PIOPIO boat builder – and more recently truck bin manufacturer – Max Laver is excited about the future of his innovations with the backing of major players in the industry.
IN the five years since Max Laver announced his intention to build revolutionary lightweight truck trailer bins from fibreglass, he has been innovating and experimenting to create an even better – and lighter – product. Now the boat builder and innovator from Piopio has a deal with major players in the trucking industry, including Mitsubishi Fuso and manufacturer Mills Tui, to put a truck on the road with the lightest bin in the country. Max of Laver Marine and later Transport Composites Ltd was contracted in 2017 to build 12 one-piece rolling-floor fibreglass bins and the first was completed the following year (Waitomo News, September 5, 2017; Waitomo News, April 19, 2018). They were made by resin infusion, where all layers of cloth are laid out and encased in a plastic bag which then has the air sucked out, in a specially built mould. Max said the process had benefits in being tidier and smelling less than traditional resin fibreglass methods, but there was huge potential for error. “The risk is that you’ve got it all in a bag, it’s all ready to go, and if you start there’s no turning back. If there’s a mistake, it’s over, you have to throw it out and start it again. “Thankfully we’ve made 13 of them and they’ve all come out first time.” Another Piopio business, Pari Transport, is seeing the benefits of Max’s carbon fibre composite tipper bin after stress testing it on private farm tracks. Owner Steven Pari put the tipper prototype through its paces, Max said, putting in rubble much bigger and heavier than he was expecting it to cope with. INSPIRING “That was really inspiring,” Max said. “It has definitely proven it’s strong enough.” Max said Steven weighed a brand new truck with an aluminium bin and found the bin to weigh 1550kg. The carbon fibre composite bin weighed 750kg. Some components like the hinges that connect the tailgate to the bin can’t yet be made out of carbon fibre. So far they have been made of steel. “But why use steel? “Mills Tui are saying let’s do alloy so we can bring the weight down even more and still have the strength.” Max said he and Dean Purves, owner of Mills Tui, are confident they can get the same bin used by Pari Transport down to about 600kg. “And we’re only talking about one bin. It’s usually truck and trailer. If you’re saving a tonne per bin you’re actually saving two. “If you take a tonne off the weight of your bin, you can put a tonne more product in. “So instead of doing seven trips, you can do it in six trips. Still the same amount of money, less trips, better for the environment, better for the road, better for everyone.” Max said he was excited about the future of the tipper bin, especially with the support of Mitsubishi Fuso and Mills Tui in putting a demonstrator on the road. It would be complete with all the bells and whistles, including remote control hydraulics. “It’ll be the lightest one on the road. “The fact Mitsubishi Fuso and Mills Tui have come and taken an interest makes me hopeful we’ll be able to gear things up in Piopio.”
