I'm in the process of replacing the wood floor on my 25' 20K gooseneck. I'm not real keen on drilling holes in the new oak deck. I'm not impressed with the self threading screws, as I had plenty of the heads pop off on the old deck. I could put carriage bolts in, but I've been thinking that I could bolt pieces of flat plate across the top of the deck to hold the boards in place. My trailer doesn't have full width wood floor, but instead has the floor divided in three sections across. In essence the deck would be floating under pieces of 5/16" by 3" straps. This would cut way down on the number of fasteners as well as make it much simpler to change a damaged board in the future. I realize that the deck would no longer be truly flat, but that really isn't an issue for hauling tractors, skid steers and equipment. Any thoughts?
Have you tried "Tech Reamer" screws? They are a heavy self-drilling screw. They have ears that drill the countersink in the wood for the head. The ears then break off when they hit the metal. You would still have to drill holes in your new oak.
No. I'll look into them. I just hate the idea of adding a bunch of water conduits. I did see where one guy uses angle iron to hold the ends of the boards and just spot welds it. Says it's really easy to just grind the welds. I might go that route too. Thanks for the reply
My advice is to use apitong instead of oak. You will not regret it.
I know, but I already bought the rough cut oak from a nice little Amish mill. Had a tough time finding Apitong anywhere near me. I figure I'll go that direction next time, which hopefully will be over 10 more years. The crappy treated SYP lasted that long, although it was more rotten than I thought when I took it off.