Subject : Sundowner floors Posted : 2009-10-31 8:58 AM Post #112635

I was talking to a trailer dealer the other day and he said he had a couple of trailers that I might want to check out. He said they were used Sundowners but I was not to worry because he'd refurbished the floors. He said that Sundowners made in the last 10 years had issues with the floor beams (I think that is the term he used) rotting out. For that reason he said I should be leery of used trailers being sold by private individuals instead of dealers.

Does anyone have more information on this?

Subject : RE: Sundowner floors Posted : 2009-10-31 10:42 AM Post #112646 - In reply to #112635

YIKES! I just read that thread from one end to the other. I should have just read the first page and had done with it.

Thanks for the info btw, you brave, brave soul.

Subject : RE: Sundowner floors Posted : 2009-11-03 10:51 AM Post #112762 - In reply to #112635

I own a 2000 valuelite.  I have posted before on this subject.  I clean my floor regularly, removing the mats when doing so.  My floor was covered with the black "bed liner" material from sundowner.  I had no reason to think that anything was wrong with this coating, until I read several posts on this site.  After cleaning the trailer one day, I noticed that the coating didn't seem to be stuck tight on a couple of small spots over the rivots that connect the floor to the frame.  I grabbed the coating at one of these loose spots, and in one sweeping motion removed the entire coating from the floor of the trailer.  It was not bonded well at all.  After the coating was removed, I notices several severe corroded areas where the horses stand.  From what I witnessed, it looked as if the urine from the horses was getting trapped between the poorly bonded coating and the aluminum floor.

I prepped the floor and applied a thin coating to protect the floor.  I then went underneath the trailer and water blasted the frame, removing all the loose coating from the steel frame under the trailer.  While the coating seemed to fall right off, I notice only surface rust on the frame, and coated it with an appropriate coating. 

In talking with several coating companies, my conclusion was this.  It is better to coat the steel and aluminum with thin solvent based coatings designed to specifically adhere to and protect each specific metal.  Thin because you can easily see if the material is not bonded, it will be chipped off or be totally gone.  Also a thin coating can contain solvents which helps it stick.  Plus I could easily install the thin coating myself, and "touch it up" easily if needed in the future. 

A thick coating can not push the solvent out when curing.  Most of the thicker coatings must use a thin coating of primer first.  This makes them stick better.  A thick coating can debond, and still lay there and you would not know it wasn't bonded properly for sometime.  This could trap urine and such underneath the thick coating, hiding the problem from you, and not allowing you to clean it.

I'm not an expert, but proper maintanance of a trailer is more than just cleaning them out.  If you buy a less expensive trailer, like mine with the metal frame, you have more maintanance.  If you are going to coat the floors and or steel frame, make sure you use the proper coating, and prep them properly.  Otherwise, you are just hiding the problem for a short time.  Nothing is maintanace free!  Are you really going to take a chance that a $50 coating is going to allow you not to remove your mats and clean your expensive aluminum floor regularly?  Maybe it will, but you better inspect that coating and make sure it is doing the job.  Because there is no worse feeling than discovering that the very coating you are expecting to protect your trailers structure, is actually making it corrode faster!