To protect the wood deck of a utility trailer
Which one you figure might be the best
Thompson’s water seal or used oil on the wood ?
I have had a logger of many years tell me that old oil mopped on the wood would protect the wood better than anything .

Just curious about y’all’s experiences .

Either will work, but I'm putting my money on oil. I'm following this thread to read other's experiences.

If you do oil, do it on a hot, sunny day when the wood and oil are warm to hot.

Epoxy paint.

My utility trailer has treated wood on it's deck and I just let that weather which has stood up for years. I will say that I'm a big fan of Thompson's Water Seal because I put two coats on our weathered dock up north after I pressure washed it and it gave it a new lease on life and sheds water like a duck's back.

It’s wood. Use oil-based wood stain.

I bought deck stain at the lumber yard and put it on with a roller on a warm day.
Bonus: it looks good too.

Not a fan of TWS. Don’t find it to be what it once was - changed formula?

I’ll bet used motor oil will preserve well, but lots of downsides to it.

Will epoxy paint not blister and chip off when the boards pick up water from unpainted surfaces?

used oil with brake fluid has always worked for me... re apply about every 8 years

I'm interested in hearing input on this also. Mine has treated wood and the place I bought it from last winter told me to use oil on it periodically and I'd like to get something on it before this winter. A friend of mine uses Thompsons Water Seal on his and swears by it, but I haven't decided which way I'm going to go.

I use Thompson’s Water Seal in mine. Seems to work well.

Oil does work, but the deck will be slick as snot when wet, IME. If you can live with that, it is tough to beat.

If I were going to paint, I've been pretty impressed with Rodda Sharkskin paint on the floor of my enclosed trailer. I put some non-skid (basically sand) in the paint when I applied it, and it has held up quite well and is a nice finish.

This ^^^^^^

TWS on wood that's been allowed to dry. New wood often has to much moisture and it doesn't take the treatment well. Respray every 3-4 years using a hudson sprayer.

JMO

Used TWS on these last boards
Cheap paint roller in about 5 minutes
No need to dik around with it
Slather it on and let it dry

Old motor oil is the standard for us.

Thompson's is...not worth much.
Pretty much wax.
Scuffs off in no time.

Yes it will, my 2 place trailer needs a deck replacement badly, we used epoxy paint and it is flaking pretty bad, bad enough to warrant a new deck.

Thompson's Water Seal is one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated on mankind.

I oil my two. Has worked fine for me. Little messy. The deck is a little dirty for a while. Wouldn't sit on it in white pants.

Don't wear white pants anyway.

-Jake

I've heard about a 50/50 mix of diesel and used or new motor oil. I'm going to try some on my flat bed trailer.

I built a trailer with a 2x6 deck 14 years ago. I painted the wood, all 4 sides, with a good deck paint. It held up very well. The top side needs a paint job now.

Wood always has a moisture content... It will be high or low depending on how new the wood is (wood is pressure treated with water (and CCA) at pressure)... or a recent rain... humidity of your zone etc.

If the wood is new (not dried) not much of anything will work well because the capillaries of the wood are occupied with moisture... which is exactly where you want your chemical to penetrate.

When I used to varnish teak wood on boats I had a system.

One quart varnish and one quart VM&P naphtha.

Mix like this...

First coat 20% varnish - 80% naphtha... this soaked in DEEP and the naphtha flashed off.

2nd coat 30% varnish - 70% naphtha... this soaked in kinda DEEP and the naphtha flashed off.

3rd coat 40% varnish - 60% naphtha... this soaked in some and the naphtha flashed off.

4th coat 50% varnish - 50% naphtha... this soaked in barely and the naphtha flashed off.

5th coat 70% varnish - 30% naphtha...

6th to 10th coat straight varnish.

-----------------------------------------

It is a trailer... not a yacht, but you get the idea.

Thompson is a junk product, but better than nothing.

Polyurethane or enamel paint would be better... cut it thin (like above) for max penetration. Japan Dryer to aid in drying speed and hardness.

Slop it on with a big paint roller... or even a mop.

Paint the coats right on top of each other. Drying time should be minutes not hours.

5-8 coats in 2-3 hours. Walnut tumbling media if you want grip.

I have 20ft Flatbed with 2ft dove tail. Last summer the wood was 3 yrs old and starting to check badly. I made a mix of used motor oil and diesel thin enough to spray out of a cheap 2gal sprayer. The first coat I put on, the wood was dry by the time I got from one end to the other. Over a couple of weeks, I put on approx 3 gal Contrary to belief, the deck is not slick.

Used motor oil, sprayed or rolled. On anything other than new wood, haven't found it to be slick.

Used motor oil or diesel fuel, or a combination of the two.

Farmer I worked for in high school and college had us treating the boards on his semi scale and a few creek bridges with used motor oil at the end of every summer.

Boiled Linseed Oil, allowed to though ally dry well, and if you want sprinkle some sand over the surface for non slip, helping to allow dry!

$16/qt of BLO or 2gal of used motor oil and 1 gal of diesel, $5. It’s a trailer deck not a gunstock.

hyd. oil works good also . I use a roller and do it once year. got 20 yr out of one trailer and still good

Good lord. We go thru 1000’s of gal a year at work. Send it out by the 325gal totes. Never even crossed my mind.

I hauled a small tractor with a broken hydraulic line on it for a neighbor. It leaked all over my flatbed so I went ahead and used it on the entire deck. It still looks good and was about 15 years ago. I have never touched it up but the trailer is stored in the barn so it is seldom outside in the elements.