Small trailer cover ideas

Many years ago I made a temporary trailer cover from one of those cheap blue plastic woven sheets, some plastic "bang together" green eyelets and a length of bungee cord. Oh, and Gaffer Tape reinforced corners. The bungee cord snapped the other day and the cover was more or less destroyed by being dragged along the road until we noticed this (nobody flashed us up to warn us - did they assume this was some kind of prototype road cleaning device?). I need a new trailer cover. I could produce a similar version if I can find all the bits in the mountain of crap but I am looking at alternatives which might also make the trailer more secure. The first thought is a piece of marine ply with wooden bits (batten?) to fit inside the trailer and possibly a hinge/padlock arrangement. Anyone done this kind of thing or made/bought another type of cover?

Trailer is approximately 1250 mm long by 1050 mm wide external measurements.

I do have a lot of spare bits of wood, just not marine ply. One alternative would be painted WBP, which seems to last well as outside fencing on building sites.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David
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Is the trailer stored under cover?

Reply to
GB

Supplemental - if I go for a wood cover then I could need something to securely clamp it. Conveniently there is channel all the way round the side and a hook would fit neatly into it. So what I might need is something which is apparently called a "toggle latch". However these seem to be designed to work with a "toggle" (I assume) not just hooking over a side channel. I can screw things to the galvanised trailer but would prefer not to if possible.

From looking it seems that most applications have the catch on the side of the trailer pulling the cover down, instead of on the cover pulling the side up (IYSWIM).

Cheers

Dave R

P.S. is WBP the same as shuttering ply?

Reply to
David

no, shuttering is very rough stuff with lots of voids

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

David presented the following explanation :

By all means make a wooded cover for security, but it would be not that watertight and in time might rot. As an alternative and maybe as well as...

If you find one of those companies which repairs and supplies the curtains for curtain sider lorries and scrounge a bit of surplus material from them? It is very easy to work with, you just heat weld it at joints corners. A heat gun, plus a metal roller is all that is needed to seal joints. Once done, they are extremely robust.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

When the Gods smile upon it, potentially. For now (and most of its life) it lives outside in the sun and rain.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David

Good idea. Should be some within striking distance. Back in the day, lorries had "tilts" which covered the open tops. Not many of those around these days.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David

Not sure why it wouldn't be water tight.

Please elucidate. :-)

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David

I suggest marine ply, then.

Reply to
GB

1st thought is a rigid cover like that doesn?t allow any chance of of squeezing something a little higher than normal whereas a flexible cover with bungees or similar can be stretched a little, and in doing so can apply a bit of downward pressure that holds a load in place. A timber top won?t and any load under it may need additional securing measures to stop it sliding about.

GH

Reply to
Marland

Could always keep the trailer cover under cover, of course.

It will take up a lot less space than the trailer.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David

You can also get old advertising hoarding posters. The ones made of a thick plastic sheet and then clip in to the signs and pulled tight. I know someone who used to buy them for tarps so if interested I could find out where he got them.

Reply to
leenowell

I went for drilling and bolting hinges on.

The lid was just bigger than the trailer, with battens that fitted over the trailer. On one side it was hinged to the trailer with lift-off hinges (the battens prevented it being slid off when the lid was shut. On the other side were hasps and padlocks. Ideal for leaving for a short while at motorway services and the like.

Another thing I did was to make wooden panels. Three bolted together and had threaded rods in the bottom edge to bolt down to the top edge of the trailer and the fourth slid onto hinges on the rear, drop-down panel. A couple of toggle latches held it into a box shape, giving 18" extension sides that could be fitted or removed in about 15 minutes. A duplicate set of hinges and hasps on the sides allowed the lid to go onto that if needed. Once the lid was on, the rear panel could not be opened, even if the latches were opened.

Unfortunately, some scrote nicked it from my parents' when they'd borrowed it to collect a Christmas tree.

I haven't made replacement sides or top for my current trailer, as my father has bought his own trailer and I made sides and top for that. So I use my own trailer for dirty stuff, such as taking rbbish to the tip and I nip round and borrow his for moving clean stuff or where I need the extra height or a lid.

SteveW

Reply to
Steve Walker

Thanks - very informative. :-)

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David

The water will gather on top of the marine ply, pool in the centre, and eventually destroy it unless you put a slope on it. Then you'll have to provide a drip edge and find some way to protect it.

Google boat canopies. Chances are you will find one locally and he will be more than happy to make you up a waterproof cover

Reply to
fred

FWIW, I built a 1/2 tonne 6'6" x 4' x 4' high box trailer with full height tailgate / ramp years ago (off an Indespension chassis) and paneled it out with 1/2" WBP ply. I treated the ply inside and out with Cuprinol, and primed, undercoated and top-coated the outside with quality paints.

The original 'lid'' was more 1/2" ply made in two pieces with battens across inside to both give it support and to hold it in place and then a PVC top cover hooked down with elastics in the traditional way.

When I got a van I sold the trailer to a mate and some time later, bought it off him again and cut it down to 18" high general goods trailer. Along the line it had been left with water in it and so I cut all the side panels down to make use of the good bits of ply and re treated them inside and painted the outsides again.

Currently it' got the same two part lift off lid and a basic PVC top cover and some extra tarp over the lot to keep more of the weather off.

I don't generally use it with the lid or cover on as most stuff I carry is too high (the last thing being a 600cc motorbike). [1]

The smaller trailer has a bespoke H/D full depth cover but again, it's not typically left on when in use.

Cheers, T i m

[1] I typically fit eyebolts to the inside 4 corners and often the middle of the long edges of all my trailers as that makes holding things (like motorbikes) down much easier.
Reply to
T i m

Parked up trailers usually slope considerably, so no water will pool - even one with a jockey wheel or stand takes some effort to get exactly level.

SteveW

Reply to
Steve Walker

+1.

I used the type that fit into seat-belt sockets to add a structure to a horse trailer some years ago, and still have some spares, together with a tap for fitting them to box section and the appropriate nuts for fitting to sheet or angle iron. Readily available from eBay with various shank lengths, used by rally/racing car builders for fitting full harness seat belts. Last time I used them was to add securing points for a 100 litre sprayer to the back of my ATV.

Reply to
newshound

You mean the slightly dome headed bolts with a shoulder (often used with a crinkle washer allowing the belt and fitting to rotate)?

So, do you use webbing and the seat-belt type ends (rather than a ratchet strap etc)?

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

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