I started to build my tray

i would do some type of tie down rail or lashing point at rear ,helps stop load shift ;)

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Originally Posted by srowlandson

The wood's been sitting outside for a while, its left over from a job a mate did a few months ago.

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The longer the better! make sure you use some sash cramps or something to squeeze everything together before fixing. Once you have fixed all but the last board remove the cramps and the final one is made with a slight taper (top to bottom) to wedge in and hold the tension then fixed.

There is an Austin truck that comes to the All British Days in Sydney and it has a great polished hardwood deck. Something I'm thinking about doing for my SIIB trayback.

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Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

The longer the better! make sure you use some sash cramps or something to squeeze everything together before fixing. Once you have fixed all but the last board remove the cramps and the final one is made with a slight taper (top to bottom) to wedge in and hold the tension then fixed.

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Years ago I made a tray-top trailer with a karri top, which I still have. Everything was fine until I had to keep it outside as the fleet grew, at which point exposure to the elements started to wreak havoc. The tightly clamped boards shrunk in summer which necessitated using a tarp on the tray when moving sand. In winter they expanded so much that they snapped tek screws and assumed the position of a bursting barrel. Each year I would drench them in the finest sump oil in a desperate and futile attempt to stop them moving. It has now come to the point where I really need to replace them with steel.

Moral of the story - keep it inside if you plan to make it out of timber and oil it with linseed whatever you do. :D

Chequer plate is the go for cargo floors, steel or aluminium, whatever you can find. I got heartily sick of replacing shot edged floor timbers on truck and trailer bodies long, long, ago.

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Chequer plate is the go for cargo floors, steel or aluminium, whatever you can find. ...<snip>

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Brian

What do you think of expanded mesh for a floor! You can tie down anywhere on the deck without problem and it never holds water.

Well at least that's the tray the P.O. fixed to my SIIB. :(

It currently has concrete form ply on top.

Diana

Good if you are not worried about road spray coming up through the floor into the cargo. A mate has a Toyota Hi-Lux ute with a home?- made tray which uses open spaced aluminium extrusions for floor boards. The extrusions are the backing pieces of aluminium street signs. Guess where he works.