WARNING! Why trailer maintenence is so important!

Kis Vihar

Kis Vihar

Nutty Saddlers !
Feb 14, 2008
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Norfolk, UK....or Hungary!
www.bespokebrowbands.com
This is my Ifor Williams horse trailer floor.....With the rubber matting down...then when I rolled back the rubber matting! :eek:

Just wanted to post these, to make sure everyone CHECKS the floor in their trailer/lorry regularly. ;)

How nasty could this have been, especially as the rubber flooring looked so nice.....! What was hidden underneath the bolted down matting was shocking. :eek:
 

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beki x-x said:
:eek: good job you checked !

how did that happen ?
Click to expand...

Age, mostly. :rolleyes: Poor old trailer! It's a few years old now, plus it got damp. I always clean it after I've travelled a horse, but didn't realise that this winter, the rain and snow was seeping in through the air-vent in the roof, and because the trailer was parked at an angle, water was sitting along one edge. It went under the rubber, and seeped through the wood, rotting it. :(

Needless to say, I will NOT be using it until the floor is replaced. ;)
 
Trying to source the materials for a new floor here is proving 'challenging'! ;)

I always check my trailer over in a 'major way' in the spring. The floor looked perfect on top of the rubber matting.....:eek: I was suspicious, so I unbolted all the back of the trailer which had a 'gripper' holding the rubber down....that's what I found. :(
 
:eek: omg! i have just hired a trailer for my show tomorrow and they didnt even check the last person mucked it out before loaning it again let alone the floor!!! :eek::eek::eek: (yes there was poo still in there smeared EVERYWHERE it was rank :mad:)
 
Oh dear, that could have been nasty.

We only put matting or bedding down if we are off on the boat, the rest of the time the floor is open to the air.
 
We went to look at an old ifor and the seller refused to let us look under the rubber matting (which was bolted down) so we walked away.

People are now putting some kind of mesh down so if the wood fails the horse can't actually get its foot through, but IMO the floor shouldn't be failing in the first place!
 
I like matting you can take out, and a floor you can see is sound. These bonded rubber mats hide a multitude of sins.
 
We have some mat adhesive which foams up to fill all the gaps between the mats and the walls which means it forms a watertight seal. If you seal the wood well with preservative and use something like this bonding then there is a lot less chance of things rotting. We've also used rubberised paint in the past which forms a protective cover and can just be power washed.
 
I'm with Wally.. I like the mats that can be lifted not the bonded mats.. My trailer has an Aluminium floor but I still clean out after ever use, check regularly and pressure wash and leave the mats up so floor is exposed to air..

Kis - Lucky! A friend replaced her floor last year using marine ply - is that hard to get there ?
 
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