Hydratrail on eurotunnel

[Gaz56]

Hi has anyone taken a hydratrail scooter carrier on eurotunnell? Is it classed as a trailer or carrier? The difference is about a hundred quid if it's a trailer to a carrier. Thanks

[QFour]

IMHO If it's got wheels and it goes behind a vehicle it's a trailer. A carrier does not have wheels but sticks out from the back.

[Charles]

I agree, it's classed as a trailer. When we got on they looked under the scooter carrier for wheels. (At least that's what I thought he was looking for)

[Gaz56]

Have you got a hydratrail,? If so did you declare it as a trailer.

As it does not articulate & is not on a tow ball could it not be classed as part of the motorhome.?like a carrier.

Gary

 

[phalange]

only one way to find out for definate, try it and let us know how you get on.

[Derek Uzzell]

Gary

 

I would have thought that the answer is in the Hydratrail name and, although a Hydratrail may not articulate, it definitely has wheels and looks like a trailer.

 

If you could remove the wheels, or raise them off the ground, you might get away with arguing that “It’s just a scooter carrier”. But as long as the wheels are on the ground it’s going to be considered to be a trailer.

 

Suggest you contact Eurotunnel about this - send them a photo of the Hydratrail and ask them if they class it as a ‘trailer’ or as an integral part of a motorhome.

 

[Gaz56]

Thanks Derek

I have considered looking into removing the wheels just for the crossing, if it is deemed by eurotunnel to be a trailer. Was hoping someone out there had experienced taking one .

Gary

[MagHal]

Never used Eurotunnel however for info, Brittany ferries will consider an easy lifter with wheels to be a bike rack providing you book and report the overall train length and tick the bike rack box.

[DavidGJ]

I contacted Eurotunnel and described my Hydratrail to them, They were adamant that, as it has wheels on the ground it is a trailer, which I'm forced to agree, is commonsense.

 

It made the tunnel very expensive so I now use a ferry from Dover but the ferries I've used also treat it as a trailer. I'm not sure how anyone can deny that a bike carrier that has wheels is anything but a trailer.

 

It is also not possible to take off the wheels and drive a motorhome. When the Hydratrail is raised to remove the wheels there is a foot that is put in place.Remove this foot and the trailer sinks to the ground.

 

The other drawback is that French toll booth sensors recognised the extra wheels and moved me from Class 3 to Class 4 as it would with any other trailer.

[Gaz56]

I am looking into ways of locking the linkage in the raised position so that the jack can be removed with the wheels off!,!

[Eggy]

I've owned a hydra-trail for 5yrs and used P&O every year I just gave the overall length and never declared it as a trailer It was never queried also took it to the IOM 4 times the 1st trip I declared it as a trailer as I'd heard they are very strict, however whilst there checked with ferry booking office and was told just quote the overall length which I have done for the last 3 trips without a problem, they just get the tape measure out to check the overall length. Has saved me £70 pounds per trip.

Eggy

[MagHal]

Eggy - 2016-11-14 9:21 PM

 

I've owned a hydra-trail for 5yrs and used P&O every year I just gave the overall length and never declared it as a trailer It was never queried also took it to the IOM 4 times the 1st trip I declared it as a trailer as I'd heard they are very strict, however whilst there checked with ferry booking office and was told just quote the overall length which I have done for the last 3 trips without a problem, they just get the tape measure out to check the overall length. Has saved me £70 pounds per trip.

Eggy

 

The savings on Brittany ferries (Portsmouth to Caen) I've just checked aren't great. However I've done several trips booking it as a bike rack and no problems.

 

Quoted as trailer - £468

overall train length with a bike rack - £444

overall train length without bike rack - £428

[Derek Uzzell]

DavidGJ - 2016-11-14 4:40 PM

 

...The other drawback is that French toll booth sensors recognised the extra wheels and moved me from Class 3 to Class 4 as it would with any other trailer.

 

I wasn’t aware that French toll-booths had ‘axle counting’ sensors, but the information about vehicle classification

 

http://www.autoroutes.fr/en/vehicle-classification.htm

 

does indeed indicate that any Category 3 vehicle towing a trailer will be ‘reclassified’ as Category 4.

