Trampolines and climbing frames are bought in a very short window each year, usually the moment the evenings start stretching out, and they are almost always bigger in the box than the buyer pictured. Trampoline van hire is a seasonal request that peaks in March and April for precisely that reason. Anyone arranging van hire in Warrington for one should get the box dimensions from the retailer first, because a fourteen foot trampoline does not come in a fourteen foot box but it does come in something considerably longer than a car.
Boxes Are Long Rather Than Heavy
A large trampoline typically arrives as two or three long boxes containing frame sections, springs, the mat and the enclosure poles and netting. None of them is especially heavy on its own. The problem is length. Frame sections and enclosure poles set the box length, and those boxes frequently run beyond two metres. Wooden climbing frames are worse again, since the main beams are supplied full length and cannot be shortened. This is a load that will defeat almost any car regardless of how much you fold down, and it is also a load that will not bend, so angling it into a short van simply does not work.
Getting the Dimensions Before You Buy
Retailers list the assembled diameter of a trampoline prominently and the packaged dimensions somewhere in the small print, and it is the second figure you need. Ring the store and ask for the length of the longest box rather than working it out from the product size. Once you have that number the vehicle decision is simple. Our extra long wheelbase body offers a four point three metre internal load length, and the extra long wheelbase van will take the longest domestic trampoline and climbing frame boxes lying flat with the doors closed behind them, which is what you want rather than a load resting against the door catches.
Loading Long Boxes So They Stay Flat
Long cardboard boxes are surprisingly flexible when they are full of steel tube, and a box supported only at each end will sag and split in the middle. Lay them flat on the van floor rather than across wheel arches or on top of an uneven pile of other items. Push the whole load hard up against the bulkhead so there is nowhere forward to travel under braking, and strap across it so it cannot fan sideways. Springs are usually supplied in a separate small box that is dense and heavy for its size, so put that on the floor forward rather than perching it on top of the frame boxes where it will slide off at the first roundabout.
Getting a Trampoline Into the Back Garden
The forgotten step is the route from the road to the lawn. Boxes over two metres long have to travel down a side path, through a gate and around whatever is in the way, and side gates in the newer estates around town are frequently under a metre wide. Measure the gate and the tightest turn before delivery day. If the boxes will not go round, the alternative is over the fence, which needs two people and a plan rather than improvisation. It is also worth deciding exactly where the trampoline will sit before you start, since a fully assembled fourteen foot frame is not something two people casually reposition afterwards.
Anchoring and Assembly Once It Is Home
Assembly takes considerably longer than the instructions suggest, particularly fitting the springs, and it is much easier with two people and a proper spring tool than with one person and a screwdriver. Set the frame up on level ground rather than on a slope, and give real thought to anchoring it. The north west gets enough wind through spring and autumn to move an unanchored trampoline across a garden and into a fence, and anchor kits are inexpensive compared with the damage. Keep the netting and mat indoors until the frame is up, because they are the parts that suffer if they sit out in the wet while you work. Check the ground clearance underneath as well, since a trampoline sitting directly on long grass becomes very hard to mow around and most people end up moving it once, which is exactly the job worth avoiding by choosing the spot carefully in the first place.
Booking the Van Before the Rush
Our depot is on Tilley Street at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre next to Asda, open Monday to Saturday from 8am until 4pm and closed on Sunday, with free secure parking on site for your car. Bring your photocard licence and a DVLA check code generated beforehand, and there is no deposit needed on most of our vehicles. March and April weekends are the busiest of the year for this kind of collection, and customers coming from Risley van hire bookings and the surrounding villages tend to book early. If your dates are more than a fortnight out, the ten per cent advance booking discount on selected vehicles may apply, and the detail is on our van hire special offers page.
Give us the longest box measurement and we will confirm which body takes it comfortably. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 and get the van booked before the first sunny Saturday.
