Brenderup owners, can you talk to me?

[Nezzy]

I have never had my own truck and trailer, and the opportunity came up, and i just bought a 2005, Brenderup Horseliner. I am in the process of getting a car that can haul it. It weighs 1400 empty, and i can put up to 2100 lbs of horse in there, (but my pony is only about 800 lbs.) Going in an hour, to look at a 2018 Honda Pilot with a V6, and AWD.

A few Q’s i have- have you had difficulty getting anyone to inspect it? Have you had trouble finding parts? If you did, were you able to have someone change things that might need to be done? Since they are no longer made here, i do worry about finding someone who understands how they work, and inspects them fairly. We bought it needing light covers, so we are waiting for those to arrive in the mail. I also measured from the chest bar to the butt bar. i have 70 inches from shouler to rump. That should be enough for my pony, but i wonder about the average size horse. Please tell me your experiences, so i can be as safe as possible!

Also weird- where to hang the hay bags? Tie rings are chest height. For tieing outside the trailer, there is only a small-ish eyehook on each side. i guess that is where we are supposed to tie the horse? There is not much info online that i have found.

[tabula_rashah]

I have two other larger trailers but bought a Brenderup as a run around trailer this past winter. I LOVE it! and wish I’d bought one sooner. I had no trouble getting it inspected.Parts-wise, yes, they are difficult to find but my DH can either fabricate everything or there’s a good FB page with info on where to find stuff. Not sure on the hay bag, mine has about a billion different rings to tie stuff to in it

[ABookworm]

Welcome to the Brenderup family! I have a 2004 Royal TC that I bought as the third owner. Both owners before me had maintained a binder full of what maintenance the trailer had received and any inspections performed.

Most of the replacement parts have been ordered from Mountain Top Trailers. I did replace the weather stripping from Amazon with success along with all the reflective tape and added grip tape to the ramp mat. I do most of my own repairs on the trailer as needed. I just replaced the floor and ramp which was actually a lot easier than expected, along with rewiring the whole trailer.

The Facebook Group Brenderup Trailer Owners is a wealth of information and always has people willing to help find parts or walk you through a replacement/repair.

For hay bags, my Royal has several rings to tie things to. Usually, I tie the hay bag to the front ring, and then my horse is tied to the side ring. On the outside, I have rings in several different spots along the top. On the Facebook group there are several people who have added additional rings to their trailers.

Just a quick note, don’t store the trailer with the mats on the floor in either the horse area or the tack room. My trailer did sustain damage to the floors because the tack room mat was left down for years. It traps water between the rubber and the wood floor which causes severe rot.

[SBrentnall]

I have a Baron SL and haven’t had any problems getting people to work on it. The local trailer repair place, which does RVs and boat trailers, was perfectly happy to work on the Brenderup. They do the wheel bearings, fix bits of trim, etc.

For hay bags, I bought the triangular ones from Professionals Choice. I attach he point of the triangle to the hook in front of the chest bar, then the two sides to the center divider and the tie hook on the trailer wall.

[Nezzy]

Thanks everyone. Also- the window- It pushes out, but still has the clear cover on it. Do you unscrew the clear cover and let the air blow thru? I would prefer to do that, but idk if that is too much air on his face.

[Inese]

@Nezzy

Thanks everyone. Also- the window- It pushes out, but still has the clear cover on it. Do you unscrew the clear cover and let the air blow thru? I would prefer to do that, but idk if that is too much air on his face.

The 5-way window is great! The plastic cover is the window, and it stays attached. You can open the top, or the bottom or the rear-facing side or the front-facing side. The fully pushed open position with all 4 sides pulled away from the trailer body is the 5th option.

I hauled my Brenderup Solo with 1 horse to summer time horse trials, so I always put my windows with the front edge open, back edge closed, to give my 16 hand thoroughbred the maximum breeze while going down the highway at 65 MPH in my Volvo sedan … yes, I hauled it using a car!!

