As I've just been and bought some sheet materials I thought I'd post some pics of how I transport them.
No big deal I hear you say but if you look carefully you'll see the a blue spacer bar under the bottom sheet.
The spacers are just a couple of 4ft 1inch long lengths of timber with a notch cut in the end so the depth between the notches is 4 ft. The reason I use the spacers is they center the sheets on the trailer stops the load moving and means I can really put some tension in the ratchet straps without damaging the corners. I did once loose a load off a trailer so don't want to repeat that. If I was only carrying foam I'd have made up another pair to put on the top prevent the corners being damaged.
The trailer is not quite 5 ft long but easily carries 8x4 sheets. The ratchet straps are from Lidl. When I unload I might post a picture of the spacers.
I have the ERDE 122, i never thought of transporting 8x4 sheets on it though.
I dont know what the capacity of the indespension units on it are, must check.
Its a bit shorter and narrower than the 143 but you might manage 8x4 sheets on it. Payload on the 122 is a third of a tonne so weight isn't an issue for a few sheets.
The sheets will have to go quite far back on the trailer to allow for turning, that will put a negative weight on the hitch so you need to put say a couple of 5 gallon water container filled with water strapped in so they stay at the front of the trailer to add weight.
This is great. I now realize that my 8x5 gardening trailer is actually both too big and too small at the same time! It almost fits a full sheet, but ISTR the last time I tried it the load bed was about 2cm too short.
Why manufacturers make trailers the sizes they to I really don't know. My Erde 143 is just a couple of centimeters too narrow to take a standard pallet, another trailer I had was like yours just fractionally too small to take 8x4. I know there is always going to be something that's too big for the trailer but changing the sizes of the designs just a little could make them much more useful.
Even if a trailer is so big it will take sheet material inside it can still be worth supporting the sheets with timber across the sides as it keeps the sheets out of any crap left in the bottom of the trailer.
Lumen wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:14 am
This is great. I now realize that my 8x5 gardening trailer is actually both too big and too small at the same time! It almost fits a full sheet, but ISTR the last time I tried it the load bed was about 2cm too short.
I cannot justify two trailers though.
I have a Daxara 218, wide enough but 'too short' with 2040mm x 1290mm internal dimensions, at first glance. Luckily the head and tailboard can be dropped to take 8 x 4 sheet goods.
kadman wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:14 pm
I have the ERDE 122, i never thought of transporting 8x4 sheets on it though.
I dont know what the capacity of the indespension units on it are, must check.
The real concern I'd have in stacking sheet goods on top of something as small as the 122 would be ANY kind of fishtailing. I had a plant trailer start line-dancing on me once with a heavy load too high on it. I'd pulled loads on it all over the UK and Ireland maybe a hundred times over the years and never a hint of bad manners. I got complacent. Just didn't think that day about CoG. Very well secured load, well placed on the trailer with good nose weight. Had to use the last ditch, sudden-death move to pull her hard up to speed and was thankful there was bagloads of power in the jeep. I'd spent a while trying to get it to settle a bit so I could slow, but the load had it swinging like a pendulum and it only got worse when the jeep slowed any. Managed to get it to a stop on the hard shoulder and had to get down on my knees when I got out of the jeep. Frightened the bejaysus out of me. 6500kg train weight would have made some mess on the motorway. My legs shook for 10 minutes after it. I'll never make the mistake again, big or small trailer, no matter.
Precisely why I would never do it. Its way too small to carry sheet material.
Its very light construction and suitable only for two bags of rubbish to the dump.