Hello everyone.  I am new to this forum and really new to horse trailering.  I am think about buying a Brenderup.  I was wondering if anyone has a Brenderup and what they think of them.  They seem very nice and although more pricey they seem to give you more vehicle options.

Is it really feasible to pull these with a mid-sized truck (or minivan)?  They show them being pulled by stationwagons on the informational DVD. 

Any opinion is welcome.

Thanks

Amy

Ah gee not again - This topic must come up at least once a month. I knowyou're new, but it would really help if you did a search and see all the responses.  People seem to either love em or hate.

Never owned or pulled one, but last week I visited a trailer dealer in TN while on vacation. He happened to have a used Brender on his lot sitting next to a new Merhow. I was there to check out the Merhow. But curiosity got me and I looked in.

They were sitting side by side in the hot sun, 90+ degrees that afternoon. The Merhow was very hot inside, has an aluminum roof I think. The Brender, fiberglass composite of some sort, was as cool as a cucumber! A big difference! Dont know what model or anything but it was huge inside.

Still cannot picture towing one behind my truck, my hubby didn't even know what it was and laughed at it, but I was impressed.

I am also curious now as to what others have to say about your questions on its towing and safety?

So do you have an opinion about the trailer?  Love or hate?  Thanks for the advice, I will look in the archives.  But in addition, maybe some one else that is new will be able to help.

Thanks again,

Amy

Two friends of mine have them and one is on her 2nd one.  Both are very happy with them.  Here's my take:

They have large room stalls as my former QH who was 15.3, long bodied, and 1400 lbs had plenty of room when I loaded him up one day in it.

They can be pulled with a lightweight vehicle as one uses a trailblazer and the other used to use a Dodge Caravan (not the real big ones), but now uses her RV van.

They hold their resale value very well.  My friend Susan bought a 1984 one for $4,000 that was rebuilt and sold it in 2005 for $4,000!  And she had several people wanting to buy it.

However, the walls are thin fiberglass and I wonder if it would really hold up in an accident. 

I looked at them years ago.  The biggest drawback was cost.  They were / are expensive compared to a conventional trailer.  They fill a narrow need.  People that don't want a truck and don't need more area than their "dressing" room.

We wanted to camp with our horses, so chose a truck & GN trailer.

Just did a search using "Brenderup" and came up with a ton of stuff.  Don't limit it by date.  Also, there is a good review of them at mrtruck.com I believe.  From what I've read, they do a good job at filling a specific need, e.g. small tow vehicle to transport one or two horses safely.

Thanks to all.  I think I am in that narrow need group.  I don't want to invest (at least not yet) in a large vehicle that can pull a bigger trailer and I don't see that changing right now.  I have two small children that take up a lot of time and I am the only horse person (husband is not interested).  So I would be trailering a lot by myself and not really camping just yet.

I will re-search the archives and not limit the date. 

To Morgan, which TN dealer had a used one?  I am in Nashville.

I don't own a Brenderup, nor have I towed one, so take my advice with that in mind.

I have seen the Brenderup debate many times. There are typically two people in the argument.

The first are people who have owned Brenderups and like them, and then there are the people who have never owned them but hate them, usually because of a perceived lack of safety. I have never heard an actual owner say a negative thing about the performance of the trailers. I have seen owners report needing to upgrade to a larger trailer for more horses or a larger dressing room or whatever, but never a negative first-hand report. If there are non-satisfied owners here, please speak up!

As for what vehicle you tow with, I would caution you to go by the tow vehicles towing ratings first and foremost! If you are ever in an accident and you have exceeded your Gross Combined Weight Rating, you could be in big trouble. Brenderup may list that you only need 125hp and a wheelbase of XX, but the cold reality is it is the tow vehicles ratings that dictate what can be towed, at least from a legal sense.

If you have a 1600 pound Brenderup trailer, and two 1000 pund horses, and 300 pounds of gear, you still need a vehicle that is rated to tow 3,900 pounds!! Some Mini-vans would be rated for that much, many would not.

 Good Luck in your search, and please report back with whatever you end up with. There are many newbies like me who appreciate the info.

  -Flush

Loveduffy, could you elaborate why the trailer could only go 50mph (I am interested in B-Ups too)? Is it not stable above that speed?  Are you saying with the same truck they where able to go faster with a larger Sundowner trailer? Or for long distance they used a bigger truck/trailer setup.

I've never heard that rumor before, and frankly unless you have more firsthand info, I'm going to leave it in the non-owner rumor category. Brenderup doesn't list a 50mph max limit that I am aware of.

