Trailers & 'BWSOW's

[Fastpedaller]

I would have thought 25Kg is a bit low, it could be that the rear of trailer is lifting the rear of the car, also is the trailer perfectly square, once borrowed a home made trailer, granted a 4 wheeled one, but anything above 40mph & the thing would weave & take on.a life of it's own it was scary to pull & I only borrowed it once. Can you try moving something forward in the trailer & increasing the weight.

As it's a Quantum what is the towbar fastened to? We'll ignore the legalities

The 'online guide' I viewed this afternoon suggested 5-7% of caravan weight, so at only 200kg that's less. it tows beautifully. It is perfectly square (well as close as can be, we all know nothing is perfect!) When I built it I contemplated whether I should introduce a little toe-in on the wheels but decided against it. The Quantum Saloon has a very strong layup across the rear of the boot, and was designed to take a towbar. There is a steel strip which is about 3ft long going across the inside held with 4 M8 bolts (IIRC) - I've no reason to question the strength for pulling a 200kg trailer/caravan. A Quantum club member arrived at Stoneleigh with a 23ft long caravan behind his saloon many years ago - It must have weighed quite a bit more than the car. That's not something i'd do, but is an example of the strength of the Quantum GRP.

 

[Fastpedaller]

I may be wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a great deal of logic or info from suppliers of trailers....... The idea that trailer wheels don't need balancing is surely flawed - indeed a friend who has a Portafold (1960's folding caravan) had new tyres put on the BL mini wheels, and the guy refused to balance them as 'it's not needed for a caravan', yet if my pal had been putting them on a mini, I presume balancing would have been critical? Just being lazy in my book, or bizarre 'logic'. The other thing I've seen is some trailer suppliers insisting the tyres should be inflated to their max 60PSI at all times, irrespective of the weight! Logic tells me if the trailer is lighter the tyres need less pressure - indeed for the 200 kg weight of my trailer, I found an online guide stating 38PSI, which seems sensible to me - so which is correct? Certainly, if It was loaded to 400Kg then I'd expect to be going towards the 60PSI.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

A Quantum club member arrived at Stoneleigh with a 23ft long caravan behind his saloon many years ago - It must have weighed quite a bit more than the car. That's not something i'd do, but is an example of the strength of the Quantum GRP.

There was a kit at Malvern which turned up with a caravan might have been a Marlin I cringed when I saw it.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Monday 19th

Finally
I eventually got around to buying some eye-bolts, & fitting them in my trailer, after all, I've only had it since January!!
They came this morning; https://www.ukfixings.net/M12-x-22mm-Collared-Eye-Bolts-to-DIN580-Untested-BZP-Box-of-5.html



My intention was to use some aluminium sheeting that I had, cut into lengths, so the reinforcement ran full length
I even found a quartet of M12 nyloc's in the shed (saved a trip to the fasteners shop in Wakefield)



I cut/drilled it, but............ even as I just wheeled the trailer around, it was imitating a 'wobble-board', so it'd have been infuriating whist being towed
So it was cut into squares instead, to reinforce each eye-bolt individually

It ought to be okay, as the trailer's only rated at 1/2 ton (the eye-bolts have a SWL of 340 kg each)

Yes!, the floor is rusty, but going by his front garden when I bought it, the previous owner had used it for carrying gravel. & shovelled it out, damaging the galvanising

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Over the past 2 year, we've bought;
- 2 new cars; my Kodiaq, & her Q3 (otherwise, I'd have kept my Octavia, & she her CH-R?)
- had tow-bars fitted to both, with 'vehicle specific' 13-pin electrics
- 2 pairs of EMUK mirrors
- plus, the BWSOW

Now she's thinking of putting it on a site. Again..........
Our last BWSOW was sited, for a while before it was sold (in 2006)

In one way, I understand it, she can head off, at short notice, throwing Dog, clothes, food into car & go
She doesn't mind towing, but it's the getting it out of the compound/setting-up/returning to compound
However, towing, & dog in the car, even 'controlled', is the issue

I'll have to see what percentage, I can get back from the storage compound. as we paid for the full year (in January)
Sunday, which is my next day-off, we're off to look at
https://www.yorkshireholidayparks.co.uk/allerton-holiday-park/about-allerton-park/
It's not far up the A1, just off it, at the A59 junction

Plus a couple of other sites, one at Ripon

 

[Jameshow]

Over the past 2 year, we've bought;
- 2 new cars (my Kodiaq, & her Q3)
- had tow-bars fitted to both, with 'vehicle specific' 13-pin electrics
- 2 pairs of EMUK mirrors
- plus, the BWSOW

Now she's thinking of putting it on a site. Again..........
Our last BWSOW was sited, for a while before it was sold (in 2006)

In one way, I understand it, she can head off, at short notice, throwing Dog, clothes, food into car & go
She doesn't mind towing, but it's the getting it out of the compound/setting-up/returning to compound
However, towing, & dog in the car, even 'controlled', is the issue

I'll have to see what percentage, I can get back from the storage compound. as we paid for the full year (in January)
Sunday, which is my next day-off, we're off to look at
https://www.yorkshireholidayparks.co.uk/allerton-holiday-park/about-allerton-park/
It's not far up the A1, just off it, at the A59 junction

I'd be worried about A1 noise ..

Get a static, hobby or bailey fat lad at the back... (Name escapes me!)

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I'd be worried about A1 noise ..

Get a static, hobby or bailey fat lad at the back... (Name escapes me!)

