Farmer Chalk
Well-Known Member
Newbie here and hello everyone...thought it may be of interest to those who have thought about having a horsebox built to your own specifications...
Like lots of you we had been considering a horsebox for a little while..whilst our daughter was becoming more and more successful, that came with its own issues...winning local and regional events was fantastic but when she told me that she had qualified for the Nationals rather than having a huge surge of pride we were left with the oh god thoughts ...three days in a wet field in Cheshire 300 miles from home....
We took it in our stride and parked our tent and Ifor Williams trailer amongst all your pantechnicons... Three days submerged in mud, daughter sleeping on the floor of the trailer ..you know what it's like...
Well over the last few years the appeal of this is starting to wear thin... The thought of driving rusty nails into my own eyes was becoming far more attractive proposition...
So we've bitten the bullet! And this is the start of our story...
With the horror stories of VOSA victimising 7.5 tonners for being overweight we have decided to do it properly... So we went out and bought a 12 tonne Mercedes Atego HGV from a specialist lorry dealer
This was an ex office water cooler delivery lorry which was perfect for the base vehicle....it's a 4.2 litre 4 cylinder Euro 4 LEZ compliant truck.... So the first task was to get Mrs Farmer Chalk through her HGV test.... I was already in the fortunate position of possessing an HGV licence so off we went together for long romantic drives in the country with a set of L Plates with her driving everywhere...it really is not that difficult and I was incredibly impressed when she passed first time!
Next up was then to remove the old truck body....I would love to show a few photos and will do so as and when I get enough permissions from the forum moderators...
The de- bodying was done at my sisters farm with the use of a couple of telehandler forklifts...easily done cutting away the old bracketry and lifting the body straight up and driving the truck chassis away.
Unable to create a special coachbuilt body we have now contracted a local firm close to us to build the next part. So we now have the basic sleeping pod mounted above the lorry cab and this is deep underway...this week the sides of the lorry have gone up and we hope the roof will be put on it over the next few days...
The build is planned for the outer bodywork to be finished before Xmas...that will lead us to develop the interior as and when money allows through the Spring and summer of 2016...
I will try and post some relevant photos when I can.
Like lots of you we had been considering a horsebox for a little while..whilst our daughter was becoming more and more successful, that came with its own issues...winning local and regional events was fantastic but when she told me that she had qualified for the Nationals rather than having a huge surge of pride we were left with the oh god thoughts ...three days in a wet field in Cheshire 300 miles from home....
We took it in our stride and parked our tent and Ifor Williams trailer amongst all your pantechnicons... Three days submerged in mud, daughter sleeping on the floor of the trailer ..you know what it's like...
Well over the last few years the appeal of this is starting to wear thin... The thought of driving rusty nails into my own eyes was becoming far more attractive proposition...
So we've bitten the bullet! And this is the start of our story...
With the horror stories of VOSA victimising 7.5 tonners for being overweight we have decided to do it properly... So we went out and bought a 12 tonne Mercedes Atego HGV from a specialist lorry dealer
This was an ex office water cooler delivery lorry which was perfect for the base vehicle....it's a 4.2 litre 4 cylinder Euro 4 LEZ compliant truck.... So the first task was to get Mrs Farmer Chalk through her HGV test.... I was already in the fortunate position of possessing an HGV licence so off we went together for long romantic drives in the country with a set of L Plates with her driving everywhere...it really is not that difficult and I was incredibly impressed when she passed first time!
Next up was then to remove the old truck body....I would love to show a few photos and will do so as and when I get enough permissions from the forum moderators...
The de- bodying was done at my sisters farm with the use of a couple of telehandler forklifts...easily done cutting away the old bracketry and lifting the body straight up and driving the truck chassis away.
Unable to create a special coachbuilt body we have now contracted a local firm close to us to build the next part. So we now have the basic sleeping pod mounted above the lorry cab and this is deep underway...this week the sides of the lorry have gone up and we hope the roof will be put on it over the next few days...
The build is planned for the outer bodywork to be finished before Xmas...that will lead us to develop the interior as and when money allows through the Spring and summer of 2016...
I will try and post some relevant photos when I can.
