Fitting a number plate for trailing

David Parker describes an easy, effective and flexible way to fit a number plate to a trailer lighting board

You see them all the time and they give trailer sailing a bad name. Bits of old cardboard hung on with string, or a car number hastily scrawled on to a trailer board which doesn’t work properly. Totally illegal of course and dangerous.

The size and design of number plates has to conform to regulations and you can only get them made up from a registered number plate supplier. Also remember if you ever borrow a trailer that the number plate on the trailer has to be the same as the number on the vehicle towing it.

Whether you’re towing a boat just a few miles down to a club or across the country the same rules apply, so it makes sense to get a decent lighting board and legal number plates. They are not that expensive but often lighting boards don’t come with pre-drilled fixings for the number plates. You can use self tapping screws – which is how number plates are typically attached to a car. However, drilling through a Perspex number plate is not that easy unless you know what you’re doing, and drilling into a lighting board needs to be done carefully to avoid the wires inside.

A common option is to use self adhesive strips to secure number plates. These are fine to start with but can degrade over time, while changing the number plate if required can be a fiddly business.

I find it’s best to use strong adhesive Velcro strips. If the adhesive on one of the strips ever fails it’s straightforward to remove the plate apply some more. Also if you have more than one trailer/boat combination you can use the same number plate and swap it over. The other advantage is they give you space behind the number plate to run a lashing or bungee if you want to secure the lighting board to a more sturdy support such as a wooden bracket. I’ve towed boats long distances with this set up and found it perfectly secure. Here’s how I fit them:

2 When peeling off the Velcro backing be careful not to get any of the mating surfaces dirty which could compromise adhesion.

1 Clean the surfaces with solvent first. Velcro strips are cut over long on the number plate to provide tails for easy removal.

4 Velcro provides a very strong bond so pull up on the strip, not the number plate which could break.

5 Note these are the tails about 1cm long which allow you get to get hold of the Velcro strips easily.

3 Press the number plate in to position so that it will be properly illuminated by the trailer board lights.