On 15/05/2018 13:19, David wrote:
On Tue, 15 May 2018 11:42:35 +0000, David wrote:

Many years ago I made a temporary trailer cover from one of those cheap
blue plastic woven sheets, some plastic "bang together" green eyelets
and a length of bungee cord. Oh, and Gaffer Tape reinforced corners.
The bungee cord snapped the other day and the cover was more or less
destroyed by being dragged along the road until we noticed this (nobody
flashed us up to warn us - did they assume this was some kind of
prototype road cleaning device?).
I need a new trailer cover. I could produce a similar version if I can
find all the bits in the mountain of crap but I am looking at
alternatives which might also make the trailer more secure.
The first thought is a piece of marine ply with wooden bits (batten?) to
fit inside the trailer and possibly a hinge/padlock arrangement.
Anyone done this kind of thing or made/bought another type of cover?

Trailer is approximately 1250 mm long by 1050 mm wide external
measurements.

I do have a lot of spare bits of wood, just not marine ply. One
alternative would be painted WBP, which seems to last well as outside
fencing on building sites.

Supplemental - if I go for a wood cover then I could need something to
securely clamp it.
Conveniently there is channel all the way round the side and a hook would
fit neatly into it.
So what I might need is something which is apparently called a "toggle
latch".
https://www.protex.com/toggle-latches
However these seem to be designed to work with a "toggle" (I assume) not
just hooking over a side channel. I can screw things to the galvanised
trailer but would prefer not to if possible.

I went for drilling and bolting hinges on.

The lid was just bigger than the trailer, with battens that fitted over
the trailer. On one side it was hinged to the trailer with lift-off
hinges (the battens prevented it being slid off when the lid was shut.
On the other side were hasps and padlocks. Ideal for leaving for a short
while at motorway services and the like.

Another thing I did was to make wooden panels. Three bolted together and
had threaded rods in the bottom edge to bolt down to the top edge of the
trailer and the fourth slid onto hinges on the rear, drop-down panel. A
couple of toggle latches held it into a box shape, giving 18" extension
sides that could be fitted or removed in about 15 minutes. A duplicate
set of hinges and hasps on the sides allowed the lid to go onto that if
needed. Once the lid was on, the rear panel could not be opened, even if
the latches were opened.

Unfortunately, some scrote nicked it from my parents' when they'd
borrowed it to collect a Christmas tree.

I haven't made replacement sides or top for my current trailer, as my
father has bought his own trailer and I made sides and top for that. So
I use my own trailer for dirty stuff, such as taking rbbish to the tip
and I nip round and borrow his for moving clean stuff or where I need
the extra height or a lid.

SteveW