Learn me: trailer decking? (treated 2x6s, marine plywood, expanded metal, other?)

Dunno why the pictures aren't working for some. Thought I uploaded them straight to the forum...

Try these:

The deck is currently 1" thick plywood, which is why I tried to get an estimate of what the deck currently weighed. Measures 8 ft wide by about 20 ft long (little more in the middle little less at the edges). 

The two longitudinal runners underneath are 53 inches apart, center to center, and they are 2 inches wide each. 

I haven't looked at the axles to see what they are rated at, but this is a tank of a trailer currently (heavy). 

As noted in first post, using it for a car wouldn't be common. Plus it would suck to get ramps good enough to get a car all the way up on the trailer. The deck is about 27 inches above the ground, and there isn't a dovetail or anything.  

You probably don't need all that width. 
 

If you cut it down to 6'-6" wide, you could reduce the deck weight by 20%

Could you modify the tongue to make it a tilt-bed?

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

Could you modify the tongue to make it a tilt-bed?

Probably, and I really want to. It looks to me like that may have been an option from the original builder but on this one they chose not to select that checkbox. Still, I think it would have to tilt a heck of a lot with just the angles and lengths involved. I've also thought about making it so the axle carrier can unpin and slide forward to tilt the back down. 

Without hydraulics, that may be difficult with the weight of a car on it. 

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

Buddy of mine had a trailer that slid on the axle carrier. You'd park, unpin the axles and block the wheels (or use the electronic brakes), then use the truck to back up and push the trailer back, and it would tilt down naturally. It was pretty slick. 

All the 4 place snowmobile trailers I've seen use a ramp system to load and unload.

I'm not sure why they made the tongue the way they did, but manual tilt isn't practical on snowmobile trailers larger than 2 place.  Since they get loaded one sled at a time, once the front two are on, it would be difficult/impossible to tilt without hydraulics.

They typically use a rear ramp to drive sleds on and you move the ramp to the front to drive off. Some have a salt shield on the front that is hinged to fold down as the unloading ramp. 

Depending on the ratings of the axles, I'd be looking at narrowing the structure and dropping the height . If those longitudinals are 2x4 tube the trailer is plenty strong enough to haul a car on. I'd shorten the tapered outriggers to whatever width suits you, mount the axles above the springs, and create some "drive over" fenders if needed. Without seeing the back end of the structure I'd think dovetailing it wouldn't be a big deal. How's your welding?

Or, narrow the tapered supports to your preferred width, weld the outer steel edge back on, re-deck it with plywood. The span of the plywood would be across the structure, not along its length, which I'm assuming is shorter. Or deck the outer areas with steel and the center with whatever you want.

I see a lot of steel in that thing that could be reconfigured to give me a trailer I could live with. What do you really want?

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

For sure - I'm confident we can make this trailer do a lot of different things. But again, it's my FILs trailer and I started the thread to learn about different decking options. I don't know how much he wants to get into re-engineering the whole thing, and his usage will likely not include cars. If there is ever a car on this thing that will be beacuse of me ;) Fun to dream though. 

I am going to talk to him about what he really wants - I think this trailer is quite a bit bigger than he was expecting and it might be better to sell and buy what is needed than it is to throw good money after bad. 

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

At least around here, used trailers retain a fair amount of value. your idea to sell and get what he needs makes sense.