Horsebox ramp refurbishments

[Herpesas]

Has anyone done a ramp refurbishment themselves?

Hinges, springs etc all fine but they've used ply that is far too thin and it isn't going to support my horse so needs to be replaced.

Does anyone have any experience of replacing the ply/matting on their horsebox? Where did you get the materials from? Did you find it easy to do?

Also contemplating 10mm aluminium chequer plate with matting over the top. Does anyone have any experience of this?

 

[Sasha the Shire]

Just about to do one or indeed two for myself and in all honesty I think it will depend on many factors if its a low angle ramp then I would think 10mm ally chek plate will be fine so long as its battened with a suitable hard wood to give the horse somthing to toe against. on my lorry I'm going to use 25mm ply with kerowing batten over matting with kerowing edging. it's a really hard mahogony used for lorry building and lasts for years. hope this helps. Oh make sure that the metal work is ok the last one I did had had a bout of mettal moth.

 

[perfect11s]

Be carefull what you use the safest and longest lasting is the phenol ply that commercial body builders use make sure you paint the ends if you cut it, dont use marine ply as it soon rots .. someone like service metals or a timber yard should be able to supply..... 10 mm ally would be very expensive and much too heavy!! 3mm would be more than enough if you use the phenol that should be more than good enough on its own. remember weight is important so you need to use something that is about the same as is on it now otherwise the springs would need altering .. hope that helps...