Home Made Trailers

[rhat...@gmail.com]

Hi there,

Just wondering who has had experience building their own? ideally id like one for a 15 mt glider. But don't know where to start. Are there any Plans out there? Whats the best way to go, lift top or just a boxed trailer. also what is the best type of cladding? any suggestions would be great?

Thanks

Richard

[SoaringXCellence]

I built two! both for a G103A, both were designed by me using the ideas from a guy in Tennessee, Ralph Luebke. A really nice set of plans and lots of details for buying parts and materials. The two I build were open, but they could have easily had a clam-shell added, per the plans.

MB

[ifee...@hotmail.com]

The January 2004 issue of Soaring has an article on building an enclosed trailer. There's also a short pictorial about building a Schreder type trailer here:

http://soaridaho.com/Schreder/Construction/Trailer_Design_1/Trailer.html

If you build a non-clamshell type, build it big. Most of the disadvantages of tube trailers disappear if they're built with a little extra room instead of using the common approach of making them just big enough to contain the glider. The Soaring article shows a nice sized trailer. One of the first things that comes up on a search is the Adelaide University Gliding Club bit on how to build trailers. Ignore that one. They tell you to put the wing roots and fuselage nose at opposite ends of the trailer. Don't do that unless you hate yourself, your back, your glider and all of the friends who help you with rigging your ship.

[Kevin Neave]

Not wanting to start an argument, but with sensible fittings it makes no
difference whether the wings go in root first or tip first.
(I'm assuming the fus goes in nose first but you may have novel plans).

I have a Discus, root first as the curved leading edge would make tip first
a challenge. My club has a K21, tip first. Both trailers are fairly easy to
load / unload with no heavy lifting.

Make sure whatever fittings you have for the root end (whichever end of the
trailer it ends up) have big wheels so they can simply roll into the
trailer or out of the trailer & up to the glider.

I actually prefer my Shirenewton non-clamshell trailer to the Komet for my
"other" Discus

Regards

KN

At 06:14 19 February 2016, ifee...@hotmail.com wrote:
>The January 2004 issue of Soaring has an article on building an enclosed

>tr=

>ailer. There's also a short pictorial about building a Schreder type

>traile=

>r here:
>
>http://soaridaho.com/Schreder/Construction/Trailer_Design_1/Trailer.html
>
>If you build a non-clamshell type, build it big. Most of the
disadvantages

>=

>of tube trailers disappear if they're built with a little extra room

>instea=

>d of using the common approach of making them just big enough to contain

>th=

>e glider. The Soaring article shows a nice sized trailer. One of the
first

>=

>things that comes up on a search is the Adelaide University Gliding Club

>bi=

>t on how to build trailers. Ignore that one. They tell you to put the
wing

>=

>roots and fuselage nose at opposite ends of the trailer. Don't do that

>unle=

>ss you hate yourself, your back, your glider and all of the friends who

>hel=

[Dan Marotta]

...Visualizing putting the wing of a LAK-12 into the trailer tip first.  You'd have to have a trained elephant or gorilla to carry the root that far..,.  :'(

--
Dan, 5J

[Eric Greenwell]

Kevin Neave wrote on 2/19/2016 12:17 AM:
> Not wanting to start an argument, but with sensible fittings it makes no
> difference whether the wings go in root first or tip first.
> (I'm assuming the fus goes in nose first but you may have novel plans).

I think it depends on the weight of the root, and how cumbersome it is.
The root on my ASH 26 E is 100 lbs; loading it tip first means carrying
that 100 lbs about 50 feet instead 10 feet - that's with a helper on the
tip.

And wouldn't Using a self-assembly dolly be much more awkward?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"

https://sites.google.com/site/motorgliders/publications/download-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/Guide-to-transponders-in-sailplanes-2014A.pdf

[ifee...@hotmail.com]

> And wouldn't Using a self-assembly dolly be much more awkward?

Yes, it would. A fellow club member of mine has an ASW-15 which came with the old style trailer (fuse nose first, wings tip first and to make things even better the glider had to be loaded and unloaded over the trailer hitch) and he bought an Udo rigger after seeing how well it worked on my 15B. He manged to use the one man rigger successfully but it required a bit of to and fro movement. His old trailer did have a dolly into which you put the wing root leading edge as you removed it from the trailer and allowed you to roll it instead of carrying the weight but all in all it was still a lot more awkward than it would have been with a root first layout. Eventually he replaced it with an Avionic like I have and is much happier as a result.

If I recall correctly Eric, I think you've seen what I consider the worst glider trailer ever made when you came to Valemount during a Vancouver Soaring Association trip to that field. We had our Twin Astir there in it's Swiss made trailer. In that one the fuse went in tail first, the wings root first, the left wing on the right, the right wing on the left. The fuselage "dolly" was a framework that picked up on the wing fittings and engaged steel tracks in the trailer. Because of this the moment the nose came out of the trailer the glider was riding on its main wheel necessitating the removal of the canopies in order to give a good place to hold on for the two people who needed to keep the fuselage upright until both wings were on. You can imagine how much fun it is trying to keep the fuselage steady when putting the second wing in and attempting to make all the fittings line up! When taking the wings out you had to walk the tip out holding it about three inches from the ground. A little higher and the trailing edge would scrape the trailer, a little lower and the leading edge would scrape the trailer. The trailer was an oval aluminium tube just barely big enough to fit the glider and had no door at the hitch end. About 50% of the time when putting the fuselage back in it the fuselage tail fitting (also riding in a steel track) would bind on a rib requiring pulling it all the way back out and trying again. Naturally the tailplane rode in a saddle attached to the rear fuselage making the tail heavier to deal with when extricating the fuselage from the trailer - because of the layout it was necessary to undo a strap connecting the tailboom to the captive tailwheel fitting in the trailer, lift, tilt, move forwards carefully until the tail end was clear of the trailer.

As far as I can tell the idea behind putting the roots and fuselage nose at opposite ends was to allow the placement of the axle along the trailer in a position which improved stability on the road. The funny thing about that is that all the Cobras, Komets, Avionics, Mindens,Schreders etc. I've towed have been very stable whereas quite few of the trailers laid out with roots and nose at opposite ends have been nightmares. The Twin Grob trailer mentioned above started swaying badly at anything above 70KMH on the way back from Valemount. Long, long drive back to Hope that day...

[JS]

To me, the closer you can make it to a Cobra-style trailer the better.
But there are still a few Minden Fab trailers in use. The ones with built-in rigging aids (wing root dollies clamp the wing root and pivot in two axes) are very good.
Minden Fab trailers seemed popular for SZD42 (20m Jantar 2A / 2B). Owners can solo rig.
This would be an easier trailer to build and still provide ease of use.
Jim

[rhat...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the help Guys its a start at least. Jim do you have a picture of the built in rigging aid?

[Casey]

Here is a link to trailer resources.

Gaines in Georgia has a kit trailer that looks good.

http://grobastir.blogspot.com/2015/11/trailer-final-and-resources.html

[Tony]

In 1999. Bob Gaines has passed away since then, and his son Paul has moved out to Arizona and has a busy composite repair shop. Pretty sure building trailers is not part of that.

[johnba...@gmail.com]

I have a great deal for you, this a factory built trailer of European design it was built for a Nimbus 2, has all the cradles, it is short for a 15 meter but could be extended, good tires, will sell complete for 1500.00O. come and get it. Call 541 318 8604 in Oregon.