Guest diesel_jim Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Just seen this on ebay, could give you an idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted July 31, 2007 Author Share Posted July 31, 2007 I saw that Jim - just need a canvas for mine now... or Rogue's Landrover gazebo... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted July 31, 2007 Author Share Posted July 31, 2007 Here is one someone made earlier I hope to bring mine in on a lower budget than this. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Perhaps you could find a cheap wide track with a damaged or missing body, then you could make your own custom body for it in the style of that one in your link. You'd then have a bomb proof chassis with a body incorporating all the bits and pieces you'd need, without spending 15K. That's certainly along the lines that I'd think. Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSG Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 I notice that most of the commercially available camping trailers seem to have the wheels outboard of the bodywork. Is there a reason for this? Is it just the way that they are or is it about keeping them more stable etc.? Or perhaps that there is just not the need for so much space inside? I would assume this is simply because it leaves a better rectangular space to work with for fitting out with out wheelarches intruding into the storage area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark90 Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 I had, or is that still have, a vapour build trailer. Using rear tub, 110 hi-cap or possibly standard 110, hood sticks and canvas would provide the 'roof' tent. Custom built chassis from box section, leaf springs and an axle made from a bit of tube with some LR hubs attached (cut the flanges off an old axle case). On board water, fridge, cooker, batteries, etc.Then I got the missus up the duff and so instead I'm building a mobile gin palace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Chris. Somewhere I saw some pics of a Sankey stripped down to chassis then a new alli body built onto that. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honitonhobbit Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Then I got the missus up the duff Don't I just know that feeling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheeppimp Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Then I got the missus up the duff and so instead I'm building a mobile gin palace Don't I just know that feeling! Mr Hobbit, is there something you should be telling Mark? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JST Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 In it's favour Sankeys are bullet proof, not in my experience they are not!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muscat Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 I'm a newbie to LR4X4 but I do have some experience with fridges and trailers... Trailers - I use a modified radio mast trailer fitted with SIII leaf springs and old RR hubs. The axle has been extended to match my 110 and disco. I have 235/85 tyres fitted. It weighs next to nothing but has been towed in excess of 5000km on graded and not very graded roads. On un-made surfaces, the trailer is nigh on invisible - you just don't know that it's there, but the second that you hit soft sand you will be in trouble, particularly if you slow down or need to stop, which is pretty much inevitable... The drag from even a lightly loaded trailer is extreme. Bottom line - if you intend to stay on graded or tarmac roads then you have an enviable selection of trailers to choose from. If you have any intention of crossing sand, you really have one trailer option - no trailer! I've not tried it, but I'm guessing mud would be similiar. This is not load dependant. That is, I have emptied my 110 into the trailer and been unable to make headway in sand, yet with the same equipment loaded into the 110 I can easily drive 3 - 400 km through sand. We have a lot of sand here - I live in Oman. B) Tom Shephard has an excellent book that covers this topic in detail "The expedition Handbook" (Title?) For fridges I srongly recommend 12v compressor fridges. Gas and propane fridges need specific fuels and often need to be leveled to within certain tolerances before they will function efficiently. We never had any joy with this type fridge. Beer was always warm at the most inconvenient times. In the end I bought a kit from ebay - Danfoss BD35 compressor, Evaporator, electronic controls etc, as fitted to the (ex) Waeco F70. Built up into a home made 70 litre top opening cabinet (using Nigel Calder's "Refrigeration for Pleasureboats" as guidance - despite the title it's very applicable to 4X4) it froze a crate of Heineken solid with an ambient temp of 45C!! Still couldn't drink the beer for a bit of course The whole assy draws about 3.5amps. Total cost U$250. Anyhow, my 2 cents is if you have to cross sand, forget a trailer. If you need a fridge, 12v compressor based on a Danfoss system. YMMD HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted August 4, 2007 Author Share Posted August 4, 2007 Thanks Muscat, I appreciate you sharing real life experience. I am not planning to make any crossings of sand or soft mud, although it would be nice to be prepared for those if they turned up... For the most part I am looking for a trailer that can cope with UK greenlanes and poor/unmade roads in eastern Europe as well as firmer terrain in north Africa - never been there but I understand that decent off-road routes exist. I have now obtained a wide track trailer - not a Sankey though, a Reynolds Boughton, anyone know them? It looks suitable, has hydraulic disc brakes and a NATO type tow ring. I plan to junk the body and build my own to suit my needs... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WALFY Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 We've got RB44 trucks at work. Hopefully the traillers are better than the trucks. They sat on the yard for nearly 10 months awaiting brake parts :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul64 Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 For the most part I am looking for a trailer that can cope with UK greenlanes and poor/unmade roads in eastern Europe Hi Chris, Roads are improving all the time in Romania. However, its the potholes which arrive quickly especially after the winter that you have to be on the lookout for, as can become quite deep before they are refilled. Catch one of these even at 40mph and you feel it right through to the bones! There has been little that I have seen that a sankey wouldn't cope with though. My main competitor (about two hours away) has one and he swears by it. He uses it on his tours as well to carry customers kit. I would like one too but would prefer something that can be properly secured rather than a simple canvas cover. The countryside, villages and even small towns are fine but when visiting the cities problems can occur (much the same as half of the rest of the world). However, if you are carrying kit that you are relying on for your tour it would be a serious blow to loose it to some opportunist. Cheers, Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobes Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 Have you seen this Trailer? There arent many detail about it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul64 Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 Have you seen this Trailer? There arent many detail about it Looks really good. Wonder how much it cost to put together. Cheers, Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul64 Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 What about this Chris? