Re Flooring a 53 ft dry van trailer

Several times I have replaced the bad spots in van floors, and then placed !/2 inch plywood over entire floor. This was done on local trailers I would load and unload several times a day, which meant many fork lift trips in and out of trailer every day. Floors lasted much longer.

 

Why would you put down oak instead of apitong? The price is comparable and most trailers come with apitong from the factory. You can do a search for apitong on the internet and probably come up with some sources. There is a company near Mobile that makes apitong. I don't remember the name, but a quick search would find them. They could have a facility closer to you. Are you looking for ship lap boards?

 

I replaced the floor in 53' van about 8 years ago with 6" wide by 1 1/8th. apitong shiplap. Cost about $1800 all in, including the torxhead fastners. Most of the work involved removing the old floor. I was very happy with the results.

 

I wish that I could find apitong for that price. About 2 years ago I checked on buying apitong and the cost was $1,600-2,200. A few months ago from the same vendor quoted me $3,200. Supposedly, the increase is primarily due to the devaluation of the U.S. dollar. That is a huge increase. I also checked on oak and there wasn't much difference in the price. I was told that oak is a little heavier than apitong.