If you want to trailer your boat abroad, you need to do a bit of research. Mike Pullen explains the basics . . .Monday, 16 May 2011 16:06
The legal requirement for a trailer to carry EU type approval is already a long established law in mainland Europe and its arrival in the UK is long overdue. After all, a trailer is a road-going vehicle and thousands of people happily dig them out (in some cases quite literally), hitch them up to the car and embark on the twice annual pilgrimage of collecting / delivering the boat to the preferred place of launch / winter storage. The expectation is that this beast of burden will perform without issue, while being towed at warp speed around our fair isle with intermittent dunks in salt water with little or no maintenance. As the only ‘developed’ EU country not to have any legislation relating to the construction of its trailers, this was never a tenable situation.
Well the guys at SBS Trailers are only too aware of the legion of incidents that occur on or around Easter as the boating season gets underway - and a brisk trade is done on the immediate dispatch of bearings, brakes and other necessary evils to keep the old girl going for just one more year. But all that may be about to change, as we are inexorably embraced by the clutches of Brussels and our weakening legislation becomes morphed with that of our Euro cousins.
So what will change?
Most countries require the trailer to carry its own form of registration (different from the tow vehicle) to indicate that the trailer is registered in its own right. Other countries require the trailer to undergo the equivalent of an MOT on a regular basis. And while none of that currently exists in the UK, that is all set to change. Soon, manufacturers will need to submit their trailers for single or whole type approval. Approved trailers will then carry an identification mark to show that they comply with this standard and manufacturers will be able to issue a Certificate of Conformity.
It’s almost ten years since Mitsubishi revealed its new-generation Shogun - and this means plenty of affordable examples on the used market. It’s tempting too. The 2000 model was the first Shogun to use a monocoque design for extra refinement, a smoother on-road ride and a more modern feel. And this was aided by fully independent suspension and a brand new 4x4 set-up - now fully electronic, with rear and all-wheel drive modes for on-road use, plus two centre-diff-locking modes for offroading.
Think of a Mitsubishi 4x4 and you probably conjure up images of the full-size Shogun and the L200 pick-up. But now there’s another, in the chunky shape of the ASX - a compact crossover that Mitsubishi hopes will steal sales away from the Nissan Qashqai - and it definitely shows promise. By ignoring the 1.6-litre petrol version and going straight for the 1.8 DID turbo-diesel, it offers the world’s first production diesel engine with variable valve timing - which means it combines the power of a bigger engine with the economy and emissions of a smaller unit.
