Do you like to go camping for long periods of time, or venture off the beaten track and camp in remote areas? Thanks to 4WD Refrigerated Trailer Hire, your life just got a lot easier.

Now, I know the concept of a refrigerated trailer for hire is not a revolutionary one. However, what sets this product apart from others is its off-road capabilities and, more importantly, its off-road insurance.

The concept of the 4WD refrigerated trailer hire came about when 2 brothers and 2 mates tried hiring such a contraption for an upcoming fishing and 4WD trip to Fraser Island. There are certainly refrigerated trailers available for hire, but they aren’t set up for off-road usage and don’t come with any off-road insurance. In laymen’s terms, ‘you break it, you buy it!’ After careful consideration, the brothers and their mates decided that they could combine their skills and make a trailer for themselves. This was a relatively easy decision, considering one of them is a refrigeration mechanic, another is a cold room manufacturer, one is a painter and the other is a plumber.

The requirements for the trailer design were simple. It needed to be a refrigerated trailer that had off-road capabilities whilst being big enough to hold sufficient amounts of food and drinks (beer!) for a longer period of time. So, let’s get something clear - this isn’t the type of fridge or freezer that mum, dad and the 2 kids would take away for a 5 day camping trip. For that, stick to your Engel or Trailblazer 12 volt fridge. This idea was designed with groups in mind – 12 guys going fishing on Fraser Island or an inland dam for a couple of weeks where ice is not readily available.

A quick, close up look reveals the quality of materials built into this trailer. Supporting everything from underneath is a hot-dipped galvanized 3” x 2” chassis that sits on 2 x 15” steel rims with 4 x 4 highway terrain tyres. The 3” x 2” steel has open ends so it can be flushed out after a trip. All this is supported by an axle over leaf spring suspension set up, and kept level with a galvanized jockey wheel. Personally, I would love to see an independent style suspension set up to suit serious off road situations. The trailer also has alloy checker plate wheel arches, sealed tail-lights and comes with a standard tow ball hitch. If you are interested in purchasing rather than hiring one, the boys are more than happy to build them with an off-road coupling. The trailer has a ground clearance of 360mm to the axle and 500mm to the bottom of the chassis giving it ample clearance for off-road work. All in all, it is a very sturdy construction. If you are interested in buying one, the boys are happy to customize the trailer for you.

The cold room portion is made from 100mm thick insulated aluminium cold room material and is finished off with aluminium angle and pop rivets. A lockable door has been included to keep your liquid and food investments safe. The door also comes with a galvanised handle and a rubber seal to keep the cool air inside. Unlike your 12 volt fridges, this trailer uses a 240 volt refrigeration system. To run this system you will need to use something like a 4Kva generator, which you can also hire at the same time. This type of set up does have its disadvantages though; at this stage you can’t run the cold room while you are towing it. You can solve this problem by running the cold room overnight before you leave to bring everything inside down to temperature.

Upon arrival, kick over your generator and everything will remain cold. Another good thing about having the generator there is the option of taking some wiring with lights for your campsite. Or, if you really want to go to extremes, you can plan a fishing trip with your mates on the same weekend as the footy grand final. Why? I am glad you asked - you can also run a television off the generator! Of course, you do need to check that the generator size will run both the fridge and the television.

But getting back on track, you will need a few jerry cans of fuel to last you while you are away. You should get approx. 6 hours to a tank of fuel that holds approx 4 litres. I will leave it up to you to do the math, but when working out the hours, just remember you don’t need the generator running all night. Turn it off in the evening and turn it back on in the morning. It will hold its temperature during the night with no problems at all. At this stage there are a few different units. The fridge unit will pull down to zero degrees at 35 degrees ambient temperature, which is perfect for Queensland. The freezer unit will pull down to -10 degrees in 35 degrees ambient temperature and also has an auto defrost for your convenience. Both trailers are the same size (1 cubic metre/1000 litres). The hire trailers don’t have shelves, but the boys are happy to add these for those wanting to buy a custom made trailer.

The trailers will set you back $300.00 + GST for a week. In order to cater to the numerous weekend fishing tournaments, the boys are happy to hire trailers out for the weekend as well. Weekend hire will set you back about $100.00 + GST. Personally, I think it would make more sense to buy one of these trailers if you are looking at regular use. Prices start from $5200.00 + GST for a standard model.

The boys also have larger cold rooms available starting from around 1800 litres and bigger. For these ones, you will need your own trailer or truck to put them on. These are ideal for fishing tournaments and fetes etc.

For more information on these trailers contact Laurie Simmons on 0409 265 439 or Andrew on 3277 2036. The company is called Cool 4WD and trades under the name of Refrigerated 4wd Trailer Hire.