Hawk Trailer Review
Written
exclusively for HorseTrailerworld.com by Kent
Sundling
aka Mr. Truck |
The
first thing that sets Hawk apart from the crowd is the brilliant paint
scheme. Such sharp looking trailers with matching fenders, roof edges
and graphics are painted on not decaled on. Hawk can even match the
paint on your truck. It's a lot of fun touring horse trailer factories.
The personalities behind Hawk Trailers have a vision for the future and
a love for horses. My first trip to Manawa Wisconsin was fun, and it was
certainly not the first
state I think of when looking for horse trailer manufactures. But it's
still an area near steel mills and talented welders.
Hawk is primarily
sold in the Eastern & Midwest US, not because we couldn't
use
them in the West, but because the factory is at full capacity supplying
inventory to the dealers they have now. While in Ron Winter's office
(Ron shown at right talking to customers), I saw the stack of dealer
applications waiting to be approved when extra trailer production is
available. The 3 owners of Hawk Trailers (Brian Timm, Sean Bruechert and
Joel VanDenHout) are conservative and more concerned about quality than
growth, a philosophy worth copying.
Usually I headline an
article with a new trailer. But a used Hawk (below) could pass for new.
I've seen several used ones now and even one rolled by a Tornado. That's
a good way to judge a trailer or a truck. Find one 5 years old and see
how they're holding up. There's a good reason Hawk owners are proud of
their trailers. Proving that small companies with quality trailers
paying attention to details and listening to their customers, can
compete with the national corporations for trailer sales.
Instead of an assembly line, Hawk uses
individual booths to handle all the different size trailers. This
prevents a large trailer from clogging up the line. Also makes it
easier to custom build trailers without affecting the flow. Workers are
trained to handle all the building jobs. This flexibility allows
technicians to go work on any trailer. There are 26 standard models. In
house engineers at Hawk help customers and dealers design custom
trailers or rearrange standard models. Farther down the article I
explain the raised "people" floor and ramps, yes I'm still raving about
ramps. Check out all the pictures, at least a million, I mean several
hundred.
Composite
Process of Galvannealed, Gatorshield, Galvanized, Powder Coat,
Fiberglass & T-Coat
Even
"all aluminum" trailers have metal axles, axle frame boxes and metal
gooseneck coupler frames. So a combination of materials seems logical,
just as in the automobile industry. When talking about steel trailers,
you hear about Galvannealed often. Just like in the automobile industry,
using zinc coated galvanized metal is a mature technology, actually 100
years old. Metal has evolved to keep your new steel truck from rusting
and now steel trailers use hot dip galvanizing called Galvannealed.
Which is a brand name for a process where carbon steel is dipped in zinc
and then heated to coat the metal with zinc-iron alloy. This is a
bonding process which makes it superior to galvanized and makes the
metal easier to paint and weld. Now the next improvement to metal is
Zinc- Iron electro Galvannealed steel from the electrolytic process.
Also another brand name for a metal treatment process is Gatorshield
which is a triple layer Flo-Coat. The tensile strength in Gatorshield is
similar to the frame on class 6 trucks. Hawk Trailers uses some
galvanized, some Galvannealed and a lot of Gatorshield galvanized metal
in their trailers, each for their appropriate use. Don't let the tech
stuff bore you, more exciting details down a few paragraphs.
Now
we have the frame and interior walls covered. Next Hawk takes the
trailer to the paint booth where it is caulked and coated with Epoxy.
The floor is built with standard treated #1 Southern Yellow
Pine or optional Rumber. In the walls, insulation is added and then the outer aluminum
sheets are taped into place. Taping is becoming the standard for
aluminum sheets, allowing easier repairs from a traffic accident. Same
with the fiberglass fenders, that bolt on, easy replacement. The
aluminum sheets are pre-baked in either white or silver. This coating
eliminates the need for acid washing the aluminum shell. You know low
maintenance, just soap and water and your trailer is clean again.
