# Transporting lumber...



## cusimar9 (1 Oct 2014)

I dare say many of you will have access to a van of some sort but I'm sure there are a few on here who, like myself, use their daily driver to make pick ups from B&Q or whichever your chosen lumber dealer happens to be.

I currently drive a Honda S2000 which is not really that practical (although I've managed to squeeze far more in it than I would have thought prior to buying it!) but I mostly steal the wife's BMW 1 series whenever I know I need to pick something up.

The 1 series will just about fit a 2.4m long piece if it's jammed against the front window over the seats, but there's no way you'd get a 2.4 x 1.2 sheet in the boot.

What do you all drive and how 'practical' is it for those trips to the lumber yard?


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## marcros (1 Oct 2014)

discovery 3

It is absolutely brilliant for most things, but the way that the front seat works, beyond 8ft is a pain. It can hang out of the back for a couple of miles. 

if I needed sheet materials, i have them cut where i buy them. If I needed full sheets i would either hook up the trailer or most likely get it delivered. Quite often, the delivery charge is worthwhile, particularly if i factor in time. I wanted some ducting from 10 miles away. The fiver for delivery was cheaper than a gallon of fuel and saved me an hour or more.


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## wallace (1 Oct 2014)

I used to have a 110 defender which was awesome for wood transport. I had 1.5 cube of timber and it never flickered. I once had 20 full sheets of ply on the roofrack. I now have a discovery which is useful but not a patch on the defender


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## andersonec (1 Oct 2014)

cusimar9":1mjgphz7 said:


> I dare say many of you will have access to a van of some sort but I'm sure there are a few on here who, like myself, use their daily driver to make pick ups from B&Q or whichever your chosen lumber dealer happens to be.
> 
> I currently drive a Honda S2000 which is not really that practical (although I've managed to squeeze far more in it than I would have thought prior to buying it!) but I mostly steal the wife's BMW 1 series whenever I know I need to pick something up.
> 
> ...



Lumber???

Are you phishin to find a better carrier then nick it? :lol: 

Andy


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## Melinda_dd (1 Oct 2014)

I have a Peugeot 206, and I firmly believe it is the Tardis in disguise. I haven't yet found anything that I have needed to transport that hasn't fit in it!! (Including half a double bed and mattress!

With the seats down, it may well be a van... dreading the day I have to get a 'proper, clean' car for using to transport ....people in ...rather than wood!!!


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## cornishjoinery (1 Oct 2014)

This funny thing happened once, someones car got to small to carry things around in, so a manufacturer decided to build, what is known now as a VAN...............get one! lol


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## Lons (1 Oct 2014)

My car is an Audi A6 and there's no way I'd ever shove timber into it. Worst it ever carries is my golf clubs. :lol: Wife has a Mini which doesn'r carry much but we've just ordered a Nissan Juke so might be a bit better.

What I DO have is a VW Transporter LWB and an 8 x 4 double axle trailer :lol: :lol: 

Bob


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## SammyQ (1 Oct 2014)

Fiat Multipla!!!!!!

Take out rear seats = van!

My 1.9L diesel pulls 600 kg of trailer tent and five adult bodies, plus luggage, nae probs....60-70 mph and damn near 60 to the gallon on autoroutes....


Biased, Sam


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## apreston (1 Oct 2014)

Toyota Prius - I kid you not !
8-foot lengths inside, longer go on the roof bars (being careful not to put too much weight on). My best trip so far has been 20 cubic feet carried 100 miles (wish I'd taken a photo).
And no worries about fuel costs.


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## marcros (1 Oct 2014)

Melinda_dd":3lkdywx4 said:


> I have a Peugeot 206, and I firmly believe it is the Tardis in disguise. I haven't yet found anything that I have needed to transport that hasn't fit in it!! (Including half a double bed and mattress!
> 
> With the seats down, it may well be a van... dreading the day I have to get a 'proper, clean' car for using to transport ....people in ...rather than wood!!!



the other half of it? (hammer) :mrgreen:


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## Bigdanny (1 Oct 2014)

Get a trailer, The amount of stuff I can move is pretty good. I've had wood beams 8m in length, 3 tons of ballast. Pic here is about 2.5 cubic of acacia logs.


