Van conversions - anyone have one?

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Farma

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I have seen a few lovely looking van conversions that claim to carry 2 16.2 horses etc - does anyone have one or use one? What do they drive like with the horses on? Are they spacious enough inside? What do they turn like with weight and what happens if 1 of the horses have a little wobble?

I want to change my trailer to a lorry but because of the lez I cant afford the type that I need but the van conversion is def within reach.

Any info gratefully received!

xx
 
A lot of people are very anti these type of lorries, but I have one and love it. It is a renault master van conversion and drives like a dream. Also because it is low to the ground it seems to give the horses a very smooth ride and have yet to find a horse that doesn't travel well in it. It is econmical to run, cheap to insure, and my normal garage can service and mot it so no need for plating etc.
The thing you have to watch out for is the payload - mine has one of 1200kg, so would find it hard to travel 2 larger horses in it especially when you add on the weight of tack, water, passengers etc. Also, although they do have the same dimensions of an Ifor Williams H505, I would not travel anything bigger than 15.2hh in it. I have 2 14.2hh's so it suits me down to the ground, but would probably sell it if I bought a larger horse.
There has been some press about horses rearing up and getting stuck over the back bar, so would look for one with a collapsible bar/partition so that the horse can be removed through the back doors. However I have seen some horrendous accidents with all types of trailers and lorries so always feel that transporting horses is only as safe as the horse is sensible.
Good luck in your search!
 
LisW said:
Yes got one & will physically fit 2 x 16.2's in it - but would be overweight. Drives great.
Click to expand...

Thanks do you know what the rough weight is of them and what that leaves you with?
Some of them say 3.5t with 1.2k payload - does that sound right to you?
 
Sidney said:
A lot of people are very anti these type of lorries, but I have one and love it. It is a renault master van conversion and drives like a dream. Also because it is low to the ground it seems to give the horses a very smooth ride and have yet to find a horse that doesn't travel well in it. It is econmical to run, cheap to insure, and my normal garage can service and mot it so no need for plating etc.
The thing you have to watch out for is the payload - mine has one of 1200kg, so would find it hard to travel 2 larger horses in it especially when you add on the weight of tack, water, passengers etc. Also, although they do have the same dimensions of an Ifor Williams H505, I would not travel anything bigger than 15.2hh in it. I have 2 14.2hh's so it suits me down to the ground, but would probably sell it if I bought a larger horse.
There has been some press about horses rearing up and getting stuck over the back bar, so would look for one with a collapsible bar/partition so that the horse can be removed through the back doors. However I have seen some horrendous accidents with all types of trailers and lorries so always feel that transporting horses is only as safe as the horse is sensible.
Good luck in your search!
Click to expand...


Thanks alot - I have a 16'1 500k horse but would likely take someone along with me to different places. You're right about safety - I take that on board and am selling my trailer because I simply dont feel like its that safe. I dont want to scrimp on space for money but my horse fits in an ifor 505 no problem but I have a 510 just because its sooo roomy. Lots to consider!
 
I have one too. I travel a 16.3 in one, but just on his own. There is room for two, but as said above, weight wise you would be over the limit. I only ever travel one horse at a time though so it is not really a problem for me.

The van drives brilliantly, you don't realise you have a horse in the back. It is easy to reverse also !

My box has a collapsable breast bar so that if the worst does happen there is an emergency exit.
 
Farma said:
I have seen a few lovely looking van conversions that claim to carry 2 16.2 horses etc - does anyone have one or use one? What do they drive like with the horses on? Are they spacious enough inside? What do they turn like with weight and what happens if 1 of the horses have a little wobble?

I want to change my trailer to a lorry but because of the lez I cant afford the type that I need but the van conversion is def within reach.

Any info gratefully received!

xx
Click to expand...


We bought a 3.5t renault master conversion last october and its been great for us. We travel one big 16'3 horse in it. We also wanted something that was lez compliant, as we live in the low emissions zone.
When i looked into it the safest bet seemed to be getting a 3.5t conversion registered after january 2002 as this is automatically deemed lez complaint if/when the new lez rules do eventually come into force ( january next year i think)
At least thats what it seemed to be when i researched it last october.
We ended up with a two year old build on a 2004 plate.
non regrets its been brill.
 
lagartijamick said:
We bought a 3.5t renault master conversion last october and its been great for us. We travel one big 16'3 horse in it. We also wanted something that was lez compliant, as we live in the low emissions zone.
When i looked into it the safest bet seemed to be getting a 3.5t conversion registered after january 2002 as this is automatically deemed lez complaint if/when the new lez rules do eventually come into force ( january next year i think)
At least thats what it seemed to be when i researched it last october.
We ended up with a two year old build on a 2004 plate.
non regrets its been brill.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this - I noticed the 2012 ruling also - do you ever travel 2 horses in yours? When you have 1 horse in does it corner ok if the weight is on the outside? (does that make sense>?)
 
Farma said:
Thanks for this - I noticed the 2012 ruling also - do you ever travel 2 horses in yours? When you have 1 horse in does it corner ok if the weight is on the outside? (does that make sense>?)
Click to expand...

Our 16'3 is big boned so due to weight concerns we have only traveled him on occasion with a small pony, would not try and put another big horse in with him as would be overweight (tack, passenger etc).

As for cornering, you have to slow down for those anyway so the horse doesn't loose balance too much (rear facing) so I just take the corners and roundabouts slow and watch my mirrors. I haven't had any issues.
I usually drive a sports car so its actually been quite an eye opener driveing the horsebox!!

I would reccomend hiring a van conversion for a day from someone before buying. We did this just to make sure the horse would load in one ok and was happy travelling rear facing. It was also good for us to make sure it ws what we wanted.

also before you buy check the size of the horse area is as advertised and what you need as we saw at least one that was smaller than advertised (take a tape measure when viewing)
 
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I have the coach built master and its great. Corners well with just my 17h big boy in. The best conversions have a payload of between 1100-1200kg. The worst (as mentioned in previous threads, can have as low as 700kg payload.
 
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