Building Bilge keel yard/road trailer

warwicksail

warwicksail

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Joined
14 Dec 2007
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219
Location
Carmarthen West Wales UK
wwc.co.uk
Hi Guys,

Has anyone had any experience with building such a trailer or where to locate any plans needs to be quite wide around 6' 4", just wondered what hubs/axles to go for amongst other things.

Paul
 
Built mine but not that big. Chassis is 5ft wide, wheels add to that, with (4) old Mini rear hubs and wheels using Indespension units.

Should have gone for bigger wheels and hubs with hindsight as I'm right on their weight limit.

Not so sure that you can legally build your own road trailer these days but all the parts and plans were readily available when I built mine whereas they are not now as far as I can see..

For a yard trolley a square or rectangular frame with a wheel at each corner will suffice but they are a PITA if they don't steer and light weight wheels fail too. The yard uses old bomb trolleys, long, narrow and steer.

Put good docking arms on to a trolley to be used for recovery. Frigging about in cold water up to your goolies trying to position a boat on a trolley without is not to be recommended.

Over engineer rather than skimp on capacity as I did.

http://www.ntta.co.uk/default.htm for details of all the legal stuff for road trailers and towing.
 
Towsure and Indespension appear to be still alive and kicking. herehttp://www.towsure.com/category/6396-Trailers_and_Trailer_Parts and herehttp://www.indespension.co.uk/b2c/app/I00640?Z1SUCO=033&slnk=1
They seem to provide most components, but maybe not plans any more, (H&S??).
I once re-wheeled a road trailer for a Tomahawk, 25 ft. using 2 axles from scrapped static caravans, to use it as a yard trailer, but I don't know if more modern vans have such massive under-gear. These had leaf springs and the main axle was a 2.5 inch steel bar with the stub axles machined on each end. I got them for scrap price from a local site owner. Might be worth enquiring.
Should add, I discarded the springs.
 
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warwicksail said:
Hi Guys,

Has anyone had any experience with building such a trailer or where to locate any plans needs to be quite wide around 6' 4", just wondered what hubs/axles to go for amongst other things.

Paul
Click to expand...

Try looking for a car transporter trailer on ebay. Will end up being a lot cheaper than building your own.
 
Trailer

Thanks for the help :) Will only be a yard trailer I think, caravan hubs and axels sound a good Idea, also been informed the renault master has a very wide rear axle, do away with the srings and weld to a a frame,
 
My yard trailer is based on two front axles from transit vans. 'I' beams are used for the rest of the chassis. Towing arms are fitted front and rear and both are steerable. This is for a 3.5 tonne boat and is just about big (strong) enough. Other yard trolleys are based on lorry axles, they tend to be a bit higher off the ground.
 
Modern (post 1980) caravans use rubber in torsion suspension, which cannot be removed from the axle. This will give you maybe two ton capacity, if the split between the four wheels is equal. Older vans had live axles in eliptic spring suspension with dampers - easy to discard.

When I bought my boat, she was in a homemade yard trailer, with I beam chassis and truck axles. I wish I could have afforded to ship the trailer home!
 
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Old Sherpas and LDV vehicles also have a forged solid front axle. If it's only going to be a yard trailer, I wouldn't even bother with suspension to be honest - just run the tyres a bit soft.

I've used these chaps in the past for trailer parts:

http://www.trailerpartswarehouse.co.uk/

and have been satisfied. Indespension stuff is good quality but pricey.

I'd be inclined to use rolled steel sections like channel or I beam rather than box sections - they are hard to protect from rust on the inside.

I also believe there are specialist breakers for caravans, so a quick internet search might throw a couple up near you.
 
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