Reference: British WW2 180 Gallon 20-cwt Bowsers restoration

[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,