ramp repair to horsebox

[Cornish]

Hi, unfortunately the wooden ramp on my LT35 box has 'buckled' after my friends horse lost his footing and scrabbled about on it. There is no hole or anything, but on the outside the ply can be seen to have cracked/splintered in one area (about 4 inches across). The ramp in general isn't rotten, but obviously the impact has affected the strength and it needs to be repaired before it can be used again. I intend to double up on the marine ply surface by removing the rubber, putting a whole new sheet down on top of the existing ramp and then replace the rubber. My questions are firstly, what thickness of ply will I need to use, and is this a feasible repair. The other point was that I need to use the lorry at the weekend. If I strengthen the ramp by adding a wooden 'brace' to the outside where the ramp has weakened, will this be sufficient for one journey (loading 15.1 cob who loads well). If you can imagine the ramp in three vertical sections, the weakness is in the middle at the top when down (but at the bottom when the ramp is up, if you see what I mean!). The full repair will be made as soon as I can get hold of the materials, and obviously the horses' safety is paramount, but I wonder if this is acceptable for just one trip.

Any body's experiences or opinions will be gratefully received. Many thanks.

 

[GriffinsMum]

Hate to be blunt but if it was me, I would take it straight to the professionals and certainly wouldn't consider loading on it. Like you say, horses safety is paramount - not sure DIY job is a good idea

 

[moneypit1]

We had to replace bits of our ramp recently as Fly reared on it once too often and brought his whole weight to bear on it. Once we took ply off on outside it was pretty obvious that the wooden cross struts had rotted. We replaced some (not all) and put new ply on outside. The ramp is lined with Aluminium so no chance of "going through" but even so a bit of a job. To be honest it needs completely re-doing, this would take a lot of work, probably a week and complete new struts. Will wait till winter and not in use so much to do. If your ramp is lined with Aluminium you should be ok for the very short term, but it sounds like a full repair job is on the cards!

 

[PeterNatt]

I would not use the lorry at all as you don't want your horses leg to go through and injure your horse.

If you put another sheet on top of the existing wood the ramp will become too heavy and may not close due to the additional thickness.

The whole thing needs to be stripped down and all the wood and lining replaced to make sure it is safe. Also make sure that they put silicon around the edges of the wood/alloy joint to avoid water getting in between. Should cost about £750.00 to have the job done properly.