Now
add the one piece Gatorshield steel reinforced fiberglass roof to keep
the water out, stay cool and is quiet. Then back to the paint booth for
the roof trim, fenders and cool graphics. You can use the color code
from your truck or SUV to match the paint. Color coordinated is my
middle name. Folks will stop talking just to watch your rig pull up and
then they will be excited or jealous. So much care goes in to the
details, like fully removable powder coated interior parts, epoxy on all
the metal, and painted on graphics.
Black T-coated latches, bolts and hardware
(right) is another detail to prevent corrosion. Developed for the
military & used on boats, Black T is a combination of thin coat polymers
so not interfering with latch function.
Replaceable
color coordinated fiberglass fenders. We all know fenders are
the first casualty of a tight corner. Fiber glass is lighter
than steel, cheaper to replace than aluminum. Hawk uses extra
core matting on the radius of the fenders. Reinforced fenders
(right) you can see the bolts that hold the fender on (left.) I
inspected a Hawk trailer rolled in a tornado, the fenders were
undamaged even though the trailer was on it's side. Hawk adds
aluminum diamond plate to the fenders that match the gravel
guard up front. |
8 guage galvanized steel is formed into a Z for the frame - at
the beginning of the trailer construction.
The goose neck gussets are custom formed using galvanized steel. |
11
gauge tubing roll bar, frames the rear door. And yes it's
designed for roll over protection. |
Double walls all the way to the roof, Galvannealed sheet metal
inside, strong and washable with soap and water. Insulated
inside the walls, outside is aluminum for long lasting beauty. |
Insulation makes for a quieter ride just like your truck cab. |
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Aluminum skin is
taped on. Easier to fix |
Plasma cutter
blowing windows |
When the frame is
galvanized steel, you don't have to "frame in" for the axles |
Z iron frame
reinforced to attach the fenders |
Inside skin,
double walled not just window level, all the way to the roof.. |
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Hawk makes their
own doors with stainless steel piano hinges |
Piano hinges on
tack/dressing room and LQ have a seal on both sides. |
Tie downs are
anchored to the wall posts |
Gussets are added
to LQ's as the steel liner is replaced with conversion
components |
Barrel hinges have
grease zerks. Stainless steel pins and plastic bushings. |
Roof
#1 Roof frame jig for bows and reinforced plates for air
vents and AC.
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#2 The fiberglass process, harder than you think. |
Lets
see you walk on a RV Roof, left. Roof fits the walls and nose to
a T, (right.) |
I wanted to show you that the fiberglass top is white, from the
side you just see the matching paint. It's one cool roof. |
Raised Dressing
Room-LQ Floor
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Pay attention here, this is
unique, Hawk raises the floor on dressing rooms and LQ's. So the
urine, water etc, doesn't roll under the wall to the dressing
room smelling up your area. This also gives you a flat door
threshold, easy to enter and sweep out. Great idea ! |
Raised LQ floor frame, such a
unique feature. And it provides the perfect place to mount
and protect the holding tanks for your LQ. |
Dressing room flat floor, no threshold, great for sweeping out,
staying dry and not tripping over. |
Rumber
is my favorite option, with it's 20 year warranty. Forget mats,
forget wood. Made out of 65% recycled rubber, 35% recycled
plastic. It has a surface like rubber mats for traction. Tongue
and groove so it fits like wood. But it won't splinter, rot or
crack and no maintenance. And it's only a few hundred dollars
more than wood. A wise investment. |
Ron
Winter (sales manager) built a trailer using the ideas we had on the
forum at HorseTrailerWorld.com using my survey. Ron gets points for
listening to us.
Most of the features on the list can be
added if not ordered that way. We're talking 4 LED tail lights, an
organizer added to the tack/dressing room, bucket attached to the
outside, open slatted stall divider, rear spot light, more outside ties
etc.
Ramps
It's no secret I'm a fan of
ramps. Ramps are standard on Hawk trailers. You can choose other doors
too for a slant load and with rear tack room you can have 60/40 doors.
Hawk trailers are not high off the ground and can be stepped into easily
enough, but this is what I talked about earlier, that vision thing from
the owners of Hawk trailers, they want safety first for your horses.
