PDA

View Full Version : Old Caravan project into shed and trailer


Thomas-the-Terrano2
21-01-2012, 09:09
Wondering if is straight forward to get an old smallish caravan
off its chassis, to say sit on blocks in garden as an insulated
shed and then free the chassis for a general purpose trailer
project build up.

had thought destroy body and leave caravan floor on chassis
as the deck but be handy as a store room, and think a new
floor probably metal mesh could be added to trailer as old floor
might not be that good anyway.

so how is body/floor secured to chassis, bolts? clamps typically?
would it lift carefully like removing a say terrano body.

clivvy
21-01-2012, 10:07
hmmm...not sure, but i can photo underneath my little caravan if you want? last I looked, I think it was like a triangle style alko frame, ill take a look this morning

extreme-4x4
21-01-2012, 10:10
i was under the impression all trailers had to be made by proper factories and proper stamps of capacities etc now.

you might release the body from the chassis but they are always built up chassis floor then walls etc, so i cant see any value in seperating a caravan from its chassis

rustic
21-01-2012, 12:06
There are plenty of caravan chassis on eBay for £50, so why not leave the shed on wheels should ever you need to move it later. Remove wheels and dig holes for hubs, then she's on the floor.

96terrano
21-01-2012, 14:13
And if you take the caravan off the chassis, it could possibly make it weak:nenau

Thomas-the-Terrano2
22-01-2012, 09:50
fair points, as said if get off frame, its going to be a pig to move again
though i had toyed with idea a small site office too.

looking at a caravan chassis as want something larger than the typical
utility trailer you find at 5 feet by feet 3 or 6 feet by 4 feet. so can
carry larger items like fence posts and panels flat. would then have
decent sized tyres and brakes, and a maximum weight of say 1000kg,
oh and a fighting chance of being able to reverse it! only disadvantage
being its size for storing.

supergnome
22-01-2012, 10:29
I think its the chassis that keeps it rigid. So shed will not be stable.

rustic
22-01-2012, 11:27
I think its the chassis that keeps it rigid. So shed will not be stable.

It might blow away too, as most of the caravan weight is in the chassis.:eek:

Mind you if you fill your shed with the same junk as me then there is no chance of that.:doh

Some alko chassis are modular, so you can stretch them or remove sections, I'm sure you could arrange to bolt on the extra length when needed, so helping your storage issue.
Also if you have a suitable sky hook, you could store the chassis on it's side.:thumb2
I must admit I was thinking of a caravan chassis to transport a suitable conservatory, then I found a local trailer hire company that had 2tonne flat bed trailers for £40 per day.... So ....

(RIP) PLANK
22-01-2012, 20:31
Old caravans can go for silly hight prices these days! I have a couple of contacts who export them to northern Cyprus and they pay top whack for some ropey old stuff.

The other issue is, that for their size caravan chassis don't carry a lot of weight, so it is easy to overload them. But moving the tag from the caravan to the chassis should still give a legal max gross weight, you would just need to weigh it empty for a kerb weight.