"Bigger" trailer

[randyl]

About 8 years ago I looked at buying a "Bigger" travel trailer. It was very similar to a Bigfoot with a fibreglass body and an enclosed frame. It was 19 or 21' long. It was built in the late 1970's. About 5 years ago I found another at a local RV dealership. I could not find any info on the manufacturer and decided not to buy again. Since then I've looked for one to restore, but have never found any reference to Bigger as a manufacturer on the web.
Has anyone ever heard of "Bigger" as a trailer manufacturer? I live in Alberta Canada and found 2 of them so I assume it was a Canadian product.

[Jay Herb]

Randy, I see you made it to the FiberglassRV site.
I found a post on the Biggar trailer, lets see if this link will get you to it.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.ph...=bigger+trailer

[randyl]

Thanks for the help. At least now I know how to spell it and I know they are out there and I wasn't imagining it. I wonder why they aren't listed anywhere as a vintage trailer or in for sale listings. I suppose that not very many made it this long.
Randy

[Brian B-P]

I had not seen the other topic showing this trailer, because I haven't been watching the For Sale listings. I'm glad it came up here, because it is an interesting design, which doesn't look at all Boler to me (but then, neither does the Boler 1650...).

Given that the current Boat, Bike and RV Auto Trader for Alberta lists only a single moulded fiberglass trailer (a 2003 Trillium Outback), I don't find it surprising that the much more rare Biggar is hard to find. Here, I have looked at many issues of similar publications (which are stuffed with hundreds of used trailers for sale) and never seen a Fiber Stream or Quantum and rarely if ever even a Casita, Scamp, Burro, or U-Haul. Only the Canadian-built Bolers, Trilliums, and Bigfeet appear, and even then they are far outnumbered by stick-builts. Randy is obviously a better finder of trailers than I.

Good luck finding a Biggar, Randy. I hope you'll post some more details if you find one.

[Benita]

Expires 3/10/06: http://www.portageonline.com/cgi-bin/class...=103734&offset=

[Brian B-P]

Ah, the magic of Google - but that ad seems to be the only Biggar trailer that comes up in a search for "Biggar travel trailer", the rest being connected to the Town of Biggar, Saskatchewan, and various people having the last name "Biggar". I wonder if the trailer is named after the town or the family?

[randyl]

I contacted the seller and received pictures. It's the trailer I remembered .So far there is no manufacturer info but maybe later.Thanks for the help.
Randy

[Jay Herb]

Randy,
even though the biggar is not made any more you can still do repairs & remodel them, just take some time and read the postings from many folks that have done it with other trailers that are not made any more.

[Manitoba Paul]

Biggar Manufacturing Ltd., 401 Chrisland St, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
These trailers are 19 feet long, usually 2 tone brown with a tandem axle (torsion bar) suspension. They seem to have come equipped with a fridge, furnace, water heater, stove- oven combo, converter with battery charger, potable, grey and black water tanks. Gross vehicle weight 4000 lbs. The trailers were made around the late 70's early 80's. I have seen a reference to both Biggar Manufacturing and Boler Industries in the same sentence which gave the impression of a connection, but that is purely speculation. The windows in this trailer are apparently manufactured by Storm-tite(Winnipeg). These windows are the same as those used on the early 80's Triple-E motorhomes. I was able to obtain replacement sliding window channel, water shed rubber moulding and window latches.

Hope this bit of info helps.

[Benita]

Yippee!!

We have a member with a Biggar. Album Update Time.

[Mary F]

Cool! I was just about to post that the reason there isn't more about the Biggars here is we don't have a member who actually has one. (They've popped up for sale from time to time; we have wondered about them several times through our, what, 4 or so years of existence as a web site.)



But, now that Manitoba Paul has chimed in, I won't post that as the reason there's not more about them here...

[Manitoba Paul]

[attachment=5436:attachm
ent]



Internal views of the Biggar trailer. Front seat is U-shaped. Closet, cabinet and Bathroom/shower in rear with overhead bunk on left.

[Manitoba Paul]

[attachment=5440:attachm
ent]

External views of the Biggar 19' Trailer.

[Suz]

Terrific looking trailer! Thanks for letting us finally see inside one.

Do you know how wide it is? I'm thinking it must be about as wide the Bigfoot (8').

Congratulations.

[Manitoba Paul]

Hi Suz:

At the extremities this trailer is 7' 8" wide.

[Brian B-P]

Paul, thanks for the detailed information. I had been curious about this design, because I am always on the lookout for a more optimal design for our use, and just because it is different.

The interior photos are great. It looks like the same layout (generally) as a Boler B1700SG (Side Gaucho) or a Bigfoot 19' (as shown in the Albums), for instance. It looks like the relatively square corners mean that the dinette (for instance) is not so compromized as it is in the B1700.

