less movement than solid wood panels. When you're trying to keep exterior wood stable..I'd use every trick in the book.

>When using wood of any sort for an exterior application, I'd try to mimic the successful methods that wood-boat builders have used for decades. Particularly the stitch & glue techniques.

>I wouldn't use a thinned polyurethane to coat raw wood. It's better than nothing, but I wouldn't put a lot of faith in it. One material that boat builders, or wood-boat restoration people, use (though with some controversy), and may have good application here, is CPES (clear penetrating epoxy sealer). Follow the directions for best results:

http://www.smithandcompany.org/CPES/

https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=97636&engine=adwords!6456&keyword=cpeskw&gclid=CjwKCAiAkrTjBRAoEiwAXpf9CQAg65zYlw9e5cxv14VPanRUKkG4VYFfuTksZPCyy4SUKak6Hh0LJBoCXhQQAvD_BwE

Most epoxies are not exterior (UV) durable..a topcoat would be needed.

>Any topcoat applied over the bedliner at this point assumes two things. That topcoat will adhere well to the bedliner and the bedliner will remain adhered well to the raw wood. A new topcoat can only adhere as well as what it's attached to. If you apply some coating over the bediner, at a minimum I'd rough up the surface with an orbital sander and then wipe it down with a tack-cloth (clean/disposable shop cloth and and mineral spirits wiped in one direction only)

>DON'T USE ANYTHING THAT CONTAINS SILICONE. Remove any silicone caulk you have applied with a scraper and down to the wood substrate, sand into the wood, seal it with epoxy or primer..or both.

>What to do now?

1. Fast and cheap..sand down the exterior to rough up the surface(100-125 grit), tack-cloth the dust, prime it (Glidden Gripper seems to get lots of press..I've never used it..Kilz has an exterior-grade primer-sealer), and paint it with a couple coats of premium home-siding exterior stain. (Sherwin Williams, Hallman Lindsey, Benjamin Moore). I typically go with SW products, but I used HL opaque stain on my house a couple years ago..nice stuff. If the stain sloughs off in a few years..coat it again, just like a house. Don't use anything from a box store.

2. Slower and possibly better..and more expensive..sand down the exterior to rough up the surface(100-125 grit), tack-cloth the dust, prime it (Glidden Gripper seems to get lots of press..I've never used it), and cover it with aluminum sheeting.

I'd go with option #1 and keep moving.

[Woodbutcher]

Aluminum skin can go right over the old bed liner, just cover it up.

This may be the way to go. Also can’t you paint the aluminum? You said buy painted if I don’t like the bare aluminum look but I’d think you could paint the Aluminum couldn’t I?

Also any idea what thickness I would use for aluminum and how much it would cost for a 4x8 profile trailer? Also as far as attaching could I just glue it to the existing Raptor liner with not sanding it down? What do you glue the aluminum on with?




The aluminum can be painted, but it only costs a couple dollars more then natural aluminum sheets and you don't have the extra work and the possibility of future problems. Then you just care for the trailer like a car, just wash and use.

You should not need to prep the old bedliner unless you have some large lumps or caulking in the way. DO NOT glue the sheet stock down. It needs to float. The windows doors and edge molding keep it in place.

This is mine, and I used a silver gray aluminum. It came in 44" X 78" sheets. There were about 10 colors available at the time.