Trailer instead of van?

Sooo, our Touran has been threatening to die for a couple of years now…

I have looked at vans – and they just seem uber expensive. I also do 20k a year mileage, and need a ‘car’ for the 10k miles I do for work, usually alone with a bootful of gear.

A mk2 Ford Galaxy on the other hand seems great value and big enough for the 5 of us + gear for family trips. However, we are now going to have 2xcanoes 1xkayak and 5 bikes – all of which need loading onto a car or van.

Doing some nosing around the interweb, I found a couple of ideas and wondered if anyone else uses a similar set up:
Canoes / kayaks above, bikes below on individual ‘roof’ bike racks.

Clicky for more pics

If of course money was no object….
http://www.sylvansport.com/go/product-details/

If you have somewhere to store it ,then they can be handy.
I had a trailer for motorbikes and it got used for all sorts.

fasthaggis +1 trailers are very nickable.

Quite popular her, see a fair few trailers with bikes / canoes / windsurfers on top. Could be a good option for the price of a trailer and towbar.

Downsides, not many, perhaps nickable… remember to carry a trailer spare tyre…

Downsides, not many, perhaps nickable… remember to carry a trailer spare tyre…

Upside is compared to cars/vans trailers don’t really depreciate with such gusto. Not everyone these days is licensed to tow one though (depending on the date you took your test) so make sure what you are buying tallys with your driving license entitlement

Can you do this in a van ?

I think that the change in license affects weight/size of trailer rather than outright can’t tow. The OPs image would be fine with a car (unless they’ve changed it again recently?)

Some licenses now allow NO trailers at all.

I have grandfather rights, D1 and D1E tested, and spent the last 10 years teaching instructors each winter to drive trailers…I think I will be OK….

Storage *should* be OK, but would need to be thought about as our drive is a steep one.

Looking on eBay, you can get some smaller 7×4 ‘camping’ trailers for not a lot. I have a friend who is engineer/blacksmith who could add an upper deck and longer drawbar. It could still be about the cost of a 4-bike towhitch rack from Thule or similar.

righog – I like it, but does it do bubbles?

Some licenses now allow NO trailers at all.

I did not know that – every day’s a school day, which ones are they?

I fitted roof rails (from a Lada Nova) to our trailer allowing me to use a roof rack. It was mostly used to carry the croozer when camping.

I think that the change in license affects weight/size of trailer rather than outright can’t tow. The OPs image would be fine with a car (unless they’ve changed it again recently?)

I was meaning trailer use generally rather than that trailer specifically. I’ve known one or two people who’ve been caught out when they were expected to tow the same trailers as their colleagues without anyone realising that people with seemingly the same license either did or didn’t have the license to tow them just because of a few years variance in their test date. When the change in legislation happened I don’t think many people noticed.

I have a friend who is engineer/blacksmith who could add an upper deck and longer drawbar.

There maybe new legislation in this respect (I can’t remember where I heard about it) and it might be quite difficult to sell a home-built or altered trailer – I think building and using them is OK but selling them isn’t. So you might want to watch what it is you’re actually buying and whether it should even be for sale but also with regard to my depreciation point thats maybe moot if your alterations make it un-sellable.

Does that mean I *need* one of these?

I think building and using them is OK but selling them isn’t.

Oops,that’s the only ones I ever had ( that includes dingy trailers ),it was part of the fun building them up.
My brother and I once made one out of a chopped Renault 5 🙂

Matt
How much is that,it screams expensive .

$8k in the US – but is also a trailer tent inbuilt….

I was actually looking at towing laws earlier this week:

Licenses obtained on or after January 19th 2013
Drivers who pass their Car (Category B) test on or after 19th January 2013 have futher restrictions to their license surrounding towing. Individuals that pass their test on, or after this date are restricted to towing small trailers weighing no more than 750kg. And are only able to tow trailers weighing more than 750kg when the combined weight of the towing vehicle and the trailer is not more than a total mass of 3.5 tonnes.

Car licences obtained on or after 1st January 1997
Drivers who passed their car (Category B) test on or after 1st January 1997 are restricted to drive a vehicle upto 3.5 tonnes Maximum allowed mass (MAM) towing a trailer of upto 750 kgs MAM. With a combined weight of no more than 4.25 tonnes in total. You are also able to tow a trailer over 750 kg MAM as long as it is no more than the unladen weight of the towing vehicle. This is upto a maximum combined weight of 3.5 tonnes in total.

Car licences obtained before 1st January 1997
All drivers who passed a car (Category B) test before 1st January 1997 retain their existing entitlement to tow trailers until their licence expires. This means they are generally entitled to drive a vehicle and trailer combination up to 7.25 tonnes maximum authorised mass (MAM). They also have entitlement to drive a minibus with a trailer over 750 kgs maximum authorised mass ( MAM).

Copy n Pasted from Bubble Towing..

I used to use a pick up for transporting bikes, wood and building materials. When my mk1 VW Caddy died I bought a used Ifor Williams trailer. It was a revelation. It could carry a lot more than the pick up and I’ve never had any worries about damaging it like I did with the Caddy. You can also fit awkward shaped stuff in a trailer that could never fit in a van. If you’ve got the space to store it, go for it.

I went the trailer route for our business and bought an Ifor BV127 (huge thing). Constantly worried about its theft (spent £300 on locks) even when parked in locked yard.
Pain to tow and turn round in tight spaces, not that much space inside considering how big it was from the outside.
Sold it and bought a van-far better.