Big J

The longer the trailer, the wider the tail swing when turning into tight driveways, gates, fields etc. The length of the machine from the front of the front wheel to the back of the rear wheel is 4.6m. It's got 40cm of ground clearance so the overhangs will sit happily over the drop sides. I'd really rather keep the trailer as compact as possible.

Batesons can do me a 5x1.8m tri axle so that I get the length required for accommodating the machine but it's narrow enough to manoeuvre the tiny Devon lanes. Haven't got a final price yet, though can't see me having that much change from £4000 once specced with LED lights, internal lashing points, drop sides, treadplate floor and ramps. The daft thing is that I can pop over to Germany and for £800 more get 5x2m vehicle transporter trailer and a separate 3x1.5m tipper as well.

I could use the agility of a twin axle, but as I'll always be towing an uneven load, perhaps the tri axle is more sensible. I've been discussing trailers with Batesons, and like their offerings. Anyone had experience with them, good or bad?

Quickest way I found to process it at the time was to stack it all in a large holder (basically four fence posts hammered into the ground) and chainsaw it to length with a large CC saw. Means you have to pick it up by hand, but none of it needs to be split so it's not too bad.

Wanted to pick the collective brain of Arbtalk regarding trailers. I've done loads and loads of heavy towing over the past 6-7 years or so with twin axle trailers and would consider myself reasonably adept and experienced now. I'm also careful regarding my load distributions and strapping. It's mostly solid timber I've transported, as opposed to machinery. From June, I'll be doing lots of towing with a 2000kg forwarder on a 16ft trailer and I'm swithering between twin and triple axle trailers. Can anyone with experience of both offer any insight into differences and pros and cons? Much appreciated!

The issue is I suppose that leaving the smallest material in the wood creates a lot of waste and reduces output. I remember when I was doing the hardwood thinning that I was always careful to include as much of the usable material as possible, but with the smaller stuff I'd create fair sized piles of it (10, 20 or 30 product lengths) so that the forwarder had an easier job. That being said, now I've got the processor, I can see how irritating it is. I prefer 30-35cm for maximum output though can take up to 45cm.

It's a fair point. I'm used to towing longer distances with heavy timber loads and you feel every incline with 160bhp. Perhaps it's unrealistic to expect to be able to hold velocity on these hills, but I do rather like the idea of being able to continue as if the hill wasn't really there (like I'd expect I would be able to do with one of Ford's big 7.3l Powerstrokes, or the Touareg V10 TDI). Silly really on reflection. I would think a Disco 2 tuned to 170bhp would be amply powerful. Thanks for all the recommendations. The Disco 2 is pretty much the only vehicle you've all agreed on so it sounds like the best bet.

I know that you can get cruise control on post 1999 Defenders, and that's the deal breaker for me. My back is 95% better than 6 months ago (after 9 years of chronic pain) but I'm quite reliant on cruise to give my right leg a break. I'm 6ft 8" and 115kg now after 5.5 months at the gym. The intention is to gain another 15kg and I'm certain I wouldn't fit then. I do reckon Defenders are a fantastic investment now though - it's bonkers how much the prices have gone up since production ceased.

Thanks for that. My budget allows me to consider the best of the later Discovery 2s, and I'd probably ask my uncle to come look at them with me. I need something comfortable as I'm going to be driving it at least 8-10 hours a week at a guess and there isn't much that I fit into that well.

I've been getting tempted with some of the better examples of the Discovery 2 that I've seen on eBay and Autotrader. What have people's experiences been like? My uncle over in Germany is big into Defenders and highly rates the TD5 engine. My primary concern is lack of power (136bhp), but my uncle is able to reprogramme the ECU up to 170bhp without requiring mechanical upgrade.

There are two setts in there. One is in a very sparse area of trees (so no felling required) and the other one is right on the railway embankment, so we wouldn't be going near there. I'm glad that I'm not a million miles away at £15. Thanks chaps

There are whole areas that don't need to be touched, but also some very dense clumps where one in two trees needs to go. At the near end in the denser section, the trees average about 0.75 tonnes at a guess dropping to about 0.3 tonnes in the middle, increasing again to about 0.75 at the bottom. Maximum travel time with forwarder from furthest point of the site is about 5 minutes along a bridle way.

