[mstuck21]

I built 4 20 ft wagons over the last few yrs.. doubled up 2x10s for stringers (added “joists” in between at front, rear, 2 others at equal spacing to square up/limit twist).. 8 ft 2x6s for a bed and 2 10ft 2x4s on each side of the bed to keep ends from warping.. we are flat landers so I put my 2x4 underneath, you could always put them on top flat to keep hay from sliding if necessary..easy to put together and very limited cutting.. I’m happy with them and hold 120-150 bale no problem.. my bales are on edge and the skid steer won’t reach more than 5 high.. although I’m more comfortable with 4 for ease of unloading

 

[mstuck21]

I see you do not use any back racks at all on your wagons. I thought it would be good to install a back rack if I were to use the wagon behind baler for hand stacking or use it to tighten up the grapple stack by pushing against back rack after dropping the load.

I had back racks on mine but my shed is there at the farm and i got tired of watching it bounce around so i took it off .. with your long trip maybe consider it just for piece of mind that theres something back there helping hold where you can't see so well, but if you strap everything thats might not be an issue just a thought.. theres a thread on here somewhere where a guy made a pretty slick folding rack that could be lowered flat during transport to the field and flipped up into place before loading.. also I like a gap between my bed boards for air incase it takes me a few days or longer to unload.. again might just be a personal preference but any of my trailers/gooseneck that are solid get unloaded asap for that reason

 

[mstuck21]

I was going to make the gap half inch. Should it be wider? How wide did you make your gaps?

I don’t know if there is a preferred space.. I just used approx 1x1 stick I had laying around for a guide so I didn’t have to measure each time.. set the first board, put the stick in for a spacer and add the next board..rinse and repeat

I try to store everything for a couple weeks just to make sure everything behaves the way I expect it to..customers don’t understand the idea of hay “sweating” so I don’t waste my time trying to explain.. watch it, make sure it’s good to go and send it out the door to make room for more

 

[mstuck21]

When you say "store" it, does that mean that you are unloading from the wagon into the barn or do you leave it on the wagon for 2 weeks and then unload into the barn? Customer argument is that leaving on the wagon lets more moisture out.

When it comes to "behaving", I assume you take the temps and the moisture percentage and as long as the temps don't rise and the moisture remains in range you sell it, right?

I unload onto pallets right away or as soon as I get a chance..my thinking on the wagon bed is that providing the space between boards creates a similar condition to the pallets... is one better than the other, I don’t know.. just how I do it and haven’t had problems.. side note our shed floor is concrete and I don’t know if there is a vapor barrier or not so that’s why I use pallets.. other guys use other things or have different ways of doing it that just works for me and don’t have any issues with bottom bales.. I want to sell those too for the same price as the rest of the stack

on the behaving part - correct just watching temp and moisture.. no real formal measurements just trying to develop a feel.. put my hand in and expect to feel nothing more than warm.. hot is bad.. few days heat should go away .. if heat goes away or is dropping moisture should be too.. maybe probe a few bales with the moisture meter but I know it’s probably going to read high if you do it too early so I don’t put a bunch of “false positives” in my head