Some off y'all are, or will be, in the market for a trailer to pull behind your bus. I needed one to haul sales samples in and thought you might be interested in what I came up with. After 21 years in the trailer business I've seen it all and have definite opinions on what will and will not work.
My requirements were:
a. must be short enough to comply with asinine length laws
b. be built strong enough to withstand being jerked around with a 55,000# bus yet be light enough not to kill the bus
c. not cost an arm & a leg, (the bus payment is high enough)
To stay under most states length laws a 16' box with a 4' tongue is the longest thing that will work. I'd rather have 20' but the need to be incognito is more important. After all, you don't need Barney Fife asking for your log book, medical card, fuel permit, apportioned tags, DOT inspection, bill of lading, and who knows what else if they think you're commercial. The fines run into thousands of dollars.
Construction wise, an enclosed trailer is a box that is supposed to keep your stuff dry, and out of sight from prying eyes and sticky fingers. 90% of what's on the market is designed to be pulled with a pickup truck and to be used infrequently. It's also designed to be cheap to appeal to the masses. The outside walls are .030 aluminum, (Lew could bite a hole through it) the inside walls are 3/8" plywood or worse, 1/4" Luan, (read camper crap) and the stud between the 2 walls is a pc. of hat channel which is basically a flat pc. of sheet metal with a bump in the middle to keep it from collapsing. That's all that's between your stuff and the world. The floor is 3/4" UNTREATED plywood. There's no insulation in the walls or the roof so God help you if you need to be inside it in July.
The axles are 3500# with load range C 15" tires, and the
thing is rated to haul 5000# of payload, (for a very short distance.) The big players in the business are Wells Cargo, Pace, and Haulmark and they all offer a 3 year warranty. We call it a 50/50 warranty cause if it breaks in half you get to keep both pcs. I know what I'm talking about too because my company sells one of the unholy Trinity listed above. We got so tired of arguing with a major corporation trying to get them to stand behind their crappy product that I looked elsewhere for a line for customers that want better.
This Trailer is 8 1/2' wide, by 8' tall interior height, by 16' long inside. The frame is 1" square tubing, interior walls are 3/8" plywood, the exterior is diamond treadplate aluminum and the floor is 3/4" TREATED plywood. Axles are 7000# each, tires are 16" 10 ply radials. Floor crossmembers are on 12" centers. it has all Led Lights, Roof Air, insulated walls and roof, Aluminum overhead cabinets, 2 wall vents, 4 interior lights, and cost me $11,230 delivered to my yard. We custom order to your spec for 10% over cost.