 Thanks,

         Flush

I have a Brenderup.  I am selling it now, because I am moving up to the next bigger model.  I love my trailer!  I dno't know why someone would only drive 50 with it, I've gone 80 downhill in mine (not on purpose, just not paying attention!) fully loaded.   And do 65-70 regularly.  We've gone over mountains, through mud, slammed on brakes, nothing phases this trailer. Popped a tire once and didn't even know until I got home.

I pull it with my old Astrovan. I'm going to retire it one day and get a converitble and tow with that.  Also, my husband has a truck, so if my van is ever in the shop and I need to go, I just hook up to his truck and take off. 

As far as being able to tow more than the car is rated for, that's because the trailers only have 3% weight on the tongue.  I can move it around myself, so how hard can it be for a car? American trailers are 12%.  In Europe, the same car will be rated for more towing capacity than the same car in America, because they pull these kinds of trailers there, with cars. They are engineered completly different than American trailers, that's why they seem so weird. But it does work. 

Lily

TwoAppys,

  Thanks for replying, the info is appreciated. As I suspected there is no generic 50mph limit with Brenderups.

 As for the weight, while I'm sure the lower tongue weight does make a much smaller vehicle able to pull a Brenderup, that still doesn't make it legal. Tongue weight is only one factor. Trailer brakes can and do fail. If a Honda Civic (which BTW meets Brenderups HP and wheelbase requirements!) is suddenly asked to stop 4,000lbs of trailer it is going to be in a lot more trouble than a vehlice that is rated to tow 4,000lbs.

Its good to know the Brenderups are so easy to pull, but again IMHO your are being very careless with the lives of others on the road if you intentionally exceed your tow ratings by a factor of 3, which you may do if you only follow Brenderups guidelines.

 -Flush

Hi,

The difference in braking is kind of explained like this.  With a regular trailer, you need a big truck to stop the trailer.  In a Brenderup, the trailer stops the trailer. In emergency times, it has even stopped my car.  When I almost hit the deer, that trailer stopped me in time from hitting it. It feels like a parachute back there.  It never, ever pushes on your car.  It takes no more to stop a fully loaded brenderup than stopping your car as you drive down the street towing nothing at all. That's what it feels like anyway.  Even downhill. Even anything.  It's great!  In fact there are hills around town that if I coast down them with the trailer loaded, I will be going slower at the bottom of the hill.  Without ever hitting the brake!

Lily

I seen it in the Knoxville paper/classifieds. I think his name was Toubruk or something like that. Ran a small business right off I-40 east of the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg exit, maybe 15minutes?

It was a nice trailer, big and roomy with a large area in front of horse for tack. Used and older but did not notice anything wrong with it.

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Majoras,

  Brenderup 2 horse trailers weigh from roughly 1500-2000 pounds. Assuming you have 1150pounds of horses and gear, you should be below your max tow rating (although not by much, depending on if you get their heavy trailer and take lots of "Stuff" like water). From a purely numbers standpoint, you should be below your limit. Many say because horses are live moving cargo, you need to derate your max. limit. This is probably good advice in the cautious sense, but there is no magic derating number (some say you should only go to 75% of max) that you MUST follow. It's just a rule of thumb some like to follow.

If you pulled two horses, you would most certainly exceed your tow rating. This is where it gets a little confusing. According to Brenderup's info, you could pull two horses with your Minivan, according to Toyotas ratings, you could not. From a legal standpoint, if you exceed Toyota's tow rating you could be in trouble. Honestly I don't know if the "law" would ever come after you for exceeding your tow rating (GCWR actually) even in a accident, but I would not want to find out.

 Whether or not you would be comfortable with this setup, even with one horse regardless if it is legal, is another matter that can't be answered on a forum. Things like driving experience/skill, terrain, condition of the vehicle, etc... all come into play. Some people would say you can NEVER tow even one horse with a mini-van, others (like TwoAppys for example) will say even two horses in a Brenderup with a MV is no problem.

From a ratings standpoint, you appear okay (with a little margin) with one horse. If you could somehow do a "test pull" of the empty trailer first, followed by pulling the horse that is probably the only way you would know for sure how it will work for you.

 Good Luck,

           Flush

P.S. GVWR, GCWR, and all that stuff is somewhat complicated. Try searching here, or on the web if you really want to understand it. For your bumper-pull setup, what you really need to worry about is you max. tow rating (which you know)  and your tongue weight. Since Brenderup's have extremely low tongue weights, you would also be fine in the tongue weight department. If you went to a non-Brenderup trailer that may not be the case. If you have a specific questing regarding that stuff, just ask.