The width is almost identical to the "big" Boler, the B1700 (such as mine). This puts it distinctly wider than the typical egg (B1300, Scamp, Casita...), but also narrower than recent Bigfoot designs. Now, how about the length and height?

The other specific set of dimensions which I am interested in are those of the bathroom. It's nice to have a bathroom/shower, but it's not so useful if you can't move in it! Paul, can you tell us how wide (at the widest point, I guess), long, and tall the space is? I'll try to remember to measure my B1700 and post it for comparison if anyone is interested. In a post to FiberglassRV Brand Comparison Chart, Suz provided this info for comparison: "Escape bathroom w/shower per Reace (unless it has changed): 37"L x 23"W and 65"H."

[Brian B-P]

...I'll try to remember to measure my B1700 and post it for comparison if anyone is interested...

The shower / toilet room of my 1979 B1700RGH is..

• 32-3/8" (822 mm) [b]long, front to back
  • except for about 3" (75 mm) of wheelhousing intrusion in the lower 8" (200 mm) at the front, for most of the width
  • and the step up under the toilet for the black tank, 6-1/4" (160 mm) high
• 26-3/16" (665 mm) [b]wide, at the widest point (the belly seam, 26-3/4" or 680 mm above the floor)
  • and 23-1/4" (590 mm) wide near the floor,
  • with the curtain (to cover the wood door and toilet paper) hanging on a rail centred 2-9/16" (65 mm) inside the inboard (door) wall.
• 71-3/16" (1808 mm) [b]tall at the door (inboard) side
  • with a door opening 18-5/16" wide by 64-3/16" tall (465x1630 mm), above a threshold 5" (125 mm) above the floor

Because the shower is in the side area of the body, there is no flat ceiling area; the shape of the top part looks just like the closet, which I posted earlier in [b]Closet size in a 17' Boler

The problem I had with the Escape bathroom was the lack of standing headroom (I hink the whole trailer body is shorter in height), but I guess it had more front-to-back length (which make it easier to get up and down). I'm still interested in the Biggar: is it bigger?

[Manitoba Paul]

[attachment=5506:attachm
ent]

Hello Brian:

Here are some measurements of the bathroom in the Biggar Trailer:

Around the beltline the measurements are about 48 X 26 inches. The dimension at the ceiling is about 36 x 24 inches with rounded corners of about a 2" radius. The toilet sits on a raised platform of about 7 inches high and 17 X 24 (width) which is likely the the blackwater tank below. That leaves the rest of the floor as part of the shower but a corner moulded section forms part of the sink. See pictures of shower floor drain, sink and medicine cabinet.

Height floor to ceiling inside the bathroom is 72 inches. The door width is 22 (wide) x 68" (height)

The trailer inside the main area is 74 inches in height while the overall outside height is about 92 (ground to the roof line)

[Brian B-P]

Thanks, Paul!

The Biggar appears to be very well equipped. The Boler bathroom doesn't have a sink, which we miss.

So it seems that the Biggar is bigger (than the Boler), in bathroom length and in width at the top (due to the more squared body shape). I understand how it's a bit narrower at the top, but I'm not sure where the foot of length went (48" at beltline, but only 36" at the top?). It looks quite close to the Boler in floor space, so is it maybe 36" all the way up (not considering the sink intrusion)?

Now, is the improved bathroom enough to have me looking for a Biggar?

In the B1700, the step under the toilet is the black tank (which sits on top of the floor, and continues forward under the streetside dinette seat). It looks like the Biggar does the same thing, but with the tank extension being rearward, presumably under a storage cabinet in the streetside back corner. It seems to be cabinets all the way across the back - are the two upper and two lower doors in the middle the only access to this storage space?

[Manitoba Paul]

Brian:

The black water tank and the gray water are located along the rear of the trailer. Part of the blackwater tank and all of the graywater tank is under the rear cabinet. The potable water tank and pump are located along the curb side beside the wheel well.

The toilet area is 48 inches long at the beltline but the ceiling is 36. Note in the side view of the trailer the sloping rear. That acounts for the difference.

Likely, when comparing a 17' Boler to a 19' Biggar the differences in dimensions are not so drastic. According to a classified ad in a December 1978 Winnipeg Free Press the Biggar trailers were described as "Winterized" in a factory year end clearance sale. When I removed a side window for resealing I noticed that it had about a 2" inner frame that was well insulated. As well, when wiring the ceiling vent the roof thickness at the vent was about 3". The fiberglass shell is aproximately 3/16" thick fiberglass. With these thicknesses the inside of the two trailers should be comperable in size but not in overall weight.

The lower cabinet has a top surface that is 23 inches deep but the shelf inside the cabinet is is only 13" deep. The space behind the cabinet is used primarily for plumbing.