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Author	Comments
Jason Gaborie Posted: Nov 10, 2013 10:53 AM	Trailer set up I just bought a new heavy duty 24 ft trailer to move our foam rig into and am looking for advice on how to set it up. I'm mainly curious about setting it up so the barrels ride in the back of the trailer. I like the idea of this for loading but does it still pull alright down the highway with all the weight back there? Also any suggestions of what to put over the plywood floor? I was just thinking of some cheap linoleum. Any other tips would be great.
John Shockney Posted: Nov 16, 2013 03:00 PM	Well if you are sliding 55gal drums around you don’t want a linoleum, vinyl, or tile floor. It will just tear. Personally I have used ¾ oak hardwood T&G flooring in my last two trailers, with just a polyurethane coating over it. On the last one I added silicone sand in the first coat to give it more durability and a nonskid surface. You can get utility grade white oak from Lumber Liquidators for less than $1 per sqft. The other choice is aluminum diamond plate but I haven’t priced that lately. Also instead of having a hose rack on the wall I put a 12 inch wide shelf all the way around the top of the trailer about 3 inches down from the ceiling, this has a one inch lip at the front edge and acts like a tray that I can store my 160 feet of hose in. Hope this helps Airpro
Anthony Scarpelli Posted: Dec 10, 2013 12:34 AM	I think you want most of your weight in a trailer to be over the wheels and just in front of them. Put something light at the end of the trailer to avoid tendency to fish tail. I don't suppose a single set would harm you but if you had two or three full sets on a modest trailer you could have some stability issues.
Mark Mouton Posted: Dec 10, 2013 08:19 PM	This is the way I did mine. Build a wall about 8' from the nose of the trailer, where your side door can get into the front compartment. Just 2X4 studs on 12" centers with 3/4 plywood on 1 or 2 sides. Leave a 2' opening on the side where your exterior door is so you walk through. Put your generator and air compressor in the front. Put your reactor in the front of the rear compartment attached to the 3/4 plywood. I like it here because it's probably the smoothest ride. Run your hoses, attached to the wall to a hose rack at the rear. Looking from the rear, put your A side on the left(driver side),and B side on the right. You can put 3 sets pretty easy, but all drums need to be on top of the axles. You don't need anything on the floor. Plywood is good. Plumb it and wire it how you like. I put scaffolds strapped in on the compressor side of the 2X4 wall. The trick to that wall is to put the floor plate down first, then screw each side stud to a strong point is the wall of the trailer, then put 2 top plates all the way across the top. this way you don't have to fasten to the top of the trailer (which you don't want to do anyway). I built some shelves with studs(about 2X2) next to the reactor and put my refrigerated air dryer on the floor under the shelves. I put a work bench with drawers across from the hose rack. It takes a 1 ton dually to pull it. I also have a 24' box truck set up the same way. Hope this helps.
Circle-D Posted: Dec 11, 2013 08:34 PM	Mine is laid out front to rear as such. Air tank,compressor,dryer,expandable staging planks,6'steplader, breathing air pump,ventilation blowers all up on gooseneck. 3' of space to front of Genset, 4' and 2' step ladder on end of genset. 2 6' lift of scaffolding on end of 3' space. You still have plenty of room to access stuff in gooseneck and service genset.Then I have 2-2x3 sound walls with sound board, caulked to studs on both sides. These walls have stagered studs and are 1" apart. Your only 2 feet from the genset but you can talk on the phone.On the other side of the sound walls the electrical panelbox is hung, the control box for the compressor and generator. The H-25 is mounted under that. You can start the whole kit and kaboodle and never have to take a step. All the walls are painted white and flourescent lights really work well. All wiring is in PVC conduit. Chemical lines are all welded stainless steel piping, air lines all threaded galvanized, Recirc lines are stainless tubing. All piping supports are welded to structral part of trailer. All piping is attached to equipment with flex hoses to eliminate any road strain or vibration. Hose rack on the wall, stand up cabinet for "stuff" opposite that, 2 wall cabinets for more "stuff" are hung over the 3 drums on each side. Electric radiant heat in the floor and in the walls behind the drums, covered by 1/8" aluminum diamond plate. The 3 sets sit pretty much in back of the axles but everything seems pretty well balanced. Goes down the road like a dream. This time of year we generally just take 2 sets with the extra room used to haul the K1 heaters with us.
