Highway Trailer Design

Which Way To Go

Never having had a car trailer before, we needed to figure out what we really needed. The first decision was whether to go with an all aluminum trailer, or one made from steel. A steel trailer is considerably cheaper than an aluminum one, but its weight is also considerably more. Our coach had a towing limit of 15,000 pounds (6800kg.), so it was easy to work backwards from there to see what the tare weight of the trailer had to be.

The Defender weighed 6800 pounds (3000 kg.) We figured the off-road trailer would weigh around 1500 to 1800 pounds (680 to 800 kg.) Add in another 700 pounds (320 kg.) of gear, ramps and lift build, and we have a total load of around 9300 pounds (4200 kg.) So taking the towing maximum of 15,000 pounds minus our load of 9300 pounds and that gives us a maximum trailer tare weight of 5700 pounds (2600 kg.) Which rules out the steel trailer option. It would exceed the allowable tare weight of 5700 pounds by a significant amount.

After talking with a couple of aluminum trailer manufacturers, we learned that an enclosed aluminum car trailer with the tall height would weigh between 4500 and 4800 pounds (2000 to 2200 kg.) So this gives us a safety margin of around 1000 pounds (450 kg.) when considering our heaviest estimated load.

After looking at the different companies making aluminum trailers, we decided to go with the Aluminum Trailer Company (ATC), as they appeared to have a better quality product than most. They weren't at the top of the list, but anyone better was getting into the super customized race trailers realm of the professional race teams, and far above our needs and budget.

Establishing the Build Specifications

Working with the design department at ATC was certainly a better experience than what we had with the exploration truck builder. The ATC engineers really knew their business, and figuring out what we needed and what they could provide us with, was quick and easy. One of the advantages of working with ATC was that their base of operations was just down the street from a painting company that does painting for Newmar, the company that made our motorhome. This meant that getting a matching paint job on the trailer was going to be easier than we thought. Once the trailer was built, they just had to tow it a few blocks down the street to the paint shop, and that part of the job could be looked after.

Determining the Paint Scheme

The paint job on the trailer was actually a two company process. Precision Painting would do the actual paint application, but another company, Apex Graphics, would prepare and produce the various masks that would be used by the painters to create the finished job.

The painting would be very technical, using five different colours, some fading in and out of others. Once done, and finished with a clear coat, no ridges will exist from one colour to another. It's the difference between a truly professional job, and one that's just average.