Reference: British WW2 180 Gallon 20-cwt Bowsers restoration

[Ian L]

Collected the second bowser today and towed it back to my workshop for restoration, this is the better one of the 2 but has some major parts missing such as the towhitch & water hose trays but the 1st bowser which is past restoring has these missing parts.

[Ian L]

Tow hitch behind the Humber has been adapted for a Tractor but the scrap Bowser has a complete hitch.

[Ian L]

One of the Bowsers had a makers plate just hanging on by rust alone so removed it to safe storage.
Plate says that its a 15cwt trailer rather than a 20cwt but from all the investigation I have done I thought that the Canadian type with 16" CMP wheels were 15cwt and the early British ones with 11:00 wheels were 20cwt ??

[Larry Hayward]

Dear Ian,

I have just found a further photo for you taken at a Canadian Army vehicle park in UK

As you will see the wheels are different on this version and I would suggest more civilian in style. Where there early and late models I wonder?

When you are short of raw materials any type of wheel will do but once things improve from personal experience I can tell you that in the Army you want the wheel & tyre on the trainer to be the same as the spare for the vehicle. In my old RE Sqn the two wheeled units we towed were converted to have Land Rover wheels and tyres.

The photo is a bit fuzzy but might help with making the tilt hoops

Good luck with these restorations

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Ian L

One of the Bowsers had a makers plate just hanging on by rust alone so removed it to safe storage.
Plate says that its a 15cwt trailer rather than a 20cwt but from all the investigation I have done I thought that the Canadian type with 16" CMP wheels were 15cwt and the early British ones with 11:00 wheels were 20cwt ??

Ian,

I am not really up to speed on British water trailers, but the thread Regimental Water Cart gives you some insight in this subject.

Please bear in mind there are differences between the British and Canadian built ones. Compare the two 15-cwt trailers pictured below: British-built on the left, Canadian-built on the right. Same purpose, same basic design, but with many manufacturing differences: British has 13" wheels, Canadian has 16" wheels. Look at the chassis construction, too.

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/at...4&d=1089486545
http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/at...0&d=1089369542
Note: both pictures are linked from Canadian 20-cwt GS Trailer.

The same would be true for the 20-cwt trailer. The one in the picture posted by Larry is a Canadian-built 20-cwt trailer. Basically the same as the Canadian 15-cwt trailer, except for one or two extra cross members in the chassis and 7.00-20 tyres (instead of 9.00-16 on the 15-cwt) on special adapters to fit the hubs.

HTH,

[servicepub (RIP)]

Ian,
E-mail me at home (cliveATservicepubDOTcom) and I will send you hi-res photos of these.

Clive

[Ian L]

Hi Clive I just sent you an email & thanks to everyone else for their help so far.
2 more photos I found of British bowsers.


Dunkirk 1940:

dunkirk3.jpg


Workshop:

G503.jpg

[Les Freathy]

Nice finds Ian, heres a photo from my new book British Miliary trucks of WW2
cheers
Les