Posted: Dec 16, 2013 11:53 AM	First, about the floor, if the plywood flooring is 1/2" or better I would just leave it to be perfectly honest. If you want a better finish over the floor diamond plate is good option, it will run about $60-$80 for 4' x 8' sheet typically. The issue of placement is a very, very important and all to often overlooked one. To best answer your question I would ask what type of trailer did you buy, gooseneck or tag-a-long? And just a general reference the barrels should be as close to center on the axles as possible, or a slight bit ahead of center if you HAD to go one way or another. I would love to help you further, give me an email directly if you'd like some extra help at john@paratusfoam.com. Thanks!
SPRAYFOAM GODDESS Posted: Dec 20, 2013 12:29 PM	I don't like the diamond plate at all, it looks nice for a few months, then after a few iso spills it starts warping. Its a freakin mess and rippin' all that out after its all warped oh my!
Jesse Michalski Posted: Jan 07, 2014 10:58 AM	I think the trailers that have the foam directly in the back is the worst design on the market. The foam barrels need to ride on the axles. Having worked out of many different rigs, the ones that pull the best seem to have the generator and compressor in the front, with a partition wall. Behind the partition would be the work space and bench. Barrels on the axle and proportioner at the rear. You can come up with variations of this layout but foam should ride on the axles. To make moving the barrels down the aisle of the trailer easier, consider installing 2-3 rails made of high density nylon. It removes the friction and the barrels just slide right to their destination point. You can find that product at any plastic/rubber product distributor.
Harold Randle Posted: Jan 07, 2014 05:48 PM	I've had pretty good luck laying a thermo plastic single ply roofing sheet upside down and securing it with a term bar around the perimeter. It's easy to replace. I have been around some rigs with the compressor and generators in the front and wouldn't recomend it, too tongue heavy. Balance the equipment and materials close to axels, my opinion. Good luck.
Dakotafoamboy Posted: Aug 02, 2016 02:40 AM	I've got a 32' gooseneck with an extra foot of height, possibly 2 foot, can't remember for sure. Triple axel 6k, wishing 7k now. Bulk aluminum tanks I built. I can carry up to 7 sets at on time. Plus a genie 2032 slab lift between the tanks. 4-5 sets with lift in for weight reasons. You want you big weight like materials over your axels if you don't want to die on the way to a job out on the highway. Gama classic series Hg-25-2000 which sits in front of my side door. Hose rack right behind that with 310ft back and forth. 43 gallon fuel tank that sits to the left of my side door looking in. 50kw generator in the front compartment with air compressor up in the nose. The front of the trailer opens and air is drawn in there and sucked down and out the side of the trailer by the generator so it cools the generator and air compressor at the same time. Lots of other small details I'm not going to get into.
Rodger Posted: Aug 03, 2016 02:35 PM	Wow dakota, that sounds like one heck of a rig. What is the weight of your trailer fully loaded? What are you pulling it with? Are you required to have a CDL?
Rodger Posted: Aug 03, 2016 02:35 PM	Wow dakota, that sounds like one heck of a rig. What is the weight of your trailer fully loaded? What are you pulling it with? Are you required to have a CDL?
Dakotafoamboy Posted: Aug 23, 2016 12:53 PM	Thank you Rodger, I ran it across the scale the other day with 5 sets of foam and my scissorlift and was 31,900lbs truck and trailer. Pulling it with a F-350 dually with air rides. And yes I need and have a CDL. But you need a CDL if your trailer axles are over 10,001lbs or your gross weight is over 26,001lbs no matter what.
Dakotafoamboy Posted: Aug 23, 2016 01:08 PM	I custom ordered my trailer, then built my rig from the ground up inside of it.

