Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: prestige cleaners on November 01, 2013, 05:02:31 pm
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Im thinking of selling my van with wfp system, getting a camper van and using a trolley instead. i am imagining the pro's and cons, but wondered what your views are? its not something i can do on the cheap to try before i commit either. there about £500 for a cheap system. i have thought about making my own, with a sack truck, not sure if thats a good idea either? unless someone could send me some ideas, pics?
with a van and tank, i know how convenient it is, just plug into mains when you get home, charge battery, next day pull up at house, reel out, job done.
im imagining the trolley will be a pain if i use peoples outside taps, if they have one, then that means a really expensive system to filter and di it. or the cheaper ones, where you have to filter the water into a load of barrells.
the reason i want to do this is just to have one van on the road, i used to have a camper as well as my van, but the cost of 2 vans on the road was a bit crippling. so im toying with this idea!
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How often do you use ur wfp ? Everyday ?
How often you gona use the camper ? Not very often ?
Why make work so much harder.
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yeah i can imagine its going to be a nightmare, with access, and all the rest of it. just had a thought of a smaller upright tank shouldnt take up much room? will look into that.
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1. Don't do it.
2. If you must then get/build a trailer system, not a trolley.
3. Don't do it. The time you spend using a trolley over a van will be about an hour plus per day - at £30 per hour just 4 days a week over 4 weeks = about £500 a month in possible revenue earning time lost. That will pay for you to keep both vehicles on the road. Sorted.
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Don't do it
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my advise would be as above, thats not a good idea, the person with relevent experience is dazmond, he has worked trad trolly and van mount, he will advise better.
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I think your mad as well.don't do it unless you want to make ur work harder and slower than it needs to be!
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Work van = livelihood/income
Camper van = hobby
You want to compromise your income for your hobby....?
Please dont, once you've used van mount you'll find using a trolley all day, everyday, very counter productive
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if its an ro/di trolley you mean where you just connect to tap and away you go, i have one, cost £3000 , it weighs an tonne and is serious hard work just getting it out the van once. i use it as a static to fill up my tank on van, handy to have but definately no good for every day use
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I went down the sack truck route and have used it daily for the last 7 or 8 years. I used to run both a car and van, but now use a car and trailer. The trailer has a ramp will carry the trolley and 14 x 25 ltr containers. The trolley carries 2 containers and has it's own hose reel. A van mount would not suit my round, I would need to have a 200meter hose to use a van mount on some jobs.
A well designed trolley system can be every bit as good if not better than a van mount.
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I used a trolley for 2 years when I first started... Then I changed to a van system - It was only then that I realised using a trolley was a nightmare compared to a van system! - DON'T DO IT!!
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i take my hat off to dai!how old are you now?65,70 years of age?and still using a trolley system.
not for me.a year using a trolley was enough.for most of us having the largest tank in your van and 100m of microbore is the only way.
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If you enjoy camping in a van why not just hire one should work out cheaper than owning one!
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i take my hat off to dai!how old are you now?65,70 years of age?and still using a trolley system.
not for me.a year using a trolley was enough.for most of us having the largest tank in your van and 100m of microbore is the only way.
71 mate. I now work from the top of the estate down if it's on a hill. I am still using this but the battery now sits above the truck axle, and I have stainless tubes going into the containers.
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=10611.msg78465#msg78465
There are some pics in the above link.
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Thanks for advice guys, my plan is now to to buy a lwb camper van like a sprinter, lt35, crafter type, and fitting a 400L upright tank. Downsizing from a 650L. The only nightmare with that now is parking and access for some jobs in such a big van. my scudo is the perfect size for window cleaning. maybe get a trolley for those hard to park jobs? or maybe get a ducato boxxer as a compromise on the size?
I will be using the van most weekends for mountain biking.
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Thanks for advice guys, my plan is now to to buy a lwb camper van like a sprinter, lt35, crafter type, and fitting a 400L upright tank. Downsizing from a 650L. The only nightmare with that now is parking and access for some jobs in such a big van. my scudo is the perfect size for window cleaning. maybe get a trolley for those hard to park jobs? or maybe get a ducato boxxer as a compromise on the size?
I will be using the van most weekends for mountain biking.
I bought a Pennine pullman folding camper for under £600. This is a brilliant bit of kit, sleeps 6 and just like a caravan, but a lot easier to tow.
Have a look on ebay, usually a few for sale.
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I used a trolley for 2 years when I first started... Then I changed to a van system - It was only then that I realised using a trolley was a nightmare compared to a van system! - DON'T DO IT!!
but you used it for 2x years and made money yeah?? I'm using a trolley as I'm 70% wfp and the rest trad and making serious wedge, I borrowed a mates van/mount for a days trial a few weeks back,bloody hated it - give me my way all the time.....so how can you say Don't do it ......
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UPDATE =
Took the plunge and bought a mwb (20ft) high top transit 56 plate, ex network rail crew cab, 100k miles, for £6k, spent about £2k on the engine and fitting it out, its split in half with a thick ply line, so all the wfp stuff in back, and bed, microwave, cooker, heater, sink, kettle, toaster, etc in middle. (most of that was already fitted professionally too)
Ive lost about 6 jobs because of access, but i'm glad i did it, great for mountain biking and camping in the summer, just need to insulate it properly when i get the chance.
also sold the scudo for £2800.
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UPDATE =
Took the plunge and bought a mwb (20ft) high top transit 56 plate, ex network rail crew cab, 100k miles, for £6k, spent about £2k on the engine and fitting it out, its split in half with a thick ply line, so all the wfp stuff in back, and bed, microwave, cooker, heater, sink, kettle, toaster, etc in middle. (most of that was already fitted professionally too)
Ive lost about 6 jobs because of access, but i'm glad i did it, great for mountain biking and camping in the summer, just need to insulate it properly when i get the chance.
also sold the scudo for £2800.
I presume you mean that you switched to a trolley. Not sure why access should be a problem if you can connect a portable hosereel to the trolley if needed - assuming there's room for a rell of course. I remember that it used to be possible to buy a 125 litre trolley . This could be strapped in as a mini van mount. Of course, without seeing your setup it's hard to tell what's possible. I used to use a trolley briefly which had an easily removable battery. I just swapped them over at night leaving one in the trolley and one on charge as I live in a flat in a poor parking area. I would usually just hook the reel up to the trolley and join them with a piece of loose hose with connectors on either end. There's usually a way around things to make work a bit lighter.
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Glad you updated the thread. Been waiting ages for an update ;D ;)
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In a camper van you have seat boxes or a larger van could have a fixed bed. Under such things you could easily store a tank and pumps.
Motox vans are a good start but are on large size. Vans are not that much bigger than a car unless you are talking xlwb mercs or lts. You take a look at a Mondeo estate and a mwb transit, much the same length.
I can`t judge on the trolley idea as I don`t think that a 125 litre trolley is that heavy, after all it`s a lot lighter than I am.