Hey folks,
Just new to the forum I’m looking for advice on how to get the biggest road legal transportable tiny home? I visited the one in the attached picture recently and it was great, it was built on an ex refrigerator double deck trailer. The lower floor started above the wheels, but there was still comfortable enough head room of almost 2m on each floor. I think it was at least 2.5m wide and 12m long, so overall area of about 60m2 which is plenty.
The worry from what I’ve read here, is the legal height limit for trailers throughout Europe is 4 meters. Also as far as I understand, the legal width limit is 2.5m or 2.6 if refrigerated (or insulated?). I’m a little confused with what the legal length limit is though. There were plenty of members saying these restrictions are rarely adhered to by hauliers and whats legal and what’s real world is different, but I just wouldn’t want to be in a position after having built the home, that no haulage company is willing to transport it, or wanting to add massive premiums for doing so. I’d like to be secure in the knowledge I could have a truck transport it anywhere in Europe, without needing to notify police or apply for any special permits, convoy etc.
I don’t know if these limits just apply to trailers for haulage, or if it’s anything attached to the back of a truck? Ideally I’d want a purpose built trailer with a sub frame, walls etc most suitable for long term living, that won’t deteriorate easily, so just looking for the best solution to get the biggest liveable area on wheels that can be transported throughout Europe by any Truck without fuss.
How will you get an MoT test if the vehicle is too wide to be legal?
You may get one by chance, but if a fail that will be on the record and you will never get another one.
You won’ be driving in Switzerland or Germany if over 4m. Top of my head Belgium is strict too.
The limits are for everything on the road. Being over 500kgs you will be needing an annual vehicle test for your trailer.
Going to EU you will need it registered correctly, and to get registered it will need type approval so
Is going to be expensive. Not only the considerable cost of manufacture but the design and approval being borne by one person: you;not spread over a production run.
For more living space existing commercial designs use slide out sections.
Doable, but full of pit-falls.
Don’t be tempted to say “That’ll be OK” regards laws, if caught you will have an expensive lawn ornament, if you get planning permission, or an expensive waste disposal bill.
You might need to check the regulation height of European motorway bridges. This varies from country to country and IIRC Holland’s bridges are lower than UK. Belgium might be too.
Germany and Benelux have a minimum motorway bridge height of 4.15, which allows for a resurfacing. Take the trailer in the picture into mainland Europe and it will very quickly become a Cabriolet.
I once drove a double-decker bus to Brittany and then crossed to the other side of Belgium. I studied an up-to-date Michelin atlas and planned my route, using RN roads where possible.
Thanks a lot for the replies everyone! I’m actually based in Ireland myself, and I think we have similar rules as the UK, but I’d definitely want it built to adhere to Europe wide regulations so not to be confined to only using it in the UK/IRE.
So am I to understand that anything the size I’d like to have this Tiny Home built to, would require roadworthiness testing annually?
@franglais what type of registration would I need to do to bring it to EU?
Thanks for the warning on price for purpose built. I’ve also seen stories of custom trailers buckling under the weight of the home during transport.
So I guess to be compliant in every country I’m going to need to keep it under 4m. Maybe an extendable roof/upstairs could be designed if I was to get a double decker trailer which lifts the floor, maybe it could be adapted that the same system could be used to raise or lower the ceiling.
If you are in Eire then you need to register it, and test/tax (zero tax?) it in Eire. It would need to comply with EU regs plus any Eire regs necessary. So long as it correctly registered in an EU country it should be OK throughout the EU, and in most bordering countries.
You really would be better asking locally about what rules apply, and what definitions are, for trailers/caravans/mobile homes/heavy trailers etc in Eire.
Just add: I wouldn’t take too much notice of historical examples of buses and lorries that were converted into living vans. This is because much has changed in very recent times. For example around the mid-'90s a handful of anarchic members of the new-age traveller fraternity queered the pitch for everyone else by abusing the system. Several loopholes were closed, including what you can drive on your licence plus Construction & use Regs. Someone a while back told me (so this may or may not be true) that anything now converted into a caravan has to meet the stringent rules for constructing motorhomes and caravan. This is why you no longer see old buses and fire-engines parked in the lanes with a spiral of smoke issuing from the chimney!
