Adding centre deck to Minno trailer

[C7 Owl]

I am going to add Phenolic Ply centre deck to my BJ Minno trailer.  I was wondering if anyone else has done this?  Where did you drill though the galvanized steel deck or the cross members?  

The square cross members are very thick so don't look ideal.  So drilling through the lip on the tyre deck and screwing into side of ply looks best to me.  Should I also put a screw through the thinner cross members into the face of the bottom of the deck surface?  

Should I treat the surface I've drilled with anything to avoid rust where screw is securing deck?  

What sort of fixing would be best?

 

 

[C7 Owl]

Below is a picture of the cross member at back which there are one at front, middle and back.  The vertical lip photographed runs from back shown here the length of deck to front.  

[SLR No.77]

I did mine years ago but also sold the trailer years ago so going from memory!

IIRC I drilled the smaller cross members and anchored the sheets down with stainless M8 countersunk bolts with locknuts on the underside, the bolts are only needed to secure the sheets for walking on and don't really do anything structural.
I think I used some button head coach bolts to anchor the ends of the ramps where there's a small notch, it's a long time ago now though! All very straightforward and makes a much more practical trailer.

Stu.

[OldAndrewE]

I don't think screwing into the side of the ply is a particularly good idea