Transporting long things

[Sideways Tim]

We've got to shift a tipi - no problem thinks me, but then I realise that the poles are 7m long. How the fk do you transport something like that? The rest of it will bundle into our Berlingo van, but having 2m of poles poking out over the front and the rear concurrently doesn't fill me with glee.

I've a couple of other ideas, but has anyone done similar and if so, how?

[Red9zero]

If it ain't right, shift it at night

Try Shiply maybe ?

[Sideways Tim]

Red9zero said:

If it ain't right, shift it at night

Try Shiply maybe ?

That would be my normal M.O. but it’s got to move about 200 miles

Shiply don’t seem to be coming up trumps, nor do any other couriers.

[fat80b]

How far and how often?

I tend to just strap things to the roof of the car with ratchet straps. Have transported Sofas, building materials, and most recently a water rower machine (full of water) this way.

Granted none of them are quite 7M long and the longest trip I've done this way is about 20 miles, but if it was a short-ish or infrequent trip, I'd just strap it down, tie a bit of cloth on the sticky out bits and and get moving...

7M is only 1M overhang at both ends officer..

[Simon_GH]

2 metres front and rear is the length of a smallish car. Have you got a trailer so the front can extend to the length of the bonnet and the rear will have overhanging the trailer and therefore protect people behind?

[Simon_GH]

The drastic option is to cut the poles in half after you’ve found a reliable and reusable method to reconnect them.

[Lefty]

Hire a big trailer?

[Sideways Tim]

Trailer is looking most likely, in the style of towing a boat with a long mast. However, it’s knocking on a 500 mile round trip, so fuel and time costs are worth considering.

Shiply is working now and the first quote is £220. That doesn’t seem like bad value to me.

[Tafford]

Buy a 7m+ long motorhome and put them on the roof?

[Sideways Tim]

Simon_GH said:

The drastic option is to cut the poles in half after you ve found a reliable and reusable method to reconnect them.

That was my first thought, swiftly followed by just getting some new posts locally. They re not cheap though!

[Sideways Tim]

Tafford said:

Buy a 7m+ long motorhome and put them on the roof?

[Lefty]

Sideways Tim said:

Trailer is looking most likely, in the style of towing a boat with a long mast. However, it s knocking on a 500 mile round trip, so fuel and time costs are worth considering.

Shiply is working now and the first quote is £220. That doesn t seem like bad value to me.

Yeah that’ll be your cheapest bet by miles. Hiring a trailer plus the fuel will be a lot more than that.

[Ste-EVo]

Hire a long wheelbase van and strap them to the roof perhaps?

Failing that, try a small haulage firm to see if they need/want any 'backloads' and can accommodate your poles?

[Sideways Tim]

Ste-EVo said:

Hire a long wheelbase van and strap them to the roof perhaps?

Failing that, try a small haulage firm to see if they need/want any 'backloads' and can accommodate your poles?

snigger

[Snow and Rocks]

If you have a roof rack then I'd just strap it on the top and carry on. Assuming a Berlingo is about 4.5m long then that only leaves 1.25 overhang at each end. That's well within legal limits assuming you tie a high vis marker to the end.

Also worth checking the pole doesn't split in two - the ones for our traditional canvas marquee do.

See screenshot of regs below.

Edited by Snow and Rocks on Sunday 31st May 17:09

[Lefty]

Snow and Rocks said:

If you have a roof rack then I'd just strap it on the top and carry on. Assuming a Berlingo is about 4.5m long then that only leaves 1.25 overhang at each end. That's well within legal limits assuming you tie a high vis marker to the end.

Also worth checking the pole doesn't split in two - the ones for our traditional canvas marquee do.

See screenshot of regs below.

Edited by Snow and Rocks on Sunday 31st May 17:09

Ohhhh that’s really interesting, thanks

[Rich1973]

Contact haulage companies and ask them if they could chuck them in a trailer on a run that's roughly from / to where you want the poles to go?

[Bill]

I'd also put them on the roof but use a ladder to support them. Roof bars are about a metre apart so there's 3m bouncing up and down each end.

[Sideways Tim]

Thanks all. It’s a remote deal, so we’ve not even seen it in the flesh. I’m reluctant to rely on someone else’s guess work as to the dimensions and weight of it. All we’ve been told is ‘super heavy’ Now for me that’s 400kg, for my daughter it’s about the weight of a washing machine!
Looking like borrowing a trailer and loading as much onto that and sticking the small bits into the back of the Volvo. Berlingo has no towbar or roof rack either.
As much as I’d like to pay someone else to do the job, I think we’ll be happier doing it ourselves, at least we can think on our feet and make it work when we turn up and find it’s in the belfry of a 13th century chapel or some ste.

Keep the ideas coming though

[Gompo]

Admittedly I think these were more like 8m long.