What do you treat your trailer deck with?

I replaced my trailer a couple of weeks ago. I went with a wood deck again because I am frequently screwing blocks down to hold things in place and I prefer the quiet nature of a wood deck trailer. The new one has a treated deck, but since the last treated deck I installed only lasted about 10-12 years I thought I would treat the deck with something to see if I could make it last longer. 

I decided to use boiled linseed oil. It's supposed to work very well and actually dry where something like Thompsons seems to stay oily for a while. The deck was good and dry so it sucked up almost a gallon of the oil. If nothing else, it does make it look pretty. 

What do you treat your deck with? 

Interested to hear. My FIL trailer that I use sometimes is in need of a new deck and if/when we replace, would like to treat and make it last. 

When I bought my trailer, the deck had been painted black, so as I've replaced boards and it has chipped over the years, I've just been repainting it. I use oil-based paint, usually Rustoleum, applied with a roller. I also add some of this anti-slip stuff so I don't slip on it when it's wet.

If I am being honest I have mostly treated my trailer's deck with leaves, rain, and algae.  Or at least I did until someone stole it out of a gated parking lot, so the joke's on them.  haha  

In reply to JBinMD :

I always treated mine with complete indifference..............pretty sure that isn't what the OP is looking for though.

Wonder if used motor oil would do fine? Saw someone treating lumber/posts with it...

Olemiss540 said:

Wonder if used motor oil would do fine? Saw someone treating lumber/posts with it...

Just need the right level of leakage from the tow pig to maintain a fresh coating. 

I would think the bottom of the boards that sit on a flange which allows water to sit could be a spot where rot can start , 

I had thought of dipping the ends in a bucket of paint and let it sit for a while to soak in..... maybe there is something better than paint ?

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I dont treat mine, and barely screw them down, I get about 15 years out of them

I use tinted deck stain.  Usually tinted dark charcoal.

Barn paint from Rural King (which is like a Tractor Supply Co.).

Oil. Various weights and measures. Applied randomly whenever I have another pile of car on it.

It's a 16 foot inferno waiting to happen.

In reply to Toyman! :

I have never heard of boiled linseed oil. I keep my trailer inside so the deck stays pretty nice. It also handles the how to keep your trailer safe question. 

I really like the way the deck looks in that pic, so how do you do this linseed oil? I saw it at the box stores, do you just brush it on like paint?

In reply to NY Nick :

Yes, boiled linseed oil is painted or rolled on and allowed to "dry". It actually polymerizes and turns into a rather hard plasticy coating. It also soaks into the wood pretty well. It is an older wood finishing technique. It does exotherm while it converts to plastic, and that is the source of the "oily rags in a pile will catch fire" stories.

It has also been used as a rust preventative inside old tube steel structures as it wicks up and around the interior of tubes.

What Stafford said. 

I put it down with a cheap battery HVLP sprayer and basically kept spraying until it stopped soaking it up. 

Make sure you get boiled linseed oil. Raw linseed oil takes a long time to cure and can stay oily. 

I used various automotive fluids leaked on it from various vehicles over multiple years.