 

For what it’s worth (and it should not matter for UK motorcaravanners) I understand that the Hydratrail-type arrangement - that attaches to a tow-bar at two points rather than to a tow-ball - does not conform to French trailer regulations. This was asked about recently in a French motorhome magazine, where someone observed that two-point fixing would greatly simplify reversing. The editorial reply was that French castoring-wheel equivalents to the Hydratrail had to be towed via a tow-ball, but the manufacturers offered a couple of rubber ‘wedges’ that could be used to temporarily ‘lock’ the trailer rigidly in place and prevent it articulating when reversing.

[Gaz56]

It will cost £200 return for motorhome without trailer £400 with!!! That's for booking in April return in may.

[goldi]

Gaz56 - 2016-11-15 9:38 AM

 

It will cost £200 return for motorhome without trailer £400 with!!! That's for booking in April return in may.

 

 

good morning,

 

That explains why there are so few tuggers on Eurotunnel.

 

 

norm

[DavidGJ]

Derek Uzzell - 2016-11-15 9:10 AM

 

DavidGJ - 2016-11-14 4:40 PM

 

...The other drawback is that French toll booth sensors recognised the extra wheels and moved me from Class 3 to Class 4 as it would with any other trailer.

 

I wasn’t aware that French toll-booths had ‘axle counting’ sensors, but the information about vehicle classification

 

http://www.autoroutes.fr/en/vehicle-classification.htm

 

does indeed indicate that any Category 3 vehicle towing a trailer will be ‘reclassified’ as Category 4.

 

For what it’s worth (and it should not matter for UK motorcaravanners) I understand that the Hydratrail-type arrangement - that attaches to a tow-bar at two points rather than to a tow-ball - does not conform to French trailer regulations. This was asked about recently in a French motorhome magazine, where someone observed that two-point fixing would greatly simplify reversing. The editorial reply was that French castoring-wheel equivalents to the Hydratrail had to be towed via a tow-ball, but the manufacturers offered a couple of rubber ‘wedges’ that could be used to temporarily ‘lock’ the trailer rigidly in place and prevent it articulating when reversing.

 

There must be some kind of axle-counting sensor as unmanned automatic tollbooths have to be able to detect a trailer or tag axle motorhome. If I don't use my Hydratrail I'm always class 3, but when I use it I'm always charged as class 4.

 

[DavidGJ]

Gaz56 - 2016-11-14 5:31 PM

 

I am looking into ways of locking the linkage in the raised position so that the jack can be removed with the wheels off!,!

 

Good luck with that! If you carry the total weight of the Hydratrail and what may be a heavy motorcycle without the support of the wheels, there's every chance that, after going over a nasty bump, you may well find that your towing bracket has ripped itself from its fittings.

 

 

 

 

[Gaz56]

If I do find a way to do it within the weight limits of the tow bar it would only be for the duration of the crossing.

[Derek Uzzell]

DavidGJ - 2016-11-15 11:46 AM

 

Derek Uzzell - 2016-11-15 9:10 AM

 

DavidGJ - 2016-11-14 4:40 PM

 

...The other drawback is that French toll booth sensors recognised the extra wheels and moved me from Class 3 to Class 4 as it would with any other trailer.

 

I wasn’t aware that French toll-booths had ‘axle counting’ sensors, but the information about vehicle classification

 

http://www.autoroutes.fr/en/vehicle-classification.htm

 

does indeed indicate that any Category 3 vehicle towing a trailer will be ‘reclassified’ as Category 4.

 

For what it’s worth (and it should not matter for UK motorcaravanners) I understand that the Hydratrail-type arrangement - that attaches to a tow-bar at two points rather than to a tow-ball - does not conform to French trailer regulations. This was asked about recently in a French motorhome magazine, where someone observed that two-point fixing would greatly simplify reversing. The editorial reply was that French castoring-wheel equivalents to the Hydratrail had to be towed via a tow-ball, but the manufacturers offered a couple of rubber ‘wedges’ that could be used to temporarily ‘lock’ the trailer rigidly in place and prevent it articulating when reversing.

 

There must be some kind of axle-counting sensor as unmanned automatic tollbooths have to be able to detect a trailer or tag axle motorhome. If I don't use my Hydratrail I'm always class 3, but when I use it I'm always charged as class 4.

 

I wasn’t seeking to contradict you - I was just saying that I had been unaware that unmanned autoroute toll-booths had ‘axle-counting’ sensors. However, as it’s evident from the infomation about autoroute vehicle classification that any Class 3 vehicle towing anything should be reclassified as Class 4, if that reclassification is to be applied at an unmanned toll-booth there will need to be an automated method of identifying how many axles a vehicle has.