Hawk
ramps are strong but light. I like ramps, put them on both ends
and I'm even happier. If I was a horse I would want to walk in
and walk out, forget reverse. Side ramp hinges (right) are
covered and seal up well when closed. |
Rubber
covered ramps are spring loaded and built into the trailer, not
an add-on. This makes it look sharp and not stick out like a
delivery truck. You know what I'm talking about. |
Spring loaded ramps are standard with storm
doors. The walls and doors are fully lined and insulated. With
the fiberglass roof, windows galore and opened storm doors, you
have a comfortable ventilated summer horse transport. Close it
up and your are ready for winter. The galvanized steel framed
fiberglass roof and insulation make the trailer much quiter.
Less stress on your horses.
Our horse model was an Arabian Pinto
(below) 14.3 hands. And his friend Judy Barth modeled loading
and closing the easy ramp. We appreciate the help from Jeff and
Judy Barth of Sunset Ranch with their beautiful Egyptian
Arabians. Judy is 5'1" and had no problem lifting the ramps.
85% of Hawk owners are women, you
know, the smart and picky ones. Check out our loading pictures
below. |
Goosenecks
Yes More Details
and Custom trailers below
Sealed fuse box like your truck,
with emergency break-away battery. The black wire in the fuse
box gives you a constant hot wire when the trailer is connected
to the truck. You can turn on dress area, horse area, and load
lights without turning on your clearance lights. |
Pads,
everywhere your horse goes, all Hawk trailers have the
head bumper at the rear opening above door (left). Pads are on
the side walls and dividers for the side by side trailers and on
the dividers on the slant loads.
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The
dividers are all made to completely come out of the trailer.
This helps move your teenagers to college and you could take the
insides apart by hand to get a spooked horse out of a jam. The
divider posts are anchored to the roof to allow the divider to
swing and not need a rear post that just gets in the way.
All removable interior parts are powder coated. This means
the stall dividers, breast/butt bars, and posts. Butt and breast
bars are self aligning to their pins (right). |
Cam
latches on full rear doors (left). Hawk has shields over the
operating rods for the cam latches on upper storm doors (Doors
over Ramps) right. |
A butterfly latch with paddle
latch can be used on walk out and escape doors for extra safety
and security This works out great on a living quarter trailer
with a escape door for the first horse. You can open the door
from the inside to get out of the trailer. Another unique
feature for adding convenience. |
The
outside skin is on (left) and the roof is up on blocks waiting
to be fitted. Seeing trailers go from start to finish is a
thrill watching Hawk Trailers do it right. |
Tornado, this gooseneck of 2001 vintage was tossed
around by a tornado and landed on it's side. Very little damage, just a
crack in the roof and minor scrapes. The reinforced fiberglass fenders
held the weight of the trailer as it landed on it's side. The fenders
were just scratched.
Custom Trailers
and Miniature Horse/Llama
Hawk
Trailers make custom miniature horse trailers. Cute as a button
miniature horse and llama trailers. Made like their bigger cousins. Yes
mini's have ramps along with personalities. I may have to go in the mini
business!
Hawk Trailers also custom builds
horse trailers for the Equispirit Trailer Company. |
Can't keep Ron away from the
horses, shown here in conference with his horses, Smokey and
Dancer. Ron Winter and his wife were trailer dealers for years
before coming to Hawk. This gives Ron a unique understanding of
what customers want and what trailer dealers need to give those
customers what they want. |
Ron's
talking to more customers, classy Egyptian Arabians from Jeff
and Judy Barth of Sunset Ranch. Ron Winter, a Viet Nam Vet,
kept Hawks flag from 9/11. I'm still amazed at how affected we
all were by 9/11 as I travel around the country. |
Can
you tell which trailer is 8 years old (left)? I told them to
stop parking used trailers next to new trailers, I get confused.
Can't tell the story without loads of pictures to load. |
copyright 2005 H. Kent Sundling, MrTruck Media
Horse
Trailer World.com
copyright 2002 all rights reserved
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