New build horse box.... Essentials vs luxuries....

ann-jen

ann-jen

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Just a pondering. Am considering replacing the old box as it's costing me too much to keep on the road....I have a very set budget and think getting the newest chassis with lowest mileage is the priority and then getting the horse area spot on, and what ever money is left spent on the living area/frivvles.
So after the basic construction, paint job etc, I'm thinking so far, basic tack lockers.....don't think need underfloor storage as do overnight stay once in blue moon. I have a type of partition in mind for the horses. Can't quite describe it. There are different types of windows I could get I think, not sure what the difference is but thought would go for the cheapest tinted ones. Aluminium floor.
In the living if I can afford there will be a bed over the Luton, bench seat, cupboard, toilet with folding sink, hob, fridge and sink. But may need to forgo some of this if money dries up! There will be a split charge 24/12 for the living. Would like hook up.


So my actual question are what basic/essential things should I be considering.....and if it was you and money was no object what would you have in your dream box!
 
My essentials are - an aluminium floor, decent payload, rubber lined horse area with plenty of ventilation - windows and a couple of points in roof, leisure battery, hook up, cab radio!, plenty of lockers - I have 2 full & 2 skirt and would ideally like another one. However I imagine the minimum you would want would be a tack locker and a 'water locker' so you can pop all your washing stuff and any disgusting boots in there. I would also consider toilet an essential, but then I always seem to manage to park as far away from event supplied ones as possible! Other essentials would probably depend on the discipline you were doing. Eventing I consider a decent size water tank and horse hose an essential. I also utilise the fridge as food/ drink storage even if not on, and for putting ice boots in. Other essentials are cupboards in the living particularly a wardrobe for storing competition jackets etc.

I have lots of other bits and bobs on my lorry that never get used, however they would for doing overnight shows. They are the tv point/ satellite, hob/ grill, living heating & luton bed.

Luxuries I would like - small integrated freezer for ice boots, H style partitions in horse area, and a better designed cut through from cab to living as mine is rather awkward to use.
 
Having changed lorries 3 times in the last 18 months (7.5ton to 3.9 ton to 7.5ton) we have finally worked out what we do and don't like.

Things we don't like:
*Steep ramp
*H Partitions - despise them!! I often tack up on the box and you can't fix them in different places etc (unless they also have a telescopic arm) as they are a fixed width so if you angle them more steeply they don't reach the holes in the floor to fix them to. My horse also managed to get his head stuck around them.
*Dark living - one of the boxes had the living lined in a dark wood - looked amazing with all the flashy LED's switched on but when combined with the tinted windows made it really dark in the day time.

Things we do like:
*Telescopic partitions!
*Inviting Ramp
*Tinted windows in horse area (lots of them)
* Plenty of space for the horses.
*Lots of lockers - we have 2 tack lockers (one with saddle/bridle racks the other is shelved), under floor storage and skirt lockers
*Saddle rack that swings out - makes putting saddles in the lockers much easier.
*Light and airy living
*decent wardrobe and a mirror
*Toilet
*Power management system - this includes a built in charger for the living batteries and a hook up. Also monitors how much water in the tanks etc.
*The previous lorry had a horse shower which was great. This one doesn't but does have a good sized water tank. We don't use it during winter but its great in the summer when you need to carry more water.


Our lorry has full living (as in full cooker/oven/fridge/shower/tv/microwave etc etc) and as we haven't stayed away in it yet we haven't used any of it but im sure once we do the important things will be a hob/sink and fridge.
 
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I had mine built. But. I decided to go for minimal living as I wanted to travel 3. Also I haven't used our old living in 10 years!

Essential for me!

Ramp that one person can pick up.
Lots of horse room. Headroom, length.
Telescopic partitions
Cut through
Windows on both sides of horse area.
Angled partition between living and horse area- makes more room!
Lights
Cupboard
Seat with storage
Saddle racks etc

My lorry is simple but works. However we don't stay away!
 
vic07 said:
Oh and a tilt cab!
Click to expand...

But what lorry actually does have a tilt cab! They all lie - we were told ours tilted, but you'd have to take the whole damn thing apart to make it tilt!

How many horses do you intend to carry? I wish I had gone for a more minimal build, as my lorry will weigh in at 5800 kg when empty, so I have a reasonably good payload, but occasionally I'd like to travel 3 and if I had gone without some of the cupboards etc I reckon I could have got it down to 5500kg, giving me a bigger payload.

I never use the fridge as I can't light the damn thing easily, and for weekends away in the summer I take a small outdoor bbq, and rarely use the 4 hobs that were installed (also can't bear the smell of cooking in the lorry so nicer to cook outside).

But if you only ever want to travel two, then you can have more things in the living.
 
We did our ourselves and my essentials were:

best chassis we could get and one that was relatively easy to maintain - OH is mechanic fortunately
tilt cab - yes our does properly tilt, it doesn't have a luton so not the best looking but is practical
tack locker in living not in horse area - hate tack lockers that take up the horse's space
well fitted horse area, lots of lighting, external load light
in the people area - I didn't really have any essentials other than storage but now that I have one find a hob, sink and loo all pretty essential. We used the fridge and cooker a lot in the past though haven't stayed overnight that much recently.
Payload of course - total and over both axles - that probably should be first priority
Find the external water supply for horse very useful both for drinking water for them but also for washing when you have a grey.
 
Having just picked mine up last month. It is a little lorry but has a external tack locker. Had it placed under the sink/hob unit. The back comes off the seating to turn into small double for my very very occasional nights away.Has telescopic partitions, had it built with extra hight on lorry as my largest horse is 17.3hh. Has reversing camera and internal horse area camera. Lighting in living and horse area. Isolator fitted helps with battery life. Rug rack. I am sure many more points but at the moment can’t think of them.
 
Having had a box built from new. I'd be wary of doing it again. Some of these companies that build lorries at a lower cost than Oakley for example, don't build to the same standard. The lorries looked fantastic ,however when we got it the
paint blistered after a few months. The lightweight rubber lining the horse area was that thin the horses just shredded it. It was also too heavy and would only take one horse legally. Things in the living fell off, central heating broke down etc
We sold it and bought a second hand Oakley. If we'd done that in the first place we'd have saved ourselves a lot of money.
All I'd say is do lots of research and look at a few builds. For what we paid for a new build, we'd have got a 4 yr old Oakley with low mileage which would hold it's value more.
Good look with whatever you decide.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I think I'm getting an idea of what I want/need finances depending! I have 2 horses a 16hh good traveler and a 16.3hh slightly dodgy loader. They probably weigh about 1250 together but will most likely only have 1 horse on 75% of the time and both 25% of the time so do need a decent payload to accommodate this which means I'm looking at another 7.5t. The guy I'm thinking of using has built boxes for 5 of my friends and none of them have a bad word to say about him which is encouraging when parting with scary amounts of cash!
I think the main thing from the idea on here is whether I need to review whether I would need the underfloor storage. I don't have it on my current box but maybe its something I should reconsider!
 
Don't forget a wardrobe long enough to hang show jackets in and make sure the saddle rack is high enough for a dressage saddle to fit.
Lots of smaller cupboards are good for storing things tidily ie boots, numnahs, booze!
Remind them to put horse ties where you want them. My friend didn't get any and mine were in the wrong place.
 
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