Traveled Lane Trailers, Inc.
This listing under construction.
This 2024 Böckmann Comfort has the updated styling and features introduced on the 2023 Comforts, namely taller groom & tack doors and more working space forward. (That is, they increased the "people space" between chest bars and tack compartment), And since it's a Böckmann, of course it's easy to tow!
The Comfort is one of Böckmann's "polyester" models, which on this side of the Atlantic we know as "fiberglass." The walls of Böckmann's aluminum models (see our listings for Portax and Champion models) are always the silver-gray of their anodized aluminum wall panels. On the fiberglass models such as this Comfort, the walls and roof may be specified in any of the many colors Böckmann offers. For this one, we specified Silver Metallic walls and roof.
On the Comfort, the roof is traditional fiberglass. If you've ever ridden in a boat traveling over rough water, you know fiberglass is tough stuff. Since horse trailer walls bear the brunt of the things horses do, the Comfort's walls are fiberglass with a core material that increases their thickness and strength while keeping the weight down. Böckmann has been producing their polyester/fiberglass models for decades, so they're well proven. With the new taller doors, greater space forward and affordable pricing, the updated Comfort has quickly become a customer favorite.
The Comfort is roomy yet easy to handle, with a body length a bit under 11 feet. Body height is a touch over 7'6", providing good headroom even for tall horses, but the Comfort has thoughtful features to accommodate a range of horse sizes, as we're about to explain...
The Comfort features Böckmann's Multi Safe System (MSS) stall bars. The MSS chest bars offer two height adjustments and the butt bars have 3 positions. The MSS butt bar wall mounts are angled so that as you lower the bar for a smaller horse, it also shortens the stall. Chest and butt bars are quick & easy to use, yet fit snugly so your horses can enjoy a quiet ride. In addition, the MSS chest & butt bars may be released externally in the event of an emergency. How? The exterior tie loops serve as the bolts for the chest & butt bar wall mounts. In the event of an emergency, slip the handle of the standard-equipment lug wrench through the appropriate front or rear tie loop, unscrew it and the wall mount drops down, freeing the horse without anyone having to get in the trailer with a panicking horse.
The stall divider may be swung aside and it's easily removable. If your horse tends to enter a trailer head down, the clear divider will allow him or her to see the full width of the trailer while loading. The walls and chest bars are padded and there's a kick panel on each wall for the added comfort and safety of your horses.
As with the other Böckmann models, the Comfort has a floor of interlocking extruded aluminum planks, reinforced in high-load areas. A rubber mat is bonded to the floor and the edges are sealed so animal wastes don't reach the floor surface. It makes for a long-lasting floor and clean-up is a snap. Just sweep or hose it out. No need to lift mats!
Another thoughtful touch is interior lights that illuminate blue or white. Flip the switch one way and let the horses travel in calming blue light. Need brighter light for working with the horses? Flip the switch the other way and the light's white! There's a blue/white light in the horse area and one in the tack compartment.
The Comfort has a groom door on the curb side. As mentioned earlier, the updated design includes taller doors. By our tape, the the groom door is a touch over 5' tall. (The tack door isn't quite as tall, but the tack opening runs to about 6' when you're standing next to the trailer to get your tack). There's a nice-sized tinted flip-out window near each horse's head and this one was ordered with the popular roof vent/skylight. With windows, roof vent and rear curtain open, the Comfort's white interior is bright, inviting and well-ventilated.
Regarding that rear curtain, it's heavy-duty and self-furling. You may run with the curtain closed, but most folks run with it open. And to reiterate, that curtain is self-furling - just undo the straps and it rolls up. (In fact, the curtain is so raring to go that we suggest holding the center strap so it doesn't go up too fast!) If you decide to run with the curtain closed, there's a mesh section about 5" high that may be opened for added ventilation, but the vast majority of owners run with it open for great natural light and ventilation. There's a couple of built-in low-profile steps on the license tag holder so you don't have to be 7' tall to reach the curtain straps.