Author

Comments

Jason Gaborie

Posted: Nov 10, 2013 10:53 AM

Trailer set up

I just bought a new heavy duty 24 ft trailer to move our foam rig into and am looking for advice on how to set it up. I'm mainly curious about setting it up so the barrels ride in the back of the trailer. I like the idea of this for loading but does it still pull alright down the highway with all the weight back there? Also any suggestions of what to put over the plywood floor? I was just thinking of some cheap linoleum. Any other tips would be great.

John Shockney

Posted: Nov 16, 2013 03:00 PM

Well if you are sliding 55gal drums around you don’t want a linoleum, vinyl, or tile floor. It will just tear.

Personally I have used ¾ oak hardwood T&G flooring in my last two trailers, with just a polyurethane coating over it. On the last one I added silicone sand in the first coat to give it more durability and a nonskid surface. You can get utility grade white oak from Lumber Liquidators for less than $1 per sqft.

The other choice is aluminum diamond plate but I haven’t priced that lately.

Also instead of having a hose rack on the wall I put a 12 inch wide shelf all the way around the top of the trailer about 3 inches down from the ceiling, this has a one inch lip at the front edge and acts like a tray that I can store my 160 feet of hose in.

Hope this helps

Airpro

Anthony Scarpelli

Posted: Dec 10, 2013 12:34 AM

I think you want most of your weight in a trailer to be over the wheels and just in front of them. Put something light at the end of the trailer to avoid tendency to fish tail.

I don't suppose a single set would harm you but if you had two or three full sets on a modest trailer you could have some stability issues.

Mark Mouton

Posted: Dec 10, 2013 08:19 PM

This is the way I did mine. Build a wall about 8' from the nose of the trailer, where your side door can get into the front compartment. Just 2X4 studs on 12" centers with 3/4 plywood on 1 or 2 sides. Leave a 2' opening on the side where your exterior door is so you walk through. Put your generator and air compressor in the front. Put your reactor in the front of the rear compartment attached to the 3/4 plywood. I like it here because it's probably the smoothest ride. Run your hoses, attached to the wall to a hose rack at the rear. Looking from the rear, put your A side on the left(driver side),and B side on the right. You can put 3 sets pretty easy, but all drums need to be on top of the axles. You don't need anything on the floor. Plywood is good.
Plumb it and wire it how you like.
I put scaffolds strapped in on the compressor side of the 2X4 wall. The trick to that wall is to put the floor plate down first, then screw each side stud to a strong point is the wall of the trailer, then put 2 top plates all the way across the top. this way you don't have to fasten to the top of the trailer (which you don't want to do anyway).
I built some shelves with studs(about 2X2) next to the reactor and put my refrigerated air dryer on the floor under the shelves. I put a work bench with drawers across from the hose rack.
It takes a 1 ton dually to pull it.
I also have a 24' box truck set up the same way.

Hope this helps.

Circle-D

Posted: Dec 11, 2013 08:34 PM

Mine is laid out front to rear as such.
Air tank,compressor,dryer,expandable staging planks,6'steplader, breathing air pump,ventilation blowers all up on gooseneck. 3' of space to front of Genset, 4' and 2' step ladder on end of genset. 2 6' lift of scaffolding on end of 3' space. You still have plenty of room to access stuff in gooseneck and service genset.Then I have 2-2x3 sound walls with sound board, caulked to studs on both sides. These walls have stagered studs and are 1" apart. Your only 2 feet from the genset but you can talk on the phone.On the other side of the sound walls the electrical panelbox is hung, the control box for the compressor and generator. The H-25 is mounted under that. You can start the whole kit and kaboodle and never have to take a step.
All the walls are painted white and flourescent lights really work well. All wiring is in PVC conduit. Chemical lines are all welded stainless steel piping, air lines all threaded galvanized, Recirc lines are stainless tubing. All piping supports are welded to structral part of trailer. All piping is attached to equipment with flex hoses to eliminate any road strain or vibration. Hose rack on the wall, stand up cabinet for "stuff" opposite that, 2 wall cabinets for more "stuff" are hung over the 3 drums on each side. Electric radiant heat in the floor and in the walls behind the drums, covered by 1/8" aluminum diamond plate.
The 3 sets sit pretty much in back of the axles but everything seems pretty well balanced. Goes down the road like a dream. This time of year we generally just take 2 sets with the extra room used to haul the K1 heaters with us.

