Question: What beekeeping vehicle would you advise for £2,500?

[BB King]

I had a similar issue having recently retired and relinquished a Company Nissan X trail which was great as a bee vehicle. I wanted to spend between 2-3k max on a 4x4 and had my eye on a Jimney and tried a few but found them a bit small, older SUVs in the price range were plentiful but prohibitive on VED (over £500pa) I ended up with a 2006 Kia Sorrento, 4WD huge load space and I can take all my gear with me. I now leave plenty of kit in the car which frees up shed space.
A van if no 4WD needed is a good option and could give a bee free cab space. The renault Kangoo was a contender just missed out on a Trakka 4x4.
Good luck in your search.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

Be careful with L200, heads crack on the 2.5, I've done loads, to be fair a brand new replacement is about £300. fuel tanks, brake pipes and fuel lines are awful.
Had a customer do his own cambelt, but tightened up crank bolt with a spanner, I had to put a new crank in that one.
Some Navara engines just blow up on a whim, timing & fuel issues mainly. Chassis are rubbish, but there are good ones to be had.
If I had little choice would go for Suzuki jimny or Dacia duster.

 

[pargyle]

I ended up with a 2006 Kia Sorrento, 4WD huge load space and I can take all my gear with me. I now leave plenty of kit in the car which frees up shed space.
.

Interior is a bit plasticky, the driver's seat wears very badly, loads of space - very good if you can find the commercial version with the flat floor but .. they are still fetching £2700-£3000 for ones with any sort of sensible mileage on them and a decent history. I looked at these when I bought my last Rover 75 .. no comparison to be honest unless you like Korean minimalist styling and you weigh less than 12 stones.

 

[Pete D]

Peugeot partner van, 1.6 diesel. I have had 2, 50+ to the gallon and never misses a beat. No good on a wet grassy slope. Carry 6 decent hives or double stack 12 single brood hives and a few pallets.

 

[Amari]

Or this.... with a Hiab and a heated cab.... perhaps apply for one of the government hand outs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMZjpKn9zzQ

Driver hasn't noticed at c. 45 secs into the video that the hay bale has fallen off. Can't see the heated cab....

 

[Amari]

Why not buy a small trailer and fit a tow bar? A much cheaper option.
Also why have your hives so spread out? If a site cannot cope with 20 hives frankly its not that good.
PH

Costs about £500 to fit a tow bar and hives bounce around more than in a vehicle. Also second vehicle gives me independence from SWMBO....
20 hives on one site?? - bees would run out of forage in this arable area. I enjoy placing hives in special sites eg a lady who suggested I place a hive on a flower meadow she sowed last year.

 

[Amari]

Many thanks for all the replies. Hopefully I'll report back in due course.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I had a similar issue having recently retired and relinquished a Company Nissan X trail which was great as a bee vehicle. I wanted to spend between 2-3k max on a 4x4 and had my eye on a Jimney and tried a few but found them a bit small, older SUVs in the price range were plentiful but prohibitive on VED (over £500pa) I ended up with a 2006 Kia Sorrento, 4WD huge load space and I can take all my gear with me. I now leave plenty of kit in the car which frees up shed space.
A van if no 4WD needed is a good option and could give a bee free cab space. The renault Kangoo was a contender just missed out on a Trakka 4x4.
Good luck in your search.

Have you looked at registration as commercial?

 

[Amari]

We've been a one-car couple for about 10 years. But with 10-14 hives in three apiaries 1-3 km from home, the family hatchback is increasingly unsuitable for transporting supers full of honey etc. I reckon I made £2,500 net profit from honey sales last year so I've decided to look for a second vehicle in which I can both store basic kit and carry bulky bee stuff. 4WD not necessary. Grateful for ideas.

I decided on a 10 year-old Citroen Berlingo @ £2500. I like the headroom. Easily takes four hives, could be six (I've taken out the back seats). Supers will stack five-high. Thanks for your advice. [Sorry, still haven't learnt how to attach photos. Could there please be a sticky, Admin, on how to do it? Nigh on 80 I'm not as slick as some....]

 

[Repwoc]

Sorry, still haven't learnt how to attach photos.

To attach one or more image(s) to your post:

In the post editor window, click the Attachments button (paperclip):



This will open the Manage Attachments window:



Click the top 'Choose File' button to open the file explorer. Navigate to and select the image file to upload, then click the 'Open' button. Repeat for any other files you wish to upload, clicking different 'Choose File' buttons for each. Then click the 'Upload' button. The filename(s) will appear in the Current Attachments pane of the Manage Attachments window. Close the Manage Attachments window.

At this point nothing will show in your message to indicate that you have uploaded any images. If you click 'Submit Reply' now then the images will be available via hyperlinks at the bottom of your post. However ...