We had a Posh Portacabin, from 2006 (when the Elddis Crusader Storm departed, as a p/x for one

Taken April 2016
One of the 'fingers of one hand' times, that I stayed there in about 10 years (I once went for 20 minutes, to take something over!)
We went up to 'Whitby Goth Weekend' the following day

I didn't like where it was sited, Bridlington

 

[Jameshow]

We had a Posh Portacabin, from 2006 (when the Elddis Crusader Storm departed, as a p/x for one

Taken April 2016
One of the 'fingers of one hand', that I stayed there in about 10 years
We went up to 'Whitby Goth Weekend' the following day
(I didn't like where it was sited)
View attachment 695578

I don't like them that's why we have two (double unit!)

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Over the past 2 year, we've bought;
- 2 new cars; my Kodiaq, & her Q3 (otherwise, I'd have kept my Octavia, & she her CH-R?)
- had tow-bars fitted to both, with 'vehicle specific' 13-pin electrics
- 2 pairs of EMUK mirrors
- plus, the BWSOW

Now she's thinking of putting it on a site. Again..........
Our last BWSOW was sited, for a while before it was sold (in 2006)

In one way, I understand it, she can head off, at short notice, throwing Dog, clothes, food into car & go
She doesn't mind towing, but it's the getting it out of the compound/setting-up/returning to compound
However, towing, & dog in the car, even 'controlled', is the issue

I'll have to see what percentage, I can get back from the storage compound. as we paid for the full year (in January)
Sunday, which is my next day-off, we're off to look at
https://www.yorkshireholidayparks.co.uk/allerton-holiday-park/about-allerton-park/
It's not far up the A1, just off it, at the A59 junction

Plus a couple of other sites, one at Ripon

Well..........
We went for a look this morning, arriving about 10:30



Had a look around, a talk to some of the seasonal pitch inhabitants

SWMBO decided that it was okay, so no need to even look at Bilton (Harrogate), or Ripon (Ure Bank), & that we'd move there

@Jameshow; the noise was a background 'hum', due to the amount of woodland, I'll admit I didn't take much notice of wind direction, but the owners of the 'van opposite said it wasn't too audible, at any time
If it's that windy, you'd just hear the trees moving instead, which is a fair point!!


A deposit was paid, & we came away
Home before 12:00
We ended up going to the compound, explaining the situation, getting a refund on our remaining fees (we'd paid till December), hitching up & hitting the A1 north again.............

We had it there about 13:15, & set up
Well, not quite, it's fine fore & aft, but need to have a mess around next weekend to level it laterally

 

[Fastpedaller]

I may be wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a great deal of logic or info from suppliers of trailers....... The idea that trailer wheels don't need balancing is surely flawed - indeed a friend who has a Portafold (1960's folding caravan) had new tyres put on the BL mini wheels, and the guy refused to balance them as 'it's not needed for a caravan', yet if my pal had been putting them on a mini, I presume balancing would have been critical? Just being lazy in my book, or bizarre 'logic'. The other thing I've seen is some trailer suppliers insisting the tyres should be inflated to their max 60PSI at all times, irrespective of the weight! Logic tells me if the trailer is lighter the tyres need less pressure - indeed for the 200 kg weight of my trailer, I found an online guide stating 38PSI, which seems sensible to me - so which is correct? Certainly, if It was loaded to 400Kg then I'd expect to be going towards the 60PSI.

Update - I gave it a drive on the A-road and the outcome was impressive. So the wheels that didn't need balancing...err did.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Update - I gave it a drive on the A-road and the outcome was impressive. So the wheels that didn't need balancing...err did.

Result, even if it took a while

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

In one way, I understand it, she can head off, at short notice, throwing Dog, clothes, food into car & go
She doesn't mind towing, but it's the getting it out of the compound/setting-up/returning to compound
However, towing, & dog in the car, even 'controlled', is the issue

She's already thinking about going up to 'overnight' next Saturday, after we (f-in-l & myself) have levelled it, put awning up (if she wants it up?)
Plus, possibly Sat 15th/Sun 16th, then Joanne & I go to the Isle Of Man, on Monday morning

 

[Jameshow]

Well..........
We went for a look this morning, arriving about 10:30
View attachment 696313

View attachment 696311
Had a look around, a talk to some of the seasonal pitch inhabitants

SWMBO decided that it was okay, so no need to even look at Bilton (Harrogate), or Ripon (Ure Bank), & that we'd move there

A deposit was paid, & we came away
Home before 12:00
We ended up going to the compound, explaining the situation, getting a refund on our remaining fees (we'd paid till December), hitching up & hitting the A1 north again.............

We had it there about 13:15, & set up
Well, not quite, it's fine fore & aft, but need to have a mess around next weekend to level it laterally

View attachment 696312

You don't hang around!!🤣

This could be the new cycle chat tdf fanzone!

Beers and BBQ for the queen stages!🤣

What do ya think @colly, @ColinJ !🤣🤣🤣

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Just renewed the insurance for the BWSOW, after notification that it was expiring soon

Last year, it was £115.50

I did expect an increase, like my car, which was quoted at a 30% increase

But no!, it's decreased, to £107.49

Just rung the insurers to inform them of a change of location/removal from CASSOA gold
The premium has increased by £38!! (£23 premium & £15 admin fee)
it doesn't seem like a lot, but it's about 39%!!

 

[figbat]

I washed our caravan last night. That’s a hateful job! It has spent all winter on our drive with a couple of trees nearby and has suffered from a little sap but it wasn’t too bad. I used a pressure washer and snow foam lance which makes it easier to do but it’s still a faff to get around it all and there’s a lot to cover, working all the nooks and crannies to get moss and mould out.

Ideally I’d give it a once over with some Autoglym resin polish (which does a great job of removing streaks and shining the paintwork) but TBH I didn’t have time last night, nor the energy!

And there’s still the matter of the roof to do - it is parked under our bedroom window so we can see the state of it but it isn’t easy to get at it.