smallest demountable I've seen (1 Viewer)

[Welsh girl]

pulled by this red car, under the shade.
Here at a campsite in Tavira,Portugal,

 

[2657]

Don't look like a demountable to me, if you look just in behind the chairs there looks to be a towball hitch, but looks as though it would be a bit close to the tow vehicle. Just realised that the car is the tow vehicle so definitely not a demountable but a very strange caravan.
Or does it hitch to the roof bar on the car, can't see clearly in the pics, very strange!

 

[Judge Mental]

indeed..it has wheels

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[pappajohn]

It's a very primitive 5th wheel.

Expand the pic of the car ad there's a tube attached to a heavy roof bar on the roof and the trailer has a pin under the bulge.

Can't see clearly but looks a very unsafe coupling method to me

Could even be a regular ball and cup hitch but the cup is upside down on the roof and the ball points downwards on the trailer.

 

[Chockswahay]

It's a caravan!

 

[wizzer59]

Broken Link Removed clipcar

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[Judge Mental]

It's a caravan!

It is when booking a ferry also! I had demountables for years......this .....THIS..... is an abomination!

 

[2657]

Saw a thing on utube recently that was an old american pickup 'pimped' that looked like it had come from a scrap yard with a blown engine and used for drag racing. It towed a fifth wheel unit, but not, with a normal towball on a frame on the back of the pickup and an inverted hitch on the trailer. Don't think it would be legal here somehow!!

 

[pappajohn]

I also say not legal here.

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[BwB]

He must live there as we saw it at the same place last year. It didnt appear to move very often.

Its an unusual design but if it works for him...

 

[pappajohn]

 

[Welsh girl]

It does have a to tow hitch on it. Looks very small to live in, he's out all day so must work here.
As BWB says must live here, probably wouldn't be legal in the uk as you said Pappajohn.

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[Welsh girl]

It does have a to tow hitch on it. Looks very small to live in, he's out all day so must work here.
As BWB says must live here, probably wouldn't be legal in the uk as you said Pappajohn.

 

[DBK]

It's got a cat flap - so probably some sort of mobile pet carrier.

 

[Judge Mental]

cant see it being illegal...its a caravan surely?

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[Landy lover]

Its a clipcar and totally legal in the UK although a rarity here - made in France clips onto a special heavy duty roof rack on the car. The tow hitch in the truck for the 5 wheel is called a gooseneck and is very common over there for agricultural type trailers. A few of the early imports of 5'ers into the UK used this system but as they became more popular the standard 5th wheel artic hitch became the norm.

 

[2657]

Often wondered what a 'gooseneck' was, I have seen the term used before in relation to fifth wheelers.

 

[scotjimland]

I like it.. bet it tows beautifully ..

seen something similar made by a UK company on a French aire.. can't seem to find the maker..

another clipcar

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[pappajohn]

Its a clipcar and totally legal in the UK

To an extent......

In the U.K, with effect from 1st August 1998 all Passenger Carrying Vehicles up to 3500kgs Gross Vehicle Weight (M1 Vehicles) can only be fitted with European Type Approved towbars if the vehicle has received European Whole Vehicle Type Approval.

Design, Testing and Certification
The towbar manufacturer requires the following vehicle data to design a towbar:

1. Manufacturer's specified fixing points.
2. Gross vehicle weight or mass (GVW or GVM)
3. Gross Trailer Weight or Mass (GTW or GTM) that the model of vehicle can tow.

 

[Wildbill]

I fund this after a search don't know it accuracy

These were made illegal by the Road Traffic (Construction and use of vehicles) Regulations in 2003. These trailers do not use a conventional hitch but are connected to a bracket across the top of the car roof. This is not legal for a trailer under the construction and use Regulations as the entire weight of the trailer must be transmitted directly to the road surface by circular wheels. (In other words, the towing vehicle cannot be supporting any significant part of the weight of the trailer).

There are only three types of legal trailer; a “pig trailer” having one axle group near the middle of the length of its goods carrying surface, a “table top” trailer with more than one axel in the middle of the load carrying surface (such as a boat trailer or car trailer and some horse boxes) and a “dog trailer” which has four wheels, one at each corner. In all cases, the wheels must carry the weight of the load carried.

The “Clip cars” were popular in the 1970s and 80s as the vehicle could be connected sideways on and (possibly another reason they were outlawed), provided the vehicle was short enough, the car could be turned around completely including so that the car was pushing the trailer making parking easier although you couldn’t see ahead, where you were going.

 

[tonyidle]

The Clip car was never a trailer in that it had two points of attachment: one as you say on the roof and the other via conventional tow ball. The Clip car could not articulate and became, effectively, part of the car. They also made 4-wheel versions. Turning tightly must have been very hard on both the car rear tyres and those of the clip-on. I suspect understeer might have been a problem too.

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[scotjimland]

one in action.. effectively a motor home.. not a caravan

 

[Landy lover]

To an extent......

The clip car was discontinued in the 80's although various revivals have been tried. While your information is totally correct this applies only to conventional tow hitches that are made permanent structures to the framework of the car. The clip car attaches to a removable roof rack mounting so would not come under that legislation. The major risk I would consider would be overloading of the roof, many vehicle roofs have very specific maximum loading which is invariably very small