Optimized Winter Warrior O.W.W. OWW

[mikeschn]

Hey Gary,

You'll be pleased to know I've decide on building this one next...

Just don't know what the width will be yet. Plus it needs a couple tweaks, but this is the one I keep coming back to...

Mike...

[RAYVILLIAN]

It's about time that you built that one. Just be sure to put a strong enough axle under it or build alot lighter than I did.

gary

[mikeschn]

Here's the high level view!!!



Mike...

[RAYVILLIAN]

Hey Mike how long was that one?

Gary

[mikeschn]

Hey Mike how long was that one?

Gary

I've just stretched it out to 14', at least for the high level view. (The renderings are 13'). That's 2' longer that the giant teardrop. But it's a lot lower, and probably a lot narrower than the giant teardrop.

Mike...

[starleen2]

what I'd like to see is a mechanism to raise the hatch that doesn't rely on your forearm

[bdosborn]

Mike,

From another post, here's my view on trailer width (if you didn't see it already)


The Boxcar is exactly 78" wide. Why? So I didn't have to add the running lights across the top front and back.


http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/standar ... rpstr.html

Seriously though, I picked 78" because it matched the width of the truck. The trailer axle width matches the truck as well so the trailer tires follow the same track as the truck. I thought by keeping the trailer the same width and height as the truck, it would have great aerodynamics.

BUT, this is what I found out.

I thought this much of the trailer would be in the wind, a little sliver of the front of the trailer.



What I discovered is that the air curves around the back of the truck so that about a foot of each side of the trailer is squarely in the wind. How do I know? By all the dead bugs splattered on the front and reduced mileage. You can just see the bug guts if you look carefully.



My conclusion is that narrow is better if aerodynamics is what you're shooting for. For my truck, 60" would be a much more aerodynamic profile but YMMV.

Bruce

[High Desert]

Mike, I'm really looking forward to watching this build. The WW design is still my personal favorite

[Miriam C.]

Nice! Ever think about 2 axles on something that long?

[RAYVILLIAN]

I agree with you completely Bruce. The Windcutter/Schooner, I still haven't decided on a name, is the same width as my truck and the built in tongue box lowers the front down below and inside of the bed. I found with the WW that there was a real difference between towing with the old Ranger with the camper shell and towing with the Chevy with just a cover on the bed. It towed better with the smaller but taller truck. I'm not sure yet but I think I'm getting better mileage with the new trailer even though it is larger and heavier.

Gary

[starleen2]

I too had the same problem with width @ 78". When I towed with the yellow Jeep wrangler, I could tell that I had some drag -The wrangler was a wee bit narrower and shorter than the ladybug. However, when i started towing with the jeep commander which is wider and taller, I felt no drag at all and was far easier to tow.

[RAYVILLIAN]

I was really happy with the way the new one towed when I went to Crawford I could feel no wind drag at all in fact except for the no visibility behind me factor I could almost forget it was back there. I could never do that with the WW. When passing big rigs coming the other way with the WW it would hit me like a ton of bricks the new one cut through the wind blast like it wasn't there.
Gary

[mikeschn]

what I'd like to see is a mechanism to raise the hatch that doesn't rely on your forearm

In the interest of keeping it simple, I'm just gonna pop in a couple gas shocks!

The red lines represent the gas shock in both the open position (long line) and the closed position (short line).

Notice the interesting cutout notch in the sidewall for the gas shock. (I had to make it so that water would drain easily.




Mike...

[starleen2]

Are the gas shocks gonna be on the outside? If so, then why the offset? it just wouldn't look right I'm sure if you modled it in 3D you'd agree. Bill-wlivesey ( northwestern WW) had his on the inside

[mikeschn]

So you're thinking more along the lines of this?



Mike...