Last picture is of the tree over the badger sett

As I have a small forwarder coming in June, I would like to get some experience under my belt up near Edinburgh before moving down to Devon. There is a nice woodland with amenity value almost directly next to our house. It's stretches for about 400m as an increasingly wide dividing belt between two large fields before fanning out down by the railway line. It's mostly sycamore and ash, with some birch and oak, and the occasional horse chestnut. Also plenty of scrub elm. There is about 13 acres all in, and the longest extraction distance would be 450m, with 2/3 of the that over a field (so quicker). It's not massively dense, but it would certainly benefit from a thin. There is in places a lot of canopy competition and already a fair proportion of the non dominant trees have been closed out. The terrain is easy, with only one wet area, which is directly around a drain. Easy to avoid or traverse. There are two badger setts, both of which are easy to stay well clear of (though the contractors clearing for the railway didn't afford the little beasts such courtesy - there are trees down over the larger sett). I would also, obviously stay a couple of tree lengths away from the railway cutting. Finally, some of the sycamore at the narrowest part of the woodland would require a gentle winch assist to keep them in the woodland rather than the field. Other than that, it's straightforward. My plan was to do a gentle thin, taking perhaps one in 4-5 trees (when averaged out over the whole woodland, as some areas don't need any work and others more). I'd prioritise the Oak, followed by the birch and sycamore. That being said, some of the birch are fairly large so how long they have left is questionable. The ash doesn't have a desperately long life ahead of it so I'd expect that the Estate would be happy to see that thinned more heavily. The trees are a good size, with an average DBH of 375mm or thereabouts, and they are well drawn. My question is, what would you be offering the Estate for the timber standing? I've done harvesting before, but only for milling timber. The firewood was always incidental, and didn't really factor in as part of the calculations (as firewood arising from larger hardwood felling is never that pretty). My feeling is somewhere around £15/t, as the extraction route is fairly long in places, and the winch assisting on some of the edge trees will slow us down. They have done a lot of heavy handed felling around the estate in the last few years, and my approach would be diametrically opposite, and they'd barely be able to tell that I'd been in once we'd finished. At a rough guess, I'd think we'd end up with 150-200t. My plan is to put a proposal in with the estate next week. I can get photos easily. Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

I'd certainly be interested to see some details regarding the landcruiser ?

I suffer with what you described even when sat for long time I definitely think years of pressing has done me no favours The one limb movement that aggravates it most is any form of tucked elbow tricep extension. So, no tricep extensions or close grip bench for the time being. Tight left pec doesn't help either. Weight up to 114,2kg now. Got stuck for a good while at 113kg, which I hit first about 8 weeks ago. The flu knocked 6kg off, so it's taken all that time, and a lot of eating to get it back. Planning to stick to high rep, lowish weight for a bit on bench and squats to give myself a break. Not that 20 rep squats have ever been considered a break!

Quite a nice lump that. Hope it finds a good home.

Very nice. Silver lining and all that.

Hehe! I imagine that Dartmoor and the axles of the vehicles that dare work on her are well acquainted

What you need is a low ground pressure machine there Matthew

No thanks! Kiln dried is fine if you have no storage and or don't wish to store any at home. I'm in the 'fairly well organised, have 50 cube stacked at home' camp so I've no need to premium logs. I burn any old rubbish!

I commend all of you that can get that kind of price for your firewood, but having burnt 33 cubic metres so far this winter in our 20kw stove, I am rather glad that it costs me next to nothing. I understand that people's reasons for having a stove vary greatly, but I always think it's important to remember that no matter how pretty the logs are, how uniform they are, how consistently premium ash and beech, that all you are going to do with it is burn it. One of my best customers buys his firewood a year in advance. 40 cube of 2/3 softwood, 1/3 arbwaste hardwood. He has a large stove so all logs processed chunky and 16 inches long. He pays £43 a cubic metre as all I have to do is fill the crates (which takes about 10 minutes per cube on average, including the slower processing of the hardwood) and he collects them whenever he needs them. If only all my customers were like that.

Apparently, some of the more aloof residents insist it's a silent H, as in Sitterton!

I've let the petition die as I don't think that I worded it desperately well, but can I encourage people to think about the merits of all season tyres, especially in light of the winter that we've had. With the all seasons on the car, I've quite literally left other vehicles standing whilst driving in the snow. A hill on a main road about two miles from us had a good 6 inches of slushy snow on it back when we had the full fat beast from the east. I met a Transit reversing down telling me I'd never get up and left a Clio behind me, stuck. Our car continued on without me even noticing the snow. So, if you don't live on the south coast, do consider all season tyres when you next replace them. Not only will they provide you with better traction through the colder months, but in moderate snowy conditions you'll keep moving effortlessly whilst the cars on summer tyres can't.