If you click the Attachments (paperclip) button again after uploading images, a little menu appears similar to:



The attached image file(s) are listed and if there are more than one 'Insert All' is added to the end of the list. If you click one of the image files in the list some text is inserted at the cursor location similar to:



The number is unique to your attachment. In your post, the attached image will be displayed in-line instead of via a hyperlink, so is useful to insert images between blocks of text (like this post!). If you want to insert all the images at once, click the 'Insert All' option in the Attachments button menu.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I decided on a 10 year-old Citroen Berlingo @ £2500. I like the headroom. Easily takes four hives, could be six (I've taken out the back seats). Supers will stack five-high. Thanks for your advice. [Sorry, still haven't learnt how to attach photos. Could there please be a sticky, Admin, on how to do it? Nigh on 80 I'm not as slick as some....]

I have a 13year old one that I picked up for £900 2 years ago. It does a great job but my one complaint is it's not easy to load heavy supers through the side doors without scraping your knuckles! The Vauxhall combo was better in that respect.

 

[Swarm]

I decided on a 10 year-old Citroen Berlingo @ £2500. I like the headroom. Easily takes four hives, could be six (I've taken out the back seats). Supers will stack five-high. Thanks for your advice. [Sorry, still haven't learnt how to attach photos. Could there please be a sticky, Admin, on how to do it? Nigh on 80 I'm not as slick as some....]

Oh, I'm sure you are
Congrats on the purchase.

 

[Bear]

I have a 13year old one that I picked up for £900 2 years ago. It does a great job but my one complaint is it's not easy to load heavy supers through the side doors without scraping your knuckles! The Vauxhall combo was better in that respect.

Well I have a 2001 berlingo. Yes 19 years old. I’ve had it for 12 years now and that’s what I use, no side doors, no bulkhead!! Had 4 hives in it easy.

 

[Amari]

To attach one or more image(s) to your post:
In the post editor window, click the Attachments button (paperclip):
View attachment 18217

This will open the Manage Attachments window:

View attachment 18218

Click the top 'Choose File' button to open the file explorer. Navigate to and select the image file to upload, then click the 'Open' button. Repeat for any other files you wish to upload, clicking different 'Choose File' buttons for each. Then click the 'Upload' button. The filename(s) will appear in the Current Attachments pane of the Manage Attachments window. Close the Manage Attachments window.

At this point nothing will show in your message to indicate that you have uploaded any images. If you click 'Submit Reply' now then the images will be available via hyperlinks at the bottom of your post. However ...

If you click the Attachments (paperclip) button again after uploading images, a little menu appears similar to:

View attachment 18219

The attached image file(s) are listed and if there are more than one 'Insert All' is added to the end of the list. If you click one of the image files in the list some text is inserted at the cursor location similar to:

View attachment 18220

The number is unique to your attachment. In your post, the attached image will be displayed in-line instead of via a hyperlink, so is useful to insert images between blocks of text (like this post!). If you want to insert all the images at once, click the 'Insert All' option in the Attachments button menu.

Thanks Paul
My problem is that it tells me the image is too big and should be reduced to 2000x2000. With my pic on my screen I've tried everything I can find in 'Image', 'Edit' etc but can't see how to reduce the size. My pics are on 'Photos' on a MacBook Air. Exporting to Jpeg doesn't help. Grateful for further advice.
Thanks again.

 

[Repwoc]

Unfortunately I know nothing about Apple gear so I can't offer any help regarding your MacBook Air.

In Microsoft Windows I resize images in an app called 'Paint'. It's a simple matter of entering the new size for one axis and the other is adjusted automatically, then 'Save'. I'm sure there will be an equivalent app on your MacBook Air. Try this article for help:

https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/resize-images-mac-3689216/

 

[Murox]

Open photos and open the image you want. Click Image from the top bar. Now click Edit with , and choose Preview. The picture will open up in preview. in preview choose Tools (from the top bar) and then choose Adjust size - make your choices and remember to save the edited file.

 

[user 6228]

Something like Berlingo or Kangoo, very handy.

Yes very handy indeed. the flat exit from the back of our Kangoo is very welcome moving heavy hives in and out. The height has also proved quite useful.

 

[madasafish]

No need for a pickup here as my Jazz takes four hives with Magic Seats folded flat.. #

Took a national with two supers - just got it in - and out but a two person job..

But if you want tools as well, then impractical..

# all Jazz from 2002 to now so wide range of prices.

 

[mbc]

I've got a kangoo trekka and it's a proper little workhorse.
It'll fit 26 supers with the seats folded up, has a great roof rack and a tow bar- rated to pull 750kg, a bit light for heavy work but enough for most situations.
It goes everywhere and more than my old l200, it's better on wet grass and much cheaper on fuel, the little beast hauled 6 tonnes of honey last season.

 

[Amari]

Open photos and open the image you want. Click Image from the top bar. Now click Edit with , and choose Preview. The picture will open up in preview. in preview choose Tools (from the top bar) and then choose Adjust size - make your choices and remember to save the edited file.

That's very useful Murox - I've copied the sequence for future posts. I've resized to 135x180cm and Saved.
However hard I try, when I proceed to Manage Attachments and enter the JPG number and Upload I get the same message that the file is too big at 3264x2448mm
If I return to Photos, click on the image/preview/resize, I'm told it's 135x180 ie. I seem to have successfully resized the image in my library. But when I return to this thread and try to upload the image is still too big.
Most grateful if you could advise on that. Sorry......!