The Comfort's ramp is 5' tall (compare to 4' on many trailers) and offers a gentle slope for loading and unloading. The ramp mat has molded-in toeholds. Lift assist is provided by a pair of gas springs. Unlike the torsion springs common on many trailers, which provide less assist as the ramp goes up, a gas spring provides effective assist throughout its travel. The rotating ramp latches are quick & easy to use.
The Comfort has a compact but efficient tack compartment, easily accessed through a lockable door on the road side, and as mentioned earlier, the tack door on the updated Comfort is taller. The tack compartment comes with two telescoping saddle racks (for English), bridle hooks, whip holders, telescoping shovel & broom, mirror and storage net. It also comes with a pair of wheel chocks, a lug wrench, a hitch ball cover and a coupler insert for use with the integrated anti-theft coupler lock. (Pop the insert into the coupler, turn the lock on the side of the coupler and a ne'er-do-well can't just hook up and drive off with your trailer.)
Böckmann trailers feature unitized construction, where walls, roof, floor and chassis reinforce each other to create a strong but light 3-dimensional structure. Unitized construction has been used in the construction of automobiles for 30 years or more, so it's a well-proven design approach. While it's easy to just use less or thinner materials to achieve lighter weight, we highlight Böckmann's unitized construction to show that they take an intelligent approach to reducing weight while maintaining excellent strength.
The Comfort rides on independent- suspension torsion axles (with shock absorbers) and radial tires. A radial spare tire is standard as well. A feature on the Comfort that's common on European trailers and much appreciated by owners is inertia-actuated mechanical brakes. With the inertia-actuated brakes, you don't need a brake controller in the tow vehicle. The brakes apply braking force automatically in proportion to the load in the trailer. There's no need to fool with a power setting on a brake controller, because, with the inertia-actuated brakes, you don't need a brake controller!
Here's a simple description of how the mechanical brakes work: As you slow your tow vehicle, the trailer's coupler assembly compresses slightly, pulling a rod, which pulls a short cable to each brake drum. (The cables allow the wheels to move up and down without interfering with brake operation.) The empty trailer compresses the coupler assembly with a certain amount of force. Load one horse and there's now the weight of the trailer plus 1000 lbs. or so of horse to compress the coupler assembly with more force, producing more braking force. Load a second horse and now it's the weight of the trailer plus 2000 lbs. or so compressing the coupler assembly to produce proportionately more braking force. While electric brakes are common here in the States, in most countries, mechanical trailer braking systems as on a Böckmann have been the predominant design for decades, probably on millions of trailers by now. They're simple, safe and reliable. No electronics to fail, no wires to break, no brake fluid to change, no brake lines to rust out.
Ease of towing is one of the things that initially draws customers to Böckmann trailers. The Comfort, as with other Böckmann models, is designed to be towed safely by many of today's smaller and more fuel-efficient SUVs, crossovers and trucks. In Europe, a fair number of owners pull their Böckmanns with cars!
Here are Böckmann's easy-to-meet vehicle requirements:
1. Must have at least 125 horsepower. To put this in perspective, this level of power is achieved even by many of today's small 4-cylinder engines (although most Böckmann owners pull with vehicles equipped with 6-cylinder engines or the turbocharged fours that are taking the place of sixes in many vehicles).
2. If SUV or truck, must have a wheelbase of at least 100 inches. (Most of you have seen compact sedans on the road. Many of those have a wheelbase of 100 inches or more. We're not suggesting you use a compact sedan as a tow vehicle, as most are rated to handle little or no hitch weight, but a compact sedan is a great visualization aid in understanding that the vehicle doesn't have to be huge to meet the wheelbase minimum requirement.)
3. Must be able to accommodate a loaded tongue weight of about 198 lbs. for most Böckmann models. (For comparison, domestically-produced horse trailers typically carry at least 10% of their load on the hitch, resulting in a loaded tongue weight in the 600 to 800 lb. range. On many vehicles, that heavy tongue weight makes itself felt in an up and down oscillation when traveling over the undulating surfaces not uncommon on rural and secondary roads. Thanks to a Böckmann's light tongue weight, many owners report that there's little sensation of a trailer behind them. And while we're at it, please note that the aerodynamic shape reduces the power requirement. These are just two reasons why a Böckmann can be towed safely by smaller-than-typical vehicles.)
