Sankey Widetrack Camper Conversion

listerdiesel · Jun 7, 2016

Rearmost window arrived yesterday and looks fine, they have also included a back trim piece which wasn't with the first windows, so have asked if I can order those as well.

Peter

listerdiesel · Jun 24, 2016

The Sankey is not completed yet, but Philip has had it out on the road and stayed out last night to test the sleeping and cooking arrangements.

LPG was put in the tank and the water heater, cooker and fridge tested,

He will take it to LZ12 this weekend for a trial weekend away.

Peter

listerdiesel · Jun 26, 2016

Pictures of the two trailers at LZ12:

Peter

Larry365 · Jul 21, 2016

Trailers both look great. Great project. Great thread. Would like to see more of the bigger one. Is there a thread anywhere?

listerdiesel · Jul 21, 2016

Link in my signature.

Peter

honolulujoe · Aug 7, 2016

+1 both look superb

listerdiesel · Dec 21, 2016

Philip is living in his trailer still,he comes in to work each day, towing it behind the Disco.

He has a gas heater and carries an extra propane bottle to extend his time between filling the trailer built in tank.

Latest job was to change the coupling head. Using the NATO head means that he cannot help me with towing our own trailer, and as we are building another drawbar trailer now, he will be towing that when we go away, so the change of hitch was on the cards.

Bradley do a replacement head, look for KIT266 Part Number 185006615.

Getting the old ring and pin out of the tube was a problem, and as the new head goes outside and the old pin inside the coupling tube, we cut the ring off.

New one bolted straight on, but we needed to cut away the bracing above the coupling to clear the handle on the new head, pictures describe it better than me.

Fitted a 50mm ball to the Discovery and job done.

Peter

Coffeelandy · Dec 22, 2016

listerdiesel said:
Philip is living in his trailer still,he comes in to work each day, towing it behind the Disco.

He has a gas heater and carries an extra propane bottle to etend his time between filling the trailer built in tank.

Latest job was to change the coupling head. Using the NATO head means that he cannot help me with towing our own trailer, and as we are building another drawbar trailer now, he will be towing that when we go away, so the change of hitch was on the cards.

Bradley do a replacement head, look for KIT266 Part Number 185006615.

Getting the old ring and pin out of the tube was a problem, and as the new head goes outside and the old pin inside the coupling tube, we cut the ring off.

New one bolted straight on, but we needed to cut away the bracing above the coupling to clear the handle on the new head, pictures describe it better than me.

Fitted a 50mm ball to the Discovery and job done.

Peter

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I got a Dixon Bates adjustable hitch instead to solve this issue. I can have either tow hitch without having g to cut up the Sankey.

listerdiesel · Dec 22, 2016

We did look at that, but only the Sankey has the NATO hitch, all the other trailers are 50mm. £200 or so we were quoted for the DB adaptor, £60 for the coupling conversion kit.
If we had more ring-equipped trailers we may have gone for the dual arrangement.
Peter

listerdiesel · Dec 22, 2016

I've put the NATO hitch on ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122280317560

The auction doesn't start until 7pm tonight, starting price £30.

Peter

listerdiesel · Mar 8, 2017

Philip bought a new portable generator last May, intended for his trailer build, we mentioned it in this thread.

He has used it a fair bit over the winter and it expired a week or so ago.

He paid cash for it at the local store, didn't keep the receipt and was resigned to chucking it in the skip.

However, I said 'hold on, let's try to contact their customer service', so I got onto the LIDL website and contacted them.

He also had a picture of it taken the same day, alongside the old two-stroke one. I sent that off as well a few days later.

Please to report that I received a letter from LIDL offering a full refund if he takes the generator back to the store, along with the letter.

They don't hold spares or replacement units, so possibly something to think about next time.

Peter

listerdiesel · Mar 19, 2017

Progress on the new 4-wheel drawbar trailer, main frame is nearly finished, hope to bring it back later this week.

It will be shotblasted, hot Zinc sprayed and then powder coated, then we start building the body.

Peter

listerdiesel · Apr 6, 2017

Picked up the new trailer chassis yesterday, took it to the shotblasters, stripped it down and left it there.

Peter

listerdiesel · Apr 7, 2017

We are pushing the 4-wheel drawbar trailer along as we have the ferry booked for Holland on the 2nd June, plus we need to get it through IVA inspection.

The chassis will be collected from the shotblasters on Monday, reassembled then taken to the powder coaters at Royston, Herts. They reckon they will get it done for collection on the Thursday before Easter, which will give us four unbroken days on the bodywork over Easter.

Peter

accywingy · Apr 9, 2017

looking good peter

listerdiesel · Apr 10, 2017

Collected as promised, reassembled it and towed it up the M23, round the M25, over Dartford Crossing, up the M11 and across the A505 to Royston.

Stripped it all down again and left for the powder coaters to do their thing.

Peter

Bobsticle · Apr 11, 2017

Looks like a belter and I'm very envious of your skills 'but'. Not to take the pee and in strictest admiration of your engineering I have a serious question.
It all looks over engineered in a good way apart from what I see as the weakest link.
Its the amount of steel around the draw bar hinge. Its very likely adequate but when everything else looks so heavy duty the amount of steel taking the full load around that pin looks a bit under engineered.

I realize that most force will be downward when carrying heavy loads and even while typing I have convinced myself Im probably wrong but just an observation from an in inquisitive mind........................

Just sticking my oar in but with the same piece of steel you can get a lot more meat round the pin.

Right, you can tell me to sod off now............

listerdiesel · Apr 11, 2017

That's a 30mm pin, Bob, and the first one we built in 2011 has had no significant wear on those parts in 6 trips to Europe at 3500kg gross weight.

The pin doesn't rotate in the chamfered pieces, it is locked to them by a block on the other side, and the rectangular beam that it hinges to has a bush welded in, in which the pin does pivot.

Always happy to discuss such things, it is not uncommon for others to have better ideas than me!

Peter

Bobsticle · Apr 11, 2017

Im sure it will pull a space rocket but in my head would be concerned about the pin simply stretching the mild steel rather than wearing at it.
I know on JCBs and the like, there are sometimes thick washers/tubes welded onto the plates to beef them up but I suppose they are for rotation as well.

unused-jcb-js290-js330-js360-dipper-arm-with-ram-machine-breaking-spare-parts-cf60e.jpg

listerdiesel · Apr 11, 2017

I doubt that we would get to those kind of forces in normal use, and nothing evidenced so far.

In normal driving there isn't a huge amount of pulling force once you're up to speed.

I'll have a look at the old one when we do our annual maintenance check and see if there is any evidence of elongation in the holes.

Peter

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