Trailers

[Bill]

I've posted recently in the Land Rover newsgroup, so apologies to anyone who has seen a similar question there. I'm looking to replace my old (dug out of a doctor's compost heap 25 years ago) boat launching trolley with a less rusty road going trailer. The boat is 2.5 tons, 19 feet long and definitely not a trailer-sailer. I've been looking and asking round locally and scanning ebay etc., but most boat trailers of that capacity are huge and way out of my price bracket. I have talked to the nearest Indespension dealer, who is very helpful, but I can't keep going back with more and more questions, so here I am.

A couple of trailers I thought about had hydraulic brakes, one with a tow hitch actuator and one with just a few pipes and a temp tow hitch. Are these things as expensive and difficult to sort out as I suspect? Is there any good descriptive material anywhere about hydraulic trailer brakes for use with ordinary vehicles?

I know it's a "How long is a piece of string" question but is there any way of guessing the capacity of a trailer that no longer has any visible markings? We are looking at 4 wheel units, but I particularly worry about the to-the-towbar legs of an A-frame. This bends beautifully on our 2-wheel trolley as we tow across fields ("it's part of the suspension, sir") and has had to be reinforced.

Many industrial plant trailers have the right capacity, and I've been looking out for one slightly longer than the norm to look at. Do these rely on the bodywork to reach the required strength or could one just hack away and replace all the upright bits with suitable props and the floor with air and still end up with a high capacity fairly short trailer?

[Chris J Dixon]

Just to clarify, the aim is towing (presumably by a substantial vehicle) in a UK road-legal configuration?

Chris

[Andy Burns]

Presumably a lard roller, which can tow about 3.5 tonnes?

[Roger Mills]

If you're going to tow two and a half tonnes of boat safely, you need a proper boat trailer like one of these

- not something lashed up with sealing wax and string.

A new one is going to set you back about 3 grand - but they are available second-hand. Try a few boatyards, or Ebay.

[Bill]

Yes, the idea is to be able to move the boat occasionally by road, hopefully without pulling the back out of my Disco 300tdi auto. It would be craned on and off the trailer unlike the earlier use of the old launching trolley where we just hooked up to a tractor, drove it into the "ditch" and waited for the tide to come in. Hence, of course, the rust after 25 years.

I don't plan on doing any foolish speeds and would want something road-legal. It's a long-keel small yacht of cast iron, oak and epoxy ply, hence the weight. There are also hopes that we could store the trailer undercover which makes huge ones a bit impractical. I reckon I am looking for something of at least 3 tons gross capacity. Most boat trailers like that are very long and very wide.

I have been looking at several trailers and reading, for example, the load rating of the tyres and finding that these in no way match the advertised trailer load rating. On the trailers that I can afford they have usually painted over any load plates while hiding the rust.

We need to replace the trolley anyway, but personal circumstances with family members mean we have horrendously reduced ability to just sail the boat anywhere when we want.

[Andy Champ]

Bill,

try uk.rec.sailing. You might of course find someone who's willing to spend a few days sailing it somewhere with you... maybe even me.

Andy

[newshound]

I think that's good advice. That said, a mate of mine has just built a replacement boat trailer for a fraction of the commercial price. The trailer which came with the boat was also rotting away, he bought new indespension units and fabricated a frame more or less to the old pattern using (larger) section steel tubing which he had to hand. He is a very competent and practical guy, and his son has welding qualifications (which helps).

[Scott M]

Hydraulic disc brakes on trailers aren't legal in the UK. They're usually on imported American jobs and, while up to the job and more so than UK drum brakes, aren't type approved so plod do you for towing 2.5t on a trailer rated at 750kg.

[Tim Lamb]

Point of order.... hydraulic brakes are common on farm trailers. A servo actuator feeds fluid from the main hydraulic system in proportion to the pilot pressure from the tractor brakes. I have only seen drum type though.

regards

>

[Roger Mills]

Are they broad legal though - or maybe only allowed on vehicles which don't exceed 20mph or something?

[Roger Mills]

Sorry, that's supposed to say ROAD legal!

[Bill]

I thought there were 2 types of hydraulic trailer brakes. The first coupled into the sort of hydraulic system on tractors that is used for whatever the tail lift type thing is that tractors have and also can be used to link brake systems. The second is what I was asking about, which I thought had a little fluid reservoir by the tow hitch and which just actuated on overrun to put on the trailer brakes. It's useful to know it's not road legal in the UK, which would explain why I find it so hard to find info about systems

I think I'll stick to rods and cables.

[Bill]

In message , newshound writes

Thanks to Andy for the offer referred to here, but the problem is me. It's all to do with tides and the relative who has to be assisted every day and with me being the only driver etc.... It would be great to find a "crew" if ever I get my life back. I used to dip into uk.rec.sailing, so I'll keep an eye on that when I can.

As I said earlier, the local Indespension place used to fabricate trailers at a good price but now just do minor repairs and sell new units. I did price the various components, but it went beyond my price range and I'd have to find a competent welder. I used to know a couple, but they were older than me and at my age that's not good.

I'm off for a day out tomorrow to look at another possible, so fingers crossed.....

[Roberts]

":

I am a bit puzzled I can remember when my firm had several Landrovers which towed Eezion trailers which had hydraulic brakes. They had a master cylinder which worked by the movement of the towbar on the overrun and the police were always around, it being Heathrow. Good job they did not know how heavy a 747 engine was! Is this a new law?

Robbie

[Tim Lamb]

Many farm tractors have 40kph gearboxes nowadays. Just as well if you are travelling near a sugar beet factory.

If the OP is struggling with the trailer cost, I doubt he is up for a JCB fastrac:-)

regards