Joined
·
1,359 Posts
Has anyone noticed how much expanded metal has gone up in price? I guess it's not that much of a shock considering what scrap sells for these days, but it's still unnerving.
I bought a boat trailer with a single 3800lb torsion axle and began ripping into it to make a 6x14 landscape/light car trailer. Frame is 3/16" wall 4x3". I have already welded 3/16" wall 2" angle across the floors, and done away with the boat bunks and dipping cross bars in favor of 3/16" wall 4" angle in the rear and 3/16" wall 3.5 square stock foreward of the axle. The bulkhead the same 2" angle as the floor, and the side guardrails are 1.5" angle.
My intention is to use 9ga expanded metal instead of lumber to keep the weight down and not need to drill holes for carriage bolts and weaken the angle iron. Cheapest I'm finding is $92 per 4x8' new, and I'm not finding any used. For temporary I'm considering putting down plywood and shackling it to the angle with exhaust clamps. It'll be ugly as sin, but functional until mesh flooring is found.
Here's pics of the trailer before I began cutting and welding. Yanking the boat off was worth the project altogether.
I bought a boat trailer with a single 3800lb torsion axle and began ripping into it to make a 6x14 landscape/light car trailer. Frame is 3/16" wall 4x3". I have already welded 3/16" wall 2" angle across the floors, and done away with the boat bunks and dipping cross bars in favor of 3/16" wall 4" angle in the rear and 3/16" wall 3.5 square stock foreward of the axle. The bulkhead the same 2" angle as the floor, and the side guardrails are 1.5" angle.
My intention is to use 9ga expanded metal instead of lumber to keep the weight down and not need to drill holes for carriage bolts and weaken the angle iron. Cheapest I'm finding is $92 per 4x8' new, and I'm not finding any used. For temporary I'm considering putting down plywood and shackling it to the angle with exhaust clamps. It'll be ugly as sin, but functional until mesh flooring is found.
Here's pics of the trailer before I began cutting and welding. Yanking the boat off was worth the project altogether.
Attachments
-
38.1 KB Views: 168
-
33.5 KB Views: 107
-
146.1 KB Views: 93
-
146.8 KB Views: 107