Posted: Dec 16, 2013 11:53 AM

First, about the floor, if the plywood flooring is 1/2" or better I would just leave it to be perfectly honest. If you want a better finish over the floor diamond plate is good option, it will run about $60-$80 for 4' x 8' sheet typically.

The issue of placement is a very, very important and all to often overlooked one. To best answer your question I would ask what type of trailer did you buy, gooseneck or tag-a-long? And just a general reference the barrels should be as close to center on the axles as possible, or a slight bit ahead of center if you HAD to go one way or another.

I would love to help you further, give me an email directly if you'd like some extra help at john@paratusfoam.com. Thanks!

SPRAYFOAM GODDESS

Posted: Dec 20, 2013 12:29 PM

I don't like the diamond plate at all, it looks nice for a few months, then after a few iso spills it starts warping. Its a freakin mess and rippin' all that out after its all warped oh my!

Jesse Michalski

Posted: Jan 07, 2014 10:58 AM

I think the trailers that have the foam directly in the back is the worst design on the market. The foam barrels need to ride on the axles. Having worked out of many different rigs, the ones that pull the best seem to have the generator and compressor in the front, with a partition wall. Behind the partition would be the work space and bench. Barrels on the axle and proportioner at the rear. You can come up with variations of this layout but foam should ride on the axles.

To make moving the barrels down the aisle of the trailer easier, consider installing 2-3 rails made of high density nylon. It removes the friction and the barrels just slide right to their destination point.

You can find that product at any plastic/rubber product distributor.

Harold Randle

Posted: Jan 07, 2014 05:48 PM

I've had pretty good luck laying a thermo plastic single ply roofing sheet upside down and securing it with a term bar around the perimeter. It's easy to replace. I have been around some rigs with the compressor and generators in the front and wouldn't recomend it, too tongue heavy. Balance the equipment and materials close to axels, my opinion. Good luck.

Dakotafoamboy

Posted: Aug 02, 2016 02:40 AM

I've got a 32' gooseneck with an extra foot of height, possibly 2 foot, can't remember for sure. Triple axel 6k, wishing 7k now. Bulk aluminum tanks I built. I can carry up to 7 sets at on time. Plus a genie 2032 slab lift between the tanks. 4-5 sets with lift in for weight reasons. You want you big weight like materials over your axels if you don't want to die on the way to a job out on the highway. Gama classic series Hg-25-2000 which sits in front of my side door. Hose rack right behind that with 310ft back and forth. 43 gallon fuel tank that sits to the left of my side door looking in. 50kw generator in the front compartment with air compressor up in the nose. The front of the trailer opens and air is drawn in there and sucked down and out the side of the trailer by the generator so it cools the generator and air compressor at the same time. Lots of other small details I'm not going to get into.

Rodger

Posted: Aug 03, 2016 02:35 PM

Wow dakota, that sounds like one heck of a rig.
What is the weight of your trailer fully loaded?
What are you pulling it with?
Are you required to have a CDL?

Rodger

Posted: Aug 03, 2016 02:35 PM

Wow dakota, that sounds like one heck of a rig.
What is the weight of your trailer fully loaded?
What are you pulling it with?
Are you required to have a CDL?

Dakotafoamboy

Posted: Aug 23, 2016 12:53 PM

Thank you Rodger, I ran it across the scale the other day with 5 sets of foam and my scissorlift and was 31,900lbs truck and trailer. Pulling it with a F-350 dually with air rides. And yes I need and have a CDL. But you need a CDL if your trailer axles are over 10,001lbs or your gross weight is over 26,001lbs no matter what.

Dakotafoamboy

Posted: Aug 23, 2016 01:08 PM

I custom ordered my trailer, then built my rig from the ground up inside of it.

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