what to use to protect trailer floor

I just purchased a new trailer and want to get some ideas of what to use on new trailer floor to preserve the wood floor. Thanks Paul
 
I got a new trailerin late 2012 and last summer I gave it several coats of used motor oil and let it set in hot sun. I also tarp my trailer in the winter.
 
Do nothing for a year to season the boards then paint on used motor oil. The boards won't absorb much if anything til they weather for a year or so. Won't hurt anything to put some on this year except it may stay slick for a while til the boards can absorb the oil.
 
(quoted from post at 22:34:05 01/26/14) I just purchased a new trailer and want to get some ideas of what to use on new trailer floor to preserve the wood floor. Thanks Paul

Used motor oil. Applied liberally at least once per year. Pick the hottest day of summer. 5 gallon bucket of oil and a broom.
 
If you ever want to use your trailer for moving furniture or appliances, do not use motor oil. A 50/50 mix of linseed oil and turpentine is a cleaner coating.
 
Mine was new 4 yrs ago and still looks it. I tarp it because the boards are not the only thing that weathers. The sun is hell on the tires and paint and the water gets into the cracks in the lumber and freezes and expands and opens up the small crack to a large one. Oil doesn't stop that. Look what freezing water does to your blacktop/concrete roadways. Do whatever you want. Tarping saves everything.
 
I have put 2 coats of motor oil on mine and let it set in hot sun ( 90+degrees) and have hauled furniture & appliances. If done right the boards are not oily.
 

My trailer is 13 years old. It has NEVER seen the inside of a shed. Just a few months ago, while at the local filling station, a guy walked up and was looking the trailer over very closely, and then asked me if the trailer was new.
 
Well then you must take care of it, or live in a pretty dry
climate. When it rains and snows a lot and they sit out for 13
years wood will rot, espicially this new stuff wood isn't as good
today as it was 30 years ago, I was taking out fence posts on
our cattle lot last summer, we put green treated ones in 4
years ago and most were rotted off, ones from before when
the lot was built in the 1980s were still basically like new if that
says anything.
 
My question about using oil is, how does it affect the grip when loading/unloading in wet conditions? This was my first thought to use on the floor of my trailer, but have held off due to worring about it becoming dangerously slick when wet.
 
I would think the used motor oil will act like boiled linseed oil or Thompson's water seal and soak into the wood. The surface will not be anymore slippery when wet than untreated wood. Whatever you do, do NOT paint the deck! When I was a kid, my grandpa fixed up a couple of hay racks and PAINTED them! Get a little hay dust on them while loading behind the baler and the decks were as slick as ICE!!!
 
(quoted from post at 20:53:18 01/28/14) Well then you must take care of it, or live in a pretty dry
climate. When it rains and snows a lot and they sit out for 13
years wood will rot, espicially this new stuff wood isn't as good
today as it was 30 years ago, I was taking out fence posts on
our cattle lot last summer, we put green treated ones in 4
years ago and most were rotted off, ones from before when
the lot was built in the 1980s were still basically like new if that
says anything.

Southwest, Iowa. Rain and snow. I've actually had to scoop the snow off the deck before I could use it.
 
(quoted from post at 14:13:52 02/16/14) I would think the used motor oil will act like boiled linseed oil or Thompson's water seal and soak into the wood. The surface will not be anymore slippery when wet than untreated wood. Whatever you do, do NOT paint the deck! When I was a kid, my grandpa fixed up a couple of hay racks and PAINTED them! Get a little hay dust on them while loading behind the baler and the decks were as slick as ICE!!!

Correct. The oil soaks in and it is not slick. Not even when wet.
 

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