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Veteran
Posts: 124
Location: Calgary, Canada | As part of our pre-purchase inspection, we pulled the trailer mats out of a 2008 “very premium brand” aluminum trailer. The owner, who had owned the trailer since new, said that the mats had “never been out of it”. He had skipped out the trailer, always used lots of wood shavings and hosed out the top of the mats as part of his regular maintenance, but had never actually pulled the mats out.
When we pulled the mats, we found lots of urine residue (yellowish, salt like deposits) which was easily cleaned out using a plastic dust pan as a scraper. Evidence of significant corrosion was present including surface pitting (worming) and a few holes 1/4" to 3/8” in size.
The trailer was fairly premium in all other areas, the floor looked repairable, so with an appropriate discount in price for the floor condition, we purchased the trailer.
Winter is coming upon us, but the first operation when we brought the trailer home was to hose out the trailer followed by a 2 hour detailed pressure washing of the horse compartment floor. Our second inspection after the pressure washing confirmed the presence of significant surface corrosion affecting perhaps 1/3 of the entire floor area – but more concentrated to the middle and back of the trailer in the area where male horses would pee. A total of 7 holes up to 3/8” were discovered. See the attached photos which show the corrosion areas after pressure washing.
The floor still has good structural integrity but come spring we will certainly be acidizing it and applying a box liner material to it to prevent additional corrosion.
I am amazed at the number of people who spend good money on a trailer but fail to maintain them. Corrosion damage on an aluminum trailer is easily preventable with proper maintenance. To protect your investment, clean under your mats regularly and consider applying a coating as outlined by Gard in the “sticky” at the top of the Trailer Talk section of HTW.
Regards, 3CW
 (1 Back Horse Compartment.jpg)
 (2 Middle Horse Compartment.jpg)
 (3 Front Horse Compartment.jpg)
 (4 General Corrosion.jpg)
 (5 Corrosion Hole.jpg)
 (6 Corrosion Holes.jpg)
Attachments
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 1 Back Horse Compartment.jpg (117KB - 405 downloads)
2 Middle Horse Compartment.jpg (112KB - 342 downloads)
3 Front Horse Compartment.jpg (112KB - 298 downloads)
4 General Corrosion.jpg (116KB - 288 downloads)
5 Corrosion Hole.jpg (118KB - 338 downloads)
6 Corrosion Holes.jpg (114KB - 286 downloads)
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Expert
Posts: 5870
  
Location: western PA | If your trailer flooring has a lot of corrosion and repairs, I would recommend installing an etching primer before the bed liner material is applied. I use a zinc chromate primer before painting bare aluminum. That plus the etching qualities of the Muriatic acid, will ensure a good bonding surface for subsequent material applications. The bed liner material adheres well to non-primed aluminum if the surface is etched, cleaned and acid treated.http://www.westmarine.com/buy/moeller--zinc-chromate--P004_121_004_507 |
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 Expert
Posts: 1877
Location: NY | I am amazed at how people treat there trailer |
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Veteran
Posts: 124
Location: Calgary, Canada | Gard - Thank you for the advise on the zinc chromate primer. Given the corrision we are faced with, the zinc chromate primer will certainly be part of my repair process. Regards, 3CW |
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Expert
Posts: 3853
Location: Vermont | Originally written by ThreeCW on 2014-11-12 10:18 PM
As part of our pre-purchase inspection, we pulled the trailer mats out of a 2008 “very premium brand” aluminum trailer. The owner, who had owned the trailer since new, said that the mats had “never been out of it”. He had skipped out the trailer, always used lots of wood shavings and hosed out the top of the mats as part of his regular maintenance, but had never actually pulled the mats out. When we pulled the mats, we found lots of urine residue (yellowish, salt like deposits) which was easily cleaned out using a plastic dust pan as a scraper. Evidence of significant corrosion was present including surface pitting (worming) and a few holes 1/4" to 3/8” in size. The trailer was fairly premium in all other areas, the floor looked repairable, so with an appropriate discount in price for the floor condition, we purchased the trailer. Winter is coming upon us, but the first operation when we brought the trailer home was to hose out the trailer followed by a 2 hour detailed pressure washing of the horse compartment floor. Our second inspection after the pressure washing confirmed the presence of significant surface corrosion affecting perhaps 1/3 of the entire floor area – but more concentrated to the middle and back of the trailer in the area where male horses would pee. A total of 7 holes up to 3/8” were discovered. See the attached photos which show the corrosion areas after pressure washing. The floor still has good structural integrity but come spring we will certainly be acidizing it and applying a box liner material to it to prevent additional corrosion. I am amazed at the number of people who spend good money on a trailer but fail to maintain them. Corrosion damage on an aluminum trailer is easily preventable with proper maintenance. To protect your investment, clean under your mats regularly and consider applying a coating as outlined by Gard in the “sticky” at the top of the Trailer Talk section of HTW. Regards, 3CW Wow...I hope that 6 years was intensive use... |
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Veteran
Posts: 124
Location: Calgary, Canada | I think it was 6 years of NO maintenance. Intensive usage might have had more urine flowing through keeping the floor cleaner 
The intent of my posting was to educated other owners on the importance of keeping their floors clean. Who knows, perhaps sometime in the future I might want to buy your trailer :) |
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Expert
Posts: 3853
Location: Vermont | Originally written by ThreeCW on 2014-11-24 7:36 PM I think it was 6 years of NO maintenance. Intensive usage might have had more urine flowing through keeping the floor cleaner The intent of my posting was to educated other owners on the importance of keeping their floors clean. Who knows, perhaps sometime in the future I might want to buy your trailer : )  |
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