I took my newbie horse to a show and he is a pawer. During the ride he pulled up the mat and then the plastic coating on the floor to reveal small holes.
I’m assuming this is a big problem. I was initially mad for him destroying my trailer but I think his bad behavior might have been a blessing!
Yes, it’s a sundowner early 2000 model but I had the frame replaced several years ago.
Will the whole floor need to be replaced? Is it worth it for a trailer this old?
Is that aluminum or rumber?
Since you already invested in having the frame replaced, providing the rest of the trailer is sound (electrical, for example), I’d at least look into having the floor boards replaced. Although the price of lumber has gone up, it’s not an insurmountable job.
It’s aluminum
Those look to me like they may be rivet holes. Or perhaps screw holes. Is the flooring riveted or screwed to the frame?
I would like to see a picture of the floor after it is pressure washed.
It is probably where the old frame was attached to the floor.
I don’t know enough about aluminum to tell how much of an issue there is, but it’s possible to patch aluminum or even put another piece over top. It’s not cheap but if everything else is in good shape it’s definitely worth it. Even if it costs you $3k a new trailer is likely to be close to $20k and reselling this one with the floor in good shape will be a lot easier and more profitable than reselling as is.
Horsetrailer.net shows a 2000 Sundowner aluminum 2 horse bumper pull (no tack room) recently sold for approximately $13,000. The equivalent Sundowner 2023 new is about $22,000.
I missed the part in the OP about the frame having been replaced. I agree with @Equibrit that it is a very high liklihood that these holes are the old floor to frame mounting holes that were simply left open in the replacement process. They look perfectly round, like where a screw or rivet has been.
Pull the mats, clean the floor, and if there are more holes and they all look nice and round, I’d rest easy. You might as well poke around with a screwdriver to see if there are weak corroded spots, though.
I have often wondered how to go about replacing my wood board trailer floor if needed. I came across this short video.
https://youtube.com/shorts/V4nTd2gRrIU?si=rMcKUrB6Nv0R4CIe
Thank you all! I plan to have someone look at it this week. My only pause to possible rivet holes/attached to old frame is that the holes are close to each other and where a horse would pee.
I had no clue trailers are going for that much so yes, I guess I will put the money into it.
Now, any tricks on how to keep my greenie from pawing up the trailer? Uuuuggghhh it’s annoying.
Neither one of those holes look like rivet holes to me. They look just like the urine-related holes in the floor of my Featherlite (since repaired, and sold).
Lots of suggestions about trailer pawing in previous threads.
Tapping the brakes
Trailer with horse buddy
Hobbles
Ace
Mirror in trailer
Tasty hay
Thicker trailer mats
Ankle bands
Exam for neurologic balance issue
Kicking chains
Herbal remedies
Soft Ride boots
That is just a partial list of numerous ideas. I am not recommending them, I just took them from older CotH threads. Most point out that the underlying problem is anxiety, and the need to address the anxiety with training to stand quietly.
And if those trailer floor holes are from urine damage, then once repaired the only future prevention is to pull the mats and rinse out the trailer as soon as possible anytime a horse pees in the trailer. I have been hauling horses for 40 years and only twice has a horse ever peed in one of my trailers. I guess I am just lucky.
Pawing floor damage should be towards the front of a trailer (at least a side-by-side) and urine caused corrosion damage should be more likely near the back. Where are these two holes located?
I’d pull the mats and take it to a do-it-yourself car wash and pressure wash that floor x 3 and once it’s dry, put a light underneath and move it around to all areas of that floor and see if there are pin holes as well as those. You’ll probably be able to see surface corrosion from looking down with a strong light above as well.
So you might have to replace floor. Assuming this has lasted you 10 years you could assume same from a new aluminum floor. Just for the record, my rumber flooring has lasted 17 years and is good-as-new. To get rumber flooring instead of normal floor on my new 18’ was an additional 2,500. So not too bad really.
i hose out after every trip.
i’ve only had it happen once in 17 years
Aha, it’s aluminum! It was hard to tell in the photo. My new trailer is aluminum, too, but it has very thick, heavy mats. I don’t see how a horse could paw them up. So if you do decide to address the flooring, is it possible to replace your current mats with something substantially heavier and more contoured to your trailer?
I agree with the price of new trailers. A couple of years ago I paid just under $20k for a new Logan bumper pull that’s nothing fancy.
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