Collapsible trailers?

talltom79

I'd like to get a trailer for our car to increase capacity when going on holiday with children and dog etc (we already have a roof box, but it's not quite enough space). But we live in London and we have no driveway or garage. The only access to the garden is through the house which includes going from ground floor to basement. I think it would be quite difficult to get a trailer through the house to store it in the garden due to stairs and doorways. Are there any obvious options I haven't thought of? Like a collapsible trailer or something else. 

seanfos

Could you just hire a trailer when needed to save worrying about storing and securing it?  A quick Google found https://www.saxonstrailers.co.uk/trailer-hire-london.html but I’ve no experience of them

Sean

Grey_Critic

Think Halfords do a cpllapsible trailer -

northwalesd

I would suggest even a small trailer. collapsible or not, is going to be reasonably heavy (the smallest trailer Halfords sell for example is 55kg), though as you say not sure I'd want to be lugging such a thing through a house, especially up and down stairs. There is a 'proper' folding trailer, Foldy https://www.foldy.co.uk/product/the-foldy-trailer/ but A) it's expensive and it weighs 200kg.

How about a towball mounted box? (Like these https://www.roofbox.co.uk/tow-bar-boxes/ - still blooming expensive)

Car_54

talltom79 said:

I'd like to get a trailer for our car to increase capacity when going on holiday with children and dog etc (we already have a roof box, but it's not quite enough space). But we live in London and we have no driveway or garage. The only access to the garden is through the house which includes going from ground floor to basement. I think it would be quite difficult to get a trailer through the house to store it in the garden due to stairs and doorways. Are there any obvious options I haven't thought of? Like a collapsible trailer or something else. 

The only obvious option I can see is a bigger car, either as a replacement or hired as needed.

As already stated, even a collapsible trailer will be heavy (55kg is a two-person job), and awkward and dirty.

Nebulous2

Car_54 said:

talltom79 said:

I'd like to get a trailer for our car to increase capacity when going on holiday with children and dog etc (we already have a roof box, but it's not quite enough space). But we live in London and we have no driveway or garage. The only access to the garden is through the house which includes going from ground floor to basement. I think it would be quite difficult to get a trailer through the house to store it in the garden due to stairs and doorways. Are there any obvious options I haven't thought of? Like a collapsible trailer or something else. 

The only obvious option I can see is a bigger car, either as a replacement or hired as needed.

As already stated, even a collapsible trailer will be heavy (55kg is a two-person job), and awkward and dirty.

55 kg is a two person job for what? 

Nowadays people aren't supposed to lift more than 4 stone, 25kg themselves. 

To put that in context, farmers where I stay used to carry sacks of grain weighing 2 and 1/4 hundredweights, 18 stone or 114 kg. 

While I recognise that isn't sensible, 8 stone on wheels shouldn't be too demanding for many people. 

Nebulous2

What car do you have? 

We've travelled to France with a multitude of different combinations, from a fiesta and a trailer, through a people carrier, to a van with a trailer. 

You have several different options, that boil down to, pack less or find more space.

There are sometimes outside the box options. My father was a fisherman and made us a net to go inside our Ford galaxy, attached to the grab handles inside the vehicle. We stuffed the whole roof of the vehicle with soft stuff, sleeping bags, towels etc.  It was great how useful that was.  

 

forgotmyname

You need a decent bit of weight in the trailer otherwise they can bounce unless they have shocks.

Taking one apart can be a chore and think what it will be like if travelling in the rain, it will be dripping when you
carry it through the house.

marlot

There are a number of companies who will deliver a suitcase to your destination.  Could be a lot cheaper than hiring a bigger car?

GDB2222

Nebulous2 said:

Car_54 said:

talltom79 said:

I'd like to get a trailer for our car to increase capacity when going on holiday with children and dog etc (we already have a roof box, but it's not quite enough space). But we live in London and we have no driveway or garage. The only access to the garden is through the house which includes going from ground floor to basement. I think it would be quite difficult to get a trailer through the house to store it in the garden due to stairs and doorways. Are there any obvious options I haven't thought of? Like a collapsible trailer or something else. 

The only obvious option I can see is a bigger car, either as a replacement or hired as needed.

As already stated, even a collapsible trailer will be heavy (55kg is a two-person job), and awkward and dirty.

55 kg is a two person job for what? 

Nowadays people aren't supposed to lift more than 4 stone, 25kg themselves. 

To put that in context, farmers where I stay used to carry sacks of grain weighing 2 and 1/4 hundredweights, 18 stone or 114 kg. 

While I recognise that isn't sensible, 8 stone on wheels shouldn't be too demanding for many people. 

 Practically, there’s no way to wheel a car trailer through a home, down stairs etc without causing lots of damage to the floor or decoration. So, the op will perhaps need a trailer that he can dismantle and take through the house in bits. That’s not the same as collapsible, as collapsible tends to mean it stays in one piece, just a bit smaller. If it comes to bits, that deals with the weight issue, too. 

Herzlos

Even if you dismantle a trailer, you're still going to be left with a pretty big base piece, so I wouldn't bother with that route. You could carry a smallish one through but it'd be a total pain.  It's also worth noting that the smaller the trailer is the harder it is to maneuver with; it'll follow the car fine, but it'll be a nightmare to reverse with, though obviously if it's small enough you can just unhitch it.

As mentioned above, it'd be much better to just hire a trailer or bigger car for your holidays.
Or you could buy one locally for the holiday and then sell it when you get back.

Another thing to note is that if you're planning on taking a trailer to Europe, you need to find one that's type approved for the EU. Erde will be, given they are French, but I'm not sure about the rest.