[Nezzy]

@Inese

The 5-way window is great! The plastic cover is the window, and it stays attached. You can open the top, or the bottom or the rear-facing side or the front-facing side. The fully pushed open position with all 4 sides pulled away from the trailer body is the 5th option.

I hauled my Brenderup Solo with 1 horse to summer time horse trials, so I always put my windows with the front edge open, back edge closed, to give my 16 hand thoroughbred the maximum breeze while going down the highway at 65 MPH in my Volvo sedan … yes, I hauled it using a car!!

Ok, but have you removed the clear cover? i can see that it would come off with a screwdriver, so i am wondering if that is a good option for air flow. IDK if anyone has done it, or if there would be any reason not to?

[tabula_rashah]

@Nezzy

Ok, but have you removed the clear cover? i can see that it would come off with a screwdriver, so i am wondering if that is a good option for air flow. IDK if anyone has done it, or if there would be any reason not to?

I haven’t taken it off but… I’ve hauled it with 2 horses in it recently in this insane heat/ humidity that mid-Atlantic is having and the horses were not sweaty when we arrived and it actually felt very reasonable inside the trailer. I had the windows in full open position

[Jarpur]

I didn’t take the clear cover off the windows of my Baron; like the poster above, I would usually adjust the windows so that the front edges were pushed open, to funnel air inside. My second favorite position was pushed completely open on all sides.

The Brenderup trailer is naturally cool in hot weather, IME, and my horses always appeared comfortable.

I hung hay nets from the side rings.

[keepthelegend]

I have a 2004 Royal TC that has been all over the country! Racehorses, broodmares, foals, ponies…it’s so easy and useful. I have towed it with all sorts of SUVS as well. I did have to replace the ramp and floors when it was about 11 years old. We tie the hay nets around the center divider.

[SBrentnall]

@Nezzy

Ok, but have you removed the clear cover? i can see that it would come off with a screwdriver, so i am wondering if that is a good option for air flow. IDK if anyone has done it, or if there would be any reason not to?

I wouldn’t remove the cover. The airflow is plenty even with it on. I got stuck in a traffic jam in 100+ degree heat, and pulled over to check on the horses. When I stuck my head inside the escape door, it was so cool inside the trailer!

[Nezzy]

I have a bit of an update. I want to post this so all of you can be aware of what happened, and maybe take precautions. I had sent my Used Brendeup to my good friend’s RV dealership. I wanted them to inspect and put new tires on it. So they did that. they checked the safety of the flooring, and the brakes which were great. I was so excited and brought my hubby, so i could haul MY trailer back home and start using it. here is my FB post to friends-

Feeling LUCKY. First of all, no one was hurt. We went to pick up my trailer and i was going to drive it home. I was doing really well, and then out of in nowhere, the top blew off the trailer. We were on 196 near Sterling. We were So lucky no one was behind us. A good samaritan helped us get the top into the back of the trailer. We were lucky it fit. Got it back to Lake Ariel, and i guess i won’t be driving my trailer until spring. There was water damage in the wood on the top edges, and what nobody could see was very tiny rivets holding the roof on. We were lucky bc no one got hurt, no one died, and Sporty was not in the trailer when it happened. We were lucky it didn’t happen on the highway. We were lucky in so many ways.

What we plan to have done, is get the walls replaced with new marine wood, or is it called marina wood? Then the guys are going to hook the top back on with a better system than the very tiny rivets being used. THEN we will put metal strapping over the roof in 2 places. This will ensure that the roof can never blow off again. I am very lucky. And i wanted to tell all of you to please check this area, you do not want the top blowing off and possibly killing someone or the horses in your trailer. I still want to use the trailer. We will modify it to make it safe.

here is a pic of the top in the back of the trailer. it is how we got it back to be repaired. https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y246/BatHealer/Brenderup_after.jpg

[trubandloki]

Oh my! That sound so scary! Glad everyone is OK and you have a good plan moving forward.

[SharonA]

Good on you both for staying calm!

My 2010 Brenderup has fiberglass (or something that is not wood) walls so it shouldn’t rot, but I am going to check the roof tonight. Thank you, Nezzy.