(not so) top secret project xqz1 - LG car-B-cue

[nucleustylzlude]

Yes! Been seeing a few of these on various sites recently.

[wurlycorner]

Here's a thing...
Since 2012, if you build a trailer you have to get an IVA from VOSA (or whatever the government has decided to rename them as now)
To book an IVA you need to have registered the vehicle with the DVLA (no longer called the DVLA either, I think).
After passing the IVA, VOSA would then issue you with VIN plates.

Now I had a cunning thought here...

This thing currently is still registered with the DVLA, so it has a VIN...
The V5C has a section on it where you can advise on changes made to the vehicle...


Might be able to cut out the new registration issue, I thought! So I rang VOSA/not VOSA last week to sound them out. After 17 mins of ring tone, I gave up.

Today I tried again and after about 10 seconds got through to a lovely sounding Welsh lass.
I talked her through my plans and idea and she said she didn't know and would need to check with the DVLA, would I like her to do that now? Blimey, yes please... (cue expecting long time on hold, no answer at the end etc.) about 20 seconds later she comes back and says, yes that should be fine. In fact, if I take lots of pics of before, during and after (including ones that show that it's been well manufactured/not bodged) and keep receipts of any bits etc and include all that along with the v5c... Then I might well not even need to do an IVA and they'll just change everything and reclassify the car with all the info, for me

I was well impressed

[bb1boy]

That's a great little workaround, good job buddy

[mercutio]

yeah it seems it depends on who you get to speak to at the dvla as to the service you get great news though

[simonc]

I don't know about that Heston chappy, but I think our Iain and St. Bono bear an uncanny likeness. You be the judge folks.

[wurlycorner]

I think the safety glasses are a good look. I might stick with them
now if only I can work out how to get the millions that Bono has, too...


But yep, back on the registration front... That means (from a legal perspective) it's now easier to cut a car up and turn it into a trailer, than it is to build a proper trailer yourself

[W1ggz]

Nice Iain that's going to look great once complete. Have you put together a list yet of what you will likely need so we could all have a dig through our garage stashes

[wurlycorner]

Still working ideas out...

First thing I need really is the front end off a decent A frame trailer, complete with a good tow hitch that isn't worn (a proper solid cast one, rather than the crappy pressed steel ones).
I need to have a good look to work out how that can then be attached as well though, because that might affect what size is needed. Ideally I think it would be welded into the exposed ends of the sills, but not looked closely enough to see how that can be done, yet. NB: the trailer will be 'unbraked', so needs to stay below 750kg. (I have retained all the original handbrake mechanism though, so we can use that for parking up/storage etc )


Other than that, the main bits will be to look into options around genny's, fridges and solution for the BBQ itself.
Genny needs to be something with some decent power output and one that won't need playing with every time you want to start it (since it will be partially buried away inside the vehicle).
Ideally the fridge would be able to run off 12v and either 110v or 240v, so it can be cooling on the drive to the show (from the car supply) and turn up ready to go
Size is quite a key on both those though, I need to take some basic dimensions for the space available.
The idea is that the genny is well soundproofed inside its own sort of 'sub container' in the trailer, so it doesn't body lemonade us all off while running. That means it will need some thought on getting exhaust fumes and heat out though... I also want to have the genny running off the cars own fuel tank, so we don't have to faff about running out to top it up all the time.


Some heat shield boarding will also be needed, to line bits around the boot area.

I've wondered about having a separate lockable water proof box mounted somewhere in the front of the trailer, that we can set up with loads of phone charge points inside and wired in.
So we'd need some kind of combined charger supply and then all the connectors (probably limit that to micro usb's and the iphone 4 and iphone 5/6 connectors only, these days?)

[Confused]

Take a look at the triple-fed (aka caravan) fridges - that run from 12v, mains, or gas.

Ideally, you want to start off with as quiet a generator as possible, this keeps the additional noise reduction required to a bare minimum. This might be where you need to consider spending a little bit more money up front, rather than spending it later on trying to make it quiet.

A burger van I used to use occasionally when I was in the office used a Honda generator, which sat in the back of his HiLux Surf - from 6ft away, you could barely hear it.

By "from the car's fuel tank" do you mean the tow car, or the cut-down-now-a-trailer fuel tank? Assuming the trailer's fuel tank, and a gravity-fed generator, you'll probably want a low-pressure fuel pump in the original tank, which fills something like a swirl pot - the generator then would probably need to be fed from this by gravity, with some clever placement of the swirl pot, this could be done passively, by siphoning the fuel direct into the generator's fuel tank to maintain a consistent fuel level in the generator's tank. Of course, you'll need to keep all this away from any heat sources, like a bbq...

[W1ggz]

I may have a genny I could donate I'll send you some pics tomorrow