I took my first trip with the trailer last weekend to Thunderhill Raceway, which is about an hour and a half north of Sacramento. My first unscheduled stop was as I was driving through Fremont and the right door popped open. I'd been showing the trailer to one of the guys at work, so I figured I just hadn't closed it properly.
Here I am at a park-and-ride in Walnut Creek. This was my second unscheduled stop.
The brads I had used to attach the stone guard on the front went in easily, and came out just as easily! Thank goodness for duct tape. I will replace it with either bolts or pop rivets before my next trip.
I encountered hail as I was coming through Fairfield.
Friday morning at the track...
Time to make my coffee...
Home sweet home! I forgot to bring a blanket with me and about froze my butt off Thursday night; apparently the temperature dipped below freezing overnight. I picked up a cotton blanket to throw over my sleeping bag at Walmart the next day and was fine for the rest of the weekend. Probably helped that it was also warmer the rest of the weekend.
I'm not sure who wrote this, but apparently they think it's August.
The trailer towed pretty well, as long as I kept my speed to around 60mph, but it swayed quite a bit any time I got into the slipstream of an 18-wheeler (quite a number of which passed me during the drive). I eventually took to just lifting off the throttle to get clear of them more easily. Naturally, the car uses a lot more fuel with the trailer in tow; I averaged about 23mpg for the whole trip (without the trailer it usually gets 29-32mpg on the freeway), which is still better than a pickup truck does empty.
Also, the left door popped open on the trip home. I had fabricated a striker from some angle aluminum I had lying around and it worked fine before I had the seals on the door but now the door doesn't latch properly. I eventually had to duct-tape the door closed.
So, I still need to build the hatch, plus I need to fix the few issues that cropped up on this trip. Overall, though, I'd say it was a success.