Dancam, just took a look at your build thread, chock full of pictures!... ok, ok, this trailer has a higher profile somewhat like a Sprinter is how I'd describe it. And yes, this means sway and cross winds, are a huge design concern. To mitigate this I went with quality rims and automotive rubber, widened the stance a bit (Edit:: this means the tire track of the trailer was moved to new road, just outside the car tires, with a bit of overlap on turning), and the third and most important point is about centre of gravity. If you are familiar with the e-track system that is used in all delivery vans, straight trucks, 48ft & 53ft trailers, well that's whats going to be in the interior of my trailer. Everything, and I mean everything, added to the bare bones insulated shell will be clipping onto horizontal and vertical lengths of e-track.
(EDIT:: this is actually going to be aluminum L-track) Advantages: for one the trailer now has a multitude of design layouts depending on whether I put my SUP in in and gear, or whether its a two person booth/sleeper. The point is that when travelling, ALL the high sided cargo (shelves, bins, cabinets, coolers, etc.) in the trailer will be lowered down to the floor settings on the e-track
(Edit:: L-track), which will lower the center of gravity. I know it does look a bit odd being so tall
that a 6'2 person can stand in the doorway area, and that's a large cross sectional area for sway but I am confident that by using this e-track system and lowering all the cargo to the floor in conjunctions with the stance and quality rubber (185/55/r14), it will handle just fine. Also, I am installing an
RV Pro Sway control kit (same as Reese) on my setup - these are typically designed for much larger, heavier trailers, but it will work fine just the same, and will be used for added safety and stability, given that in gusts my tv will be blown around a lot.
Now, Dancam, since you showed off your gorgeous Festiva (used to drive one in university, called the Blue Cyclone), perhaps folks won't balk at my mention of using an '06 1.6L 5spd manual Suzuki Swift+ Hatchback, aka Chevy Aveo clone. Now before everyone gets all hokey dokey, thinking this is nuts, take Dancams words into perspective - its not as nuts as one thinks... as I said the car is far from stock - for horsepower, the intake and exhaust have been uncorked, it has smaller circumference tires (55 series, resulting in about 6% more torque) an under-drive pulley, coil-overs and strut tower bar on the front, lowering springs, sway bar, munroe shocks, and firestone coil-rite airbags on the rear, and a curt hitch and wiring kit designed for the Aveo. Lastly I should point out for experienced towers that the hitch ball is very close to the rear axle on the Aveo (only the hatchback, one could never do this with the sedan imho), a big bonus, and seeing that there is 1600lbs on the front axle and 1000lbs on the rear axle, its actually setup weight wise to be a tow vehicle candidate in my humble opinion. When I took my trailer out for a test tow (with the cabin mounted, pics to follow soon..) several days ago, I took it up to 70kms/hr and it cruised just fine, don't even see the trailer in my side view mirrors (!) as its 54" wide. Its a prototype, what can I say I had to size to the car. Anywho, I could barely tell it was there, and in fact just like with semi-trucks, the car actually felt
more solid (!) towing the trailer than it does without it. Go figure, I was honestly impressed, thought I'd have to rev the snot out of it, which by the way it does just fine, all the way up to red line. For ten years. I still believe
the older Aveo motor is severely under-estimated in its power and longevity.
There is a section of Hwy 1 between Calgary and Lake Louise that gets
the worst, nastiest gustiest cross-winds. In the winter as many travellers on this forum likely know this area is known for chinooks and big cross-winds... well I've driven this section with 53ft trailers, and lemme tell you, its pretty powerful, it blows the trailer back and forth and so the tractor has to keep the sway in line. So that section of highway will be what I'd like to test my trailer on later on in the build, but hopefully before next spring.
Ok, I promise, next post will have lots of pictures
Edit: removed oversized photo with 890 views, added proper sized photo
- tnttt_04.jpg (88.25 KiB) Viewed 2910 times
