Firewood trailer?

[djbobbins]

I was thinking last night about building a firewood trailer and had a bit of an idea. I wondered if anyone else on here had done something similar in the past and had related experience or opinions to add.

 

I have got a 4x4 capable of pulling 3.3t braked, and don't want to spend the money on having another vehicle sitting there. I only do firewood for myself and the owner of the land it comes off (at the moment, at least) so also don't want to weigh out too much cash.

 

My idea was to get a tired out horsebox (there's a few on ebay all the time in need of a new floor), then re-floor it and ply line the front and sides. I'd plan to put some form of cage door across about 3 foot in from the back, to leave a working space and give something to hold the cut logs in place. The logs could then be removed via the smaller door at the front.

 

All simple enough, up to now. Where it starts to get a bit more complicated is that into the "workspace", or hinged from the tailgate, I was thinking about building some form of processor - as a minimum, a steel X-form sawbench, but ideally with some form of elevator to drop the logs into the storage area.

 

Strengths of the idea are:

 

1) end up with a single "package" for going logging with

2) cheap enough to build (trailers look to be about £300 tops, so I reckon I could finish it for £500 if the processor side of things is "basic")

3) a twin horse trailer will carry over a tonne of horse and I guess weighs another 15cwt or so, so I'd be able to get plenty of logs in (I guess up to 4 cubic metres or say a tonne and a half)

 

Weaknesses / concerns:

 

1) are the overhangs too long, and chassis ride height likely to be too low to prevent me from actually getting the trailer anywhere usefully close to the timber (particularly compared to something like a Sankey)

2) Am I gaining anything by building in the processor / sawing horse, or do I just leave a bit of space free in the back and take a portable sawbench instead?

3) Would it end up being too hitch-heavy with a tonne and a half of wood on board???

[Hodge]

Good luk.

[Danny Boy]

I wouldn't bother with a permanent work space mate. Instead have some 3/4 box section fitted to either side so you could slide in a vertical partition as & when you need it.

 

You could put more than one in so each section would be a cubic metre. That way if you ever start selling logs its easy to know how much you're delivering at a time.