For those of you not familiar with the Böckmann brand, here's a bit of background:
In the view of many, Böckmann is Europe's premier horse trailer brand, with a long-standing reputation for high quality, high feature content, robust construction and ease of towing. They've developed many award-winning features. The company was started by the Böckmann family in 1956 and they've been producing premium quality horse trailers ever since. The trailers have been imported to North America for many years, so there's a well-established support infrastructure. Traveled Lane Trailers has been selling Böckmann since 2011. We sold another European brand for about 15 years before that, so we're probably America's most experienced dealer when it comes to European trailers.
For those of you who prefer your information in summary form, here are some key Comfort features:
-Well-proven, balanced, aerodynamic design
-Light tongue weight & low drag for safe towing, even by smaller vehicles
-With the recent update, taller groom and tack doors and more working space forward
-Bright, inviting, well-ventilated interior
-Fiberglass roof & reinforced (cored) fiberglass walls
-Rugged corrosion-protected galvanized steel chassis.
-Floor of interlocking aluminum panels, reinforced in high load areas.
-Multi Safe System (MSS) padded chest bars to accommodate horses of various sizes; chest bars have 2 height positions and external emergency release
-Multi Safe System 3-Position butt bars with angled mounts - as you lower the bar, it shortens the stall for the smaller horse and there's an external emergency release
-MSS Butt bars and chest bars are easy to use and fit snugly - quiet & get you out of the kick zone quickly!
-Flip-out tinted window near each horse's head
-Subject trailer equipped with optional roof vent/skylight for additional natural light and ventilation
-Tall ramp (5 feet) for comfortable loading angle; dual gas springs make it easy to lift
-Ramp mat ribbed & contoured for traction
-Self-furling curtain above ramp - May run with it closed, but most run with it open for great natural light & ventilation
-Steps on ramp to aid curtain access
-Wall pads at stalls
-Kick panels on lower walls
-Easy-to-clean floor - Rubber mat is bonded to the floor and edges are sealed - Great for long floor life. And no need to lift a mat to clean. Just sweep or hose it out!
-English tack compartment with telescoping saddle racks for English, bridle hooks, storage net, mirror, telescoping broom/scraper and shovel
-Standard tie loops inside & out
-Smooth-riding torsion axles with shock absorbers
-Smooth-stopping 4-wheel inertia-actuated mechanical brakes - you don't need a brake controller in the tow vehicle!
-Sealed wheel bearings - simplified maintenance - no yearly packing of bearings!
-Radial tires, including spare
-Bright, reliable LED marker lights
-And how about these thoughtful touches? A parking brake and coupler with integrated lock!
-Subject trailer has Silver Metallic fiberglass roof and Silver Metallic cored fiberglass walls.
-Subject trailer has large "Jumper" graphic on each side.
We invite you to stop by to see why Böckmann has long been one of Europe's premier brands and a favorite worldwide!
Want to see some Böckmann features in use and Böckmann trailers on the road? Visit the recently updated Böckmann section of our website,
www.traveledlanetrailers.com , which includes links to some short Böckmann-produced videos of the trailers in action.
Prices include freight to our dealership, but exclude tax, tag and registration fees (which you pay to your state of titling and registration). (And we don't charge surprise dealer fees!)
Financing is available with approved credit and test drives are available (if you have a suitable vehicle and a good driving record)!
Traveled Lane Trailers - Quality products and helpful advice in a no pressure-to-buy atmosphere.
(A note about the photos - Side views are of the subject trailer showing its large "Jumper" graphic on each side. Some side views may seem unnecessarily duplicated, but we included them to show the color at different sun positions. Due to less-than-ideal photo conditions and time constraints, some interior and detail shots are of identical features on other Comforts we've had. We'll take a full set of pictures of the subject trailer as time permits.)
