Bagging the top spot in this year’s complex category is Gavin Winters of County Tyrone-based Winters Renewables, who fashioned his own high-spec blower trailer.

The driver for this ambitious project was a need for a more effective method of transporting dried woodchip and getting it quickly into stores.

Gavin had already tested the concept with an older, smaller trailer, but was keen to have more capacity and better reliability.

See also: Buyer’s guide to bale trailers with hydraulic sides

A large donor rig was required, which came in the form of a 14t Richard Larrington Harvest snapped up at a local Euro Auctions sale for £20,000.

Once the original rollover cover had been removed, he constructed a set of extensions that increased capacity to 42cu m and set about modifying the tailgate to accommodate the blower assembly.

This involved cutting an opening and fabricating a housing for an auger that would wind material into the central point where the blower unit would be mounted.

He drew the designs for this in Autocad and got a local laser cutting firm to make the profiles before carefully welding it in place.

Blower © Gavin Winters

Auger setup

The heavy-duty auger was sourced from Rotospiral in County Carlow and positioned so that the bearings could be externally mounted for easier maintenance.

He also rigged up a hydraulic power supply with a motor driving though a 7:1 reduction gearbox.

Flow of woodchip is controlled by a hydraulic door and the speed of the auger can be adjusted to get the right amount feeding through.

The blower itself is built by Austrian firm Auer and was another second-hand auction purchase.

It was cheap as the motor had packed up, but he soon replaced this with a new 11kW unit.

Electrical power comes from a three-phase pto generator slotted into the chassis.

Toolbox © Gavin Winters

Significant modifications were required to make this fit and ensure the shafts were running straight, including boring holes through cross-members using a mag drill and repositioning the air tank.

A local company called Custom Hoses NI piped up the hydraulics, adding a spool block to control the hydraulic door, auger speed and tipping ram.

Finishing touches included designing and making a new hydraulic rollover cover and building a large toolbox up the side of the trailer to house the blower tubes.

These are made from 8in sewer pipe with Bauer fittings bolted on the ends.

When full, the trailer holds 9t of dried chip and it has so far successfully delivered more than 300t. Total build cost, including the trailer, was about £25,000. 

Rollover cover © Gavin Winters