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## Benchwayze (1 Oct 2014)

Imagine my delight when I first discovered the 'ski-port' in the rear seats of my first Volvo saloon.  

I can get four, 3m lengths of 4 x 2 in there, and still close the boot lid. If I have to carry sheets, I use 'Hopkirk' square roof bars, and I secure the sheets to the bars with four one-handed cramps. It's surprising how well they hold a fair load. I do use a rope too, if it's a particularly heavy load. Works for me. :mrgreen:


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## cusimar9 (1 Oct 2014)

I did think about roof bars for 8 x 4 sheets, but have read it's not a very safe way of transporting them because they can slide or worse get caught by the air.

Interesting to hear it works for you Benchwayze, maybe it's not such a bad idea, I guess you'd have to drive < 40mph with them on.

Don't really have space for a trailer unfortunately.

I'm regretting selling my old Honda Integra DC5, the boot in that was enormous and the boot lid hinged so far into the roof the opening was huge!


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## Benchwayze (1 Oct 2014)

cusimar9":rlllnews said:


> I did think about roof bars for 8 x 4 sheets, but have read it's not a very safe way of transporting them because they can slide or worse get caught by the air.
> 
> Interesting to hear it works for you Benchwayze, maybe it's not such a bad idea, I guess you'd have to drive < 40mph with them on.
> 
> ...



Cusimar, 

I always get the timber yard to cut sheets into 8 x 2s. Much safer. The cramps hold the sheets extremely securely, although I wouldn't consider driving above 30, because the draught can get under the sheets and easily lift them. Mind you, I am barely 3/4 of a mile from the timber yard! As I said, if I am carrying a heavy 'payload', I use ropes as well. 

Cheers 

John


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## woodfarmer (1 Oct 2014)

I second the trailer option


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## bourbon (1 Oct 2014)

Bigdanny":2ushpxne said:


> Get a trailer, The amount of stuff I can move is pretty good. I've had wood beams 8m in length, 3 tons of ballast. Pic here is about 2.5 cubic of acacia logs.


And very unstable as well. As for '20 sheets of ply' on a roof rack. Do you have a death wish?


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## Benchwayze (1 Oct 2014)

A trailer for me too, if I had somewhere to store a trailer, so it wouldn't get nicked! :lol:


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## morfa (2 Oct 2014)

I have a Citroen C4. It's a hatchback so you can get about 9ft by 3ft stuff in it. Normally when I'm buying ply I have the yard do some cuts for me so I can just plonk it in the back. If it's bigger than that I just pay for delivery or buy enough that delivery is free. My local yard are cheap on the delivery front and the drivers are excellent with helping me get stuff in the house.


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## gwaithcoed (2 Oct 2014)

I have a Ford Cmax. Difficulty finding decent timber where I live so when I visit my daughter in Cannock Staffordshire I go to the timber yard that I used to use when living there. I can get in 12 x 2.4 mtr lengths of 6x1 in comfortably. However my wife has to sit in the back
a little uncomfortably    

Alan


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## wallace (2 Oct 2014)

Bourbon not really a roof rack but a proper expedition box section jobby. Impossible for the sheets to slide because the sheets sat inside and held down with ratchet strapping. Nothing a 110 couldn't handle


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## zodiac (2 Oct 2014)

SammyQ":3kpo6utk said:


> Fiat Multipla!!!!!!
> 
> Take out rear seats = van!
> 
> ...




+1 for the Multipla. Used ours to move house, after taking the back seats out


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## Benchwayze (2 Oct 2014)

wallace":1tw59qlj said:


> Nothing a 110 couldn't handle



Wallace...

Nothing my Volvo couldn't handle either, if I wanted to weld on a galvo rack like that one!

