Sliding Wood

Installing the boards into the trailer hasn't been that hard so far....knock on...um...wood, LOL.  The boards are placed in via the slot in the tack room and then slid into the channel.  A rubber mallet has to be used on each end, inch by inch or else the board will get stuck when at an angle.

The narrowest areas with the most friction is below the divider and where several welds seem to congregate by the escape door in the horse area of the trailer.

Once past that area you could slide the board, even pressure down the rest of the length.  Sometimes one side would be pushed too far and you needed the mallet to unwedge the wood.

The first board had to get hammered into the back groove as far as we could get it.  We'd had trouble getting the old piece of wood out so getting this one in took a little finagling. I was so excited at the first boards' installation.

Here's a close up of the groove that holds the boards in place.  On a lot of trailers the boards sit on top of the supports and you drill bolts into the frame to hold them in place.  That would be a little easier I think for the initial installation but if you need to move the boards when they dry, and produce larger gaps than you wished, it seems that would be a difficult thing to adjust.  Each way has it's pros and cons; just depends on how the trailer was made.

I did most of the moving the boards into place, the boys wanted to do all the manly stuff with the mallet.  Fine by me, even though I know I can do that part, it's less sweat for me!

I bought five 2x8's that were 12 feet long, we only have a couple inches of "wasted" wood per boards.  I have to get 8 more of that size and then one 2x6 at 12 feet long to finish out the tack room with the wonky cuts we'll have to do there.

It's looking good!  I'm so excited; hence the trailer floor and I's selfie.  Tomorrow I'll get the rest of the wood we need and we'll hopefully be able to finish it up!

We kept the boards for the front of the trailer and will have to use the jig saw to cut those curves.  We'll have a piece leftover that we can then hold onto in case the wood dries and creates a little too much gapping in between the boards.  

Like I said earlier, place the boards right against each other if it's fresh or pressure treated.  It will dry and shrink slightly.  It shouldn't shrink too much lengthwise; it's mainly the width.  I don't want too big of a gap between boards but I want some for drainage and for air circulation.  The point is to reduce the potential of wood rotting.  I'll post pictures of the completed floors once we are fully done!

Reports from the barn:

Dani is eating while wearing her grazing muzzle!!!  She has finally figured it out or finally giving up the idea that pouting will change her situation.  Nicolle says she's doing well.  I haven't been out much this week because of the trailer work.  I miss her but it's a sacrifice I need to make right now so I can get the trailer out there and have all my tack and supplies handy....plus conduct more trailer training for the pony!