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...bayphotohosting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted August 5, 2007 Author Share Posted August 5, 2007 I have Paul, thanks. To be honest it is a little more complete in the kitchen department than I was looking for... and a little less complete in all other ways. It shows what can be achieved within the envelope of a trailer though. The Sankey in the pics above is OK - but seems to defy my brief almost completely in terms of form, although I am sure it is more than complete in function. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Boy Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 We have been making use of an off road trailer on our expedition, and have aquired a fair bit of experience in the ups and downs of their use. To be 100% honest, our main experience is, only have it if you absolutely need it. Assuming you need the trailer, make sure the axle you use is of good quality steel, and the hubs and bearings are of good quality and are strong. We found that the trailer gets a much tougher ride than the leading car because it is more lightly laden. This leads to the trailer bouncing round more, so metal fatigue is a problem. The brakes you have sound good, we found that a good test of the brakes is to slowly reverse, the brakes should not impede this, and should not engage unevenly, (also bad going forwards, but exacerbated going backwards) Going forwards under braking, the trailer should brake, and continue to brake even under heavier braking. We found that some sort of disengage for the braking would be ideal for when off road, as it is more of a hinderance. We have put the same wheels and tyres on the trailer as we did on the truck, expecting to get much lower wear on the trailer tyres, with experience, we have noticed much worse wear on the trailer tyres, making them less use as 'fresh spares'. The suspension on our trailer is leaf springs, this has been good, as it makes a more sturdy base for the trailer tent. Possibly an advantage to this is: if you drop a wheel in a pothole, the axle will more likely slide back on the springs than snap or bend the axle, as long as you keep the correct sockets for the bolts, you should be able to temporarily repair this. We have made use of both the Howling moon trailer tent and a Maggiolina roof tent (on the vehicle itself). For its use, the roof tent is much quicker to set up, (30 seconds), but for basic sleeping only, the trailer tent can be secured in as little as 2 minutes, and can be set up in full (with all awnings, attachments and rooms) in 30 minutes. As a trailer tent, the Howling moon is more versatile. We keep a kitchen (and table) in the trailer, which, is fully fitted. Good fitting units prevent bottles, cups, glasses, and plates from smashing (or spilling), even when we rolled the trailer. The cooker is gas fuelled, and in Europe, there is no problem refilling the gas canisters, though it has no spark on the hob, so you still need matches. For more details on our trailer, please visit our website, though most of the information on our experience is contained in the journal, (usually when the trailer goes wrong) Trailer crash Axle snapping again Axle snapping once again! Redesigning the brakes Suspension shifting from pothole Reparing the suspension Hope this helps, sorry for the lengthy response. By the way, we paid £2,500 for our trailer. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honitonhobbit Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 Thanks to the little people, I now have a narrow track Sankey so plans have changed a bit. On the way back form the tip today, I did a couple of lanes. Both are dry but very twisty and require air time on some x axles. The unladen Sankey did little to hinder the drive, in fact apart form the odd clunk from the 5 tonne pin hitch ( no you don't need a nato jaw), you wouldn't know it was there. On the road it tows like a dream, even with half a tonne of garage cr*p in it. At the moment it has 205/80x16 Scorpions on it on Disco steels so it could do with some rubber flares, even more so when the 235/85x16 Machos go on. Words of warning though Chris: 1). seems to be very susceptable to weight distribution effecting the ride quality; 2). It's a bl**dy heavy lump to manhandle up a small hill even when empty - fit a jockey wheel instead of a plate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted August 5, 2007 Author Share Posted August 5, 2007 Words of warning though Chris: 1). seems to be very susceptable to weight distribution effecting the ride quality; I have never found that but am quite careful about trailer loading since a VERY frightening experience with a Disco on a trailer behind the 90... 2). It's a bl**dy heavy lump to manhandle up a small hill even when empty - fit a jockey wheel instead of a plate! Mine came with the most fantastic, high quality jockey wheel which works in the usual way and then swivels 90degrees parallel to the A-frame to be totally out of the way. Very well thought out! I will post a pic of it when I get chance in daylight. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobes Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sankey-1-Ton-Bridgin...Item"] This://http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sankey-1-Ton-...tem"] This seems like it would make a good base for a camping trailer. I dont know whether the track width is different but the extra chassis length would be useful space to have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciderman Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 Rich Simms has built a nice rig from a rapier trailer , ex mod very strong and on coils IIRC , He dont post on here , But hes on Devon forum I can get you some pics if you like ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddel Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 if somebody wants to grab a bargain: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=130142972152 I am interested in the solar panels, but the missus doesn't want me te buy this trailer, so if anybody can use the sankey, but not the solar panels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonwh Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Chris. Somewhere I saw some pics of a Sankey stripped down to chassis then a new alli body built onto that. mike We built a trailer out of a Rapier platform (the kind they towed behind 101s with missiles mounted on them) A perfect bit of kit and a great base to start the project with. Coil suspension and quick-release wheels too! http://www.difflock.com/project-trailer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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