About 15 years ago, in my old Volvo 244, I trolled from mid-Lincs, back to Brum, with five 13' two-inch ash planks, two 13' oak planks, and two walnut planks about 5' x 3' lashed onto Hopkirk bars I still have. Made good time as well. Those were the days; full of youth and optimism, and my mates were all still alive! 

John


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## Phil Pascoe (2 Oct 2014)

I went from Staffordshire to Cornwall with a cast iron spiral stairs on the roof rack of a 245. You should have heard the noise the tyres made against the wheel arches when it hit about eighty... :shock:


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## wallace (2 Oct 2014)

John Volvos are pretty much squashed landrovers :lol: built like brick **** houses


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## Benchwayze (2 Oct 2014)

phil.p":2a3gc036 said:


> I went from Staffordshire to Cornwall with a cast iron spiral stairs on the roof rack of a 245. You should have heard the noise the tyres made against the wheel arches when it hit about eighty... :shock:



Sorry Phil. 

I didn't mean to swing a 'black-cat'! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Benchwayze (2 Oct 2014)

wallace":33771wno said:


> John Volvos are pretty much squashed landrovers :lol: built like brick **** houses



True, and mine could do with a clean! :mrgreen:


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## -Matt- (2 Oct 2014)

Subaru Legacy estate. 
Can get anything 1800mm long from bootlid to seatbacks (with rear seats folded) and 2400mm length when put diagonally over the front seat.
Anything over that goes on the roofbars. I have some things designed for carrying ladders (the T shaped things) that work well for timber as you put them either side of the centre bit of the ladder thingy.

Pic showing two large pallets (designed for 2400x1250 sheets of metal)


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## paultnl (2 Oct 2014)

Some people don't care what the car is, they just want to load it all.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/lumber.asp


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## Melinda_dd (3 Oct 2014)

marcros":14c386l7 said:


> Melinda_dd":14c386l7 said:
> 
> 
> > I have a Peugeot 206, and I firmly believe it is the Tardis in disguise. I haven't yet found anything that I have needed to transport that hasn't fit in it!! (Including half a double bed and mattress!
> ...



In the other 206 we had at the time


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## andersonec (3 Oct 2014)

Get it delivered.............

Andy


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## Fat ferret (3 Oct 2014)

Have an estate now but got a lot of wood in my 2000 micra, recline passenger seat and you can fit in 2.4 lengths perfectly. Actually much better for transporting stuff than it looks. Small vans look useless for transporting long lengths of stuff.


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## Tetsuaiga (3 Oct 2014)

I also use estate with all the seats folded down, I can fit in about 2.5-2.6m. I quiite like the idea of a trailer if I were to start buying larger quantities.


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## RogerS (4 Oct 2014)

Yup...the S2000 is a great car but not that practical. Ours is now off the road for winter - 1999 and only 20,000 miles. But I digress....

Discovery 2 and RhinoBars on the roof or inside.


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## heimlaga (4 Oct 2014)

I have an Opel Kadett E hatchback from 1984. 1,2 litre OHV engine. The same model was sold as Vauxhall Astra in Britain back in those days. The back seat can be folded down and the roof rack has never been removed in the last 10 years. I usually transport wood on a trailer. Second or third gear uphill and fouth gear downhill. A very good car within it's limitations. The only car I have ever owned.

For heavier transports I use a Massey-Ferguson 165 from 1971 with a 1970-ies Gisebo log trailer. When the temperature falls below -20 celsius it gets uncomfortably cold to sit in the unheated cab and the range is of cause a bit limited by the low speed but a tractor solves a lot of transport problems at a reasonable cost.


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## wallace (4 Oct 2014)

That beats everyone :lol: I did have a 101 forward control for awhile but at about 9miles/gallon to run it was too costly for an everyday vehicle.


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## heimlaga (4 Oct 2014)

Wow....that beats me too:lol: ... but the only way of driving one of those without going bankrupt from fuel costs would probably be converting it to run on woodgas..... and county Durham isn't exactly known for it's vast woodlands....... not to my knowledge.......


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## Racers (4 Oct 2014)

My car has adjustable lumbar support.

:wink: 

Pete


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