Trailers

[profqwerty - n/a]

I've got a flatbed one sitting under the hover which I have vowed to do something with tomorrow. It was clearly a caravan chassis which someone had (badly) put deck on - although there is so much material it isn't going to break in a hurry.



However the hover overhangs the edge of the deck (the wheel arches stick out a bit) and there are low sides on it. I was thinking of trying to put angled sides on it to hold it centred and stop the skirt from going over the side. Any other ways of doing this?



And for loading I was thinking a piece of ply that could be placed against the back. It's a twin axle trailer (non-auto-reversing-brakes http://hovercraft.org.uk/images/icons/smiley_icons/icon_rolleyes.gif ) so tipping it isn't too easy. But where do I put this once loaded?



Unloading I'm guessing the same as loading but with just lift engine on.



What do other people do for trailers?

Toby

[jar2 - n/a]

However the hover overhangs the edge of the deck (the wheel arches stick out a bit) and there are low sides on it. I was thinking of trying to put angled sides on it to hold it centred and stop the skirt from going over the side. Any other ways of doing this?
I didn't have a lot of success with angled sides - the craft can easily "hover" over them making for a difficult recovery http://hovercraft.org.uk/images/icons/smiley_icons/icon_cry.gif Vertical sides spaced slightly narrower than the inflated hover width seem to work best in my experience.



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And for loading I was thinking a piece of ply that could be placed against the back. It's a twin axle trailer (non-auto-reversing-brakes http://hovercraft.org.uk/images/icons/smiley_icons/icon_rolleyes.gif ) so tipping it isn't too easy. But where do I put this once loaded?
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Just hinge it onto the trailer rear and call it a tailgate http://hovercraft.org.uk/images/icons/smiley_icons/icon_biggrin.gif



I would check the trailer suspension loading - if it was a twin axle caravan it probably weighed around 1000-1400Kg. The suspension units would be rated for this load. It will now only weight around 500Kg with craft - your craft will be absorbing some very nasty bumps that the suspension isn't. If you can't get more than a few mm of suspension movement from jumping up and down on the loaded trailer then I would remove one axle (the front one is usually best). An easy way to make a tipping trailer is to hinge the V frame hitch where it's welded to the trailer frame (a couple of bits of 5mm thick angle and a 13mm bolt usually does the trick nicely). You can set the deck up to be slightly tipped normally (provide the back end isn't too close to the road) - that way it's much easier to tip the remaining distance usuing an old trailer jockey screw (without the wheel).