After several years of being a member of TnTTT, I finally decided to take the plunge an build a hopper type trailer. I am retired and live in the South West of Western Australia, not far from the City of Bunbury.
I have previously owned 4 caravan (still have an old 20' that I am renovating) and the wife and I have spent 2 years travelling around Australia taking in the sights and sounds. Towing a full size caravan (travel trailer, to some) can become somewhat tiresome and as our holidays are now more destination based rather than touring, I sold the latest van and commenced a hopper build.
The hopper is based on one by a fellow member rmclarke (see his immaculate trailer here viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22856 ). I really liked his concept and decided to follow it as close as I could but with using some of my own touches.
Pre-fabricated trailers are, generally, not available in Australia as they do not comply with Australian Design Rules so I contracted a local engineering company in the area to construct a trailer to my design.
The measurements are in Metric but easily converted for those interested. The bed of the trailer at 2500mm is 8'2" and the drawbar at 1600mm is 5'3".
The trailer has been grit blasted to Class 2.5 and primed with an epoxy primer. I then top coated it with an oil based enamel.
I placed Denso tape over the trailer bearers and then laid a 0.42bmt galvanised sheet on top of the Denso. This is to provide a waterproof barrier to the underside of the trailer.
To be continued in subsequent post
Westy