New Ifor Williams Designs-What Do We Think? :)

Fransurrey said:
Most of the pics are Discoveries, aren't they?
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They're mostly discoveries, the smaller trailer is shown with a red what looks like a tiguan :)


Edited to add: Beausmate, i did think it looked like a few of the trailers i saw from other countries parked at the pony euros at bishop...

Still think I prefer the look of the ifors we know and love and would want to wait a couple of years to see how these panned out before upgrading. Not that I will be upgrading as I've only just got mine!
 
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The first thing I thought was how much will the shiny black plastic scratch! my 506 scratches very easily, the lanes around here are awful fir braces.
 
taraj said:
The first thing I thought was how much will the shiny black plastic scratch! my 506 scratches very easily, the lanes around here are awful fir braces.
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Very true! The lanes round here are pretty overgrown, so we routinely get whacked by stray branches as we drive along. Plus, as said above, how robust is all that shiny perspex/glass going to be at stopping road debris etc from crashing into the body of the trailer. Hmmm.
 
I think I will stick to my trusty 505 which is about 14 years old, modified to include front windows on both sides, maintained every year and has never let me down. Its solid, reliable, well built and still going strong. I take good care of it and its done me very well.
 
Limited ventilation. I find that the small sliding windows fitted to IW511 makes a huge difference to airflow. The front windows on these pop out but they pop out at the back of the window so very little through air would make it in.
 
annagain said:
Yes- that's the only thing I'm not sure about - whether that big window is a good idea or not. I can imagine driving down a country land with a big tractor coming towards me and the horses not liking being able to see it. At least there are pretty solid looking bars on the inside so they won't think of it as an escape route!
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About 20 years ago we bought a secondhand "Cub" trailer that someone had imported from Australia. It had a huge window all across the front and was about 2 feet in height as well. All ours loved it and never had a bad traveller.
 
For everyone who likes them there will be someone who doesn't. We all have different trailer needs/likes/dislikes so the perfect trailer is unlikely to exist. As a fan of Bockmann trailers (on our second one) we don't need a front unload (but it is an essential for other people). This makes the trailer stronger, less likely to flex and quieter. The front windows are similar to a Bockmann and provide a good flow of through air without allowing flying insects (or other material) to enter. We would never travel our horses in a trailer with either the front top partition open or the back partition closed. A rolling blind works very well, can be positioned open, closed or partly closed, unlike opening flaps. There are no open flaps along the side of the trailer to catch on trees, or come loose in the wind, or rattle. The rotating rear ramp clamps are excellent, very safe, and clamp the back of the trailer into a very rigid state, again, reducing flexing, which makes the trailer much more stable when towing. As for the roof, on the one model it says it is GRP. This is very strong (if built properly) and much more rigid than the standard IW plastic roof. So, I think that there are a lot of positives about these, but not everyone will agree (but we live in a democracy so we are allowed to disagree). As for the prices (I haven't seen them so I don't have details) you generally get what you pay for. I have always felt that IW's were built down to a price, not up to a standard, while these look (on paper at least) comparable with the better European trailers. At least we have a choice.
 
rabatsa said:
The self lifting jockey wheel extra is well worth having. I am on my 2nd horse trailer with one and really miss it when using the sheep trailer.
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I agree - I have one on my Cheval Liberte trailer and it is a great feature. On occasion though I have found that if the trailer is parked on a slight incline that sometimes the wheel doesn't lock into place when being lowered down and just sort of knuckles under, which is a pain but one I am prepared to put up with now that I understand the cause and know how to avoid it.
I was sold on the Cheval Liberte trailer because of it's kerb weight and also because the front ramp opens out to the left and away from the road so in an emergency you are not potentially unloading into the traffic.
 
I'm not a huge fan.... but then again I'm not a big Ifor fan anyway... though I will be in the market soon as my Sinclair's heavy ramp is beginning to play on my back!
 
ARRoberts said:
[Content removed - suspected Marketing exercise by Cheval Liberte]
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I've been looking at the Bateson Ambassador (I think - front ramp but without tack locker) as I'd like a front ramp with my next trailer. Doesn't need to be huge - 16.2 tops to go in it :)
 
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I do t like rear unloading so would be a no for me u less it had a front ramp.

I have a ifor 505 that I bought in 2002. It’s till in sound condition and perfectly usable, chances are though I will be looking for a 3.5 box once it goes with all the carry on surrounding diesel cars and the 4x4 tax.
 
ARRoberts said:
[Content removed - suspected Marketing exercise by Cheval Liberte]
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Ah yes thank you - I also do really love the Cheval's but often found them out of my price range (pretty low!) though my Sinclair has just been fully renovated and is currently in super top condition so hoping it will fetch a semi-decent price to give me some to play with :D Thank you - I'll look into it :) xx
 
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nope, not that I could afford one but wouldn't waste my money, they look very tacky and flimsy and not really built to last.....but my horse hates ifor anyway, he would rather go in a heavy old rice for some reason!!!
 
also think my horse would freak on a motorway If he could see out of the shaded windows at lorries etc going past!!
 
Nothing wrong with "modern" materials.
I still got my now nearly 30 year old British made Sinclair trailer.
It has got an aluminium frame and plastisol panels. I have had it serviced regularly and changed the original floor for an Ifor Williams aluminium floor with rubber matting, 2 new axels as they corroded (not aluminium), new LED lighting and a new rear ramp.
It was the only light enough trailer, 650kg I could buy at the time to tow with a car.
I am hoping it will last until the end of my "transporting" days.
 
Had a proper good look at one at Liverpool, they do seem much lighter and spacious than older models but the wide view at the front would totally freak my horses out. The tinting does nothing for the horses inside and it’s a pretty (large) clear view of the road.

The awning was also nothing special...think it’s a bit or a rip off really and you’d be better off buying a caravan awning and fixing it on yourself.
 
annagain said:
I tow with a Defender 90 so space is at a premium and the back door fouls on the jockey wheel and gets sctratched. I have to drop the jockey wheel to open the car door and sometimes I forget , much to my husband's disgust - or I remember but then drive off with the jockey wheel down! .
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If I ever need to open the defender back door while hitched up, I put a towel over the jockey wheel then use a bungee cord (my oh kayaks so there’s always one in our defender) to tie the door to the handle of the jockey wheel. Takes seconds to do and no scratches or upset oh. Or get an equitrek then nothing other than people in the car, so you don’t need to use back door.
 
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