Well that’s scuppered my plans for a cheap holiday touring Europe, me and my mates were chipping in to buy an unwanted Routemaster and planning to pick up random girls as we went around
Talking of Routemasters, it’s funny how the meaning of words change over time. I would imagine that anyone who comes on TN will know the difference between a Routemaster and any other half-cabbed double-decker that roamed our roads in past decades. But I am more and more frequently hearing people, especially the young, refer to Routemasters as a generic term for all half-cab ‘deckers in much the same way as we ended up with Hoover as a generic term for vacuum cleaners, or Tautliner for curtainsiders.
This is all the more surprising for Routemasters being such a narrow definition. AEC built Regent Mk 5 ‘deckers in huge numbers. A few thousand of these, the Routemasters, were highly specialised versions built almost exclusively for London Transport (Newcastle had a handful and one or two other provinces qualified). All the rest were not called Routemasters and looked like this East Kent example depending on whose bodywork they carried.
I confess, I don’t have your level of detailed knowledge, I was under the impression that it had indeed become the default term for those buses we used to be able to jump off as it neared the bus stop We certainly never used the term “Routemaster” in the 60s and 70s around the north east, it was just “the bus”
Yes indeed! I don’t think anyone outside the industry (or bus enthusiasts) ever referred to them as Routemasters any more than we did in the provinces. I used to catch a bus to my piano lesson, not an Regent MkV (even though I knew it was one!)
Thanks again for the input on this. Ah ok I guess that makes it easier that I’m in Ireland as I can just register it here then and if I keep it within the 4m height/2.6m width restriction (I’m still not sure what the length restriction is), then I should be good throughout Europe I’d hope.
Thank you, so a trailer:
13.6m long
4m high
2.6m wide (insulated)
Will be ok to transport throughout Europe without needing any special permissions, permits etc.
Perhaps the best thing to do then is try build it within those limits, and see how doable and practical having an extendable roof would be to then heighten the top floor once parked
Insulated ?
EU commercial Insulated Transport needs certification. Your trailer (with windows etc?) will not conform so you’ll need to be inside of 2.55m. And that includes any non conforming fittings such as window frames that stick out further than the sides to be sure.
If you really want a raising roof then make sure that is designed in from the drawing board stage or else it will be more difficult/expensive retro fitting kit like that.
Dunno where you plan on taking this trailer? Not many campsites will be happy taking vehicles of this size; wild camping is more regulated than previously and more suited to smaller “stealth” vehicles.
I regularly take my dogs to a large open space near the river to run around. It is attached to a camping car place and 2 days running I saw a Renault 4 wheeler with heightened chassis and big swamp tyres being used as a camper. It was very high but I noticed that the upper part overlapped the lower.
I asked the lady if it was telespcopic and she said yes but I didn’t have time to discuss it further so I deliberately drove straight towards it to capture it on the dashcam. It might take me some time but I’ll have a search through and see if it is still there.
Not much use to you except that a confirmation that it is doable if you have the mindset to follow it through. Best of luck.
I’m looking for advice on how to get the biggest road legal transportable tiny home? I visited the one in the attached picture recently and it was great, it was built on an ex refrigerator double deck trailer. The lower floor started above the wheels, but there was still comfortable enough head room of almost 2m on each floor. I think it was at least 2.5m wide and 12m long, so overall area of about 60m2 which is plenty.
We certainly never used the term “Routemaster” in the 60s and 70s around the north east, it was just “the bus”
Yes indeed! I don’t think anyone outside the industry (or bus enthusiasts) ever referred to them as Routemasters any more than we did in the provinces. I used to catch a bus to my piano lesson, not an Regent MkV (even though I knew it was one!)
