I came to this realisation a little while ago, but battled with the various options available to someone with a growing sailplane fleet.

First I looked at a van – nice, easy solution, but did not see myself driving round with a van on upcoming dates (ever the optimist). As a second vehicle, it becomes a very expensive option.

Next was the wagon. I currently was running a Jeep Cherokee, which had many times redefined itself as a Tardus carrying 2 x 1/3rd scale gliders, a tow plane and multiple slope machines. That’s all well and good, but the one you always want is the one at the very bottom, and packing and unpacking were a huge task taking hours. Heaven forbid you want to take a passenger. And finally, you just cannot avoid damaging the interior.

So, as I searched for ideas, I looked at roof boxes. Nice idea, but none of the manufactured ones were large enough. There was a nice design that cropped up on the SSUK site for a purpose-designed box. This could fit 3x scale gliders and free up the car space for the tug and odd bits. But I saw that installing and removing this would be a task that required a crane over the car.

Finally, I said – I think a trailer is the real only viable solution. This solves all the space issues, only creates a limited issue with being more troublesome in regard to driving and leaves the choice of vehicle virtually endless as long as the car is powerful enough to tow.

I spent some time doing the research and came up with a list of requirements for the trailer:

• Must be light
• Must fit 6 scale gliders plus tugs and bits
• Must handle well
• Must be “adjustable” to suit different airframes
• Must not be “too big”
• Must not have issues with condensation
• Must be fully sealed from water and dust

After sending some suggested sizes to various companies, I received one reasonable quote back. They also seemed to sound like they knew what they were talking about (unlike many others). I had some obscene quotes from local companies, and in the end, they really did not have a good understanding of what was required.

The company I went with was Fineline Fabrications in NSW. I was a little concerned that I was buying a custom trailer without being able to see it in real life, but the guys there were very happy to send update photos along the way. When I picked up the trailer from the transport company, all my fears were unfounded. The quality of the unit was fantastic!

Not only was it nicely designed, the quality of the finish was great. It’s the little things that make the difference. All the doors had double seals, the outside panels (made out of bonded product called AluPanel – a composite Polyethylene/Aluminium product that gives great rigidity as well as finish and protection) had minimum rivets making the look clean, the alloy wheels and aluminium checker plate just made the trailer unique in the modelling arena. The solar powered air vent fans – were a suggestion they made and I now see the benefit in them.

The trailer came with all the basic items, but it needed to be fitted out internally to carry the models. You can get Fineline to do this, but I decided that I wanted a few “special” items that needed some thinking time while making them (gave me an excuse to open a beer too).

The first item that went into the trailer was the carpet. This was a marine carpet from Bunnings that we tested to make sure that Velcro loop would attach to it. This allows you to put a bit of the sticky back loop Velcro on the bottom of items to stop them sliding round the trailer. We used this on the wheel chocks for the tow planes and also the timber separators that hold things like batteries in place.

Next came the lower shelves. These were fixed in place, sitting on the wheel well. Attached to the trailer frame with brackets, the shelf was edged with aluminium right angle. This right angle was taller than the thickness of the shelf so the glider cradles would not only not slide off, but would actually (with a small slot cut into the cradle) engage the angle. Small spring clamps then hold the cradle firmly in place and make for quick removal.

The upper shelves were affixed using an adjustable Aluminium profile mounting system from AME Systems. This was very reasonable in price and I had great service from AME. Using reinforced brackets, the system allows me to have the two top shelves (images only showing one at the moment) adjustable depending on what sailplanes were sitting there.

Next up, the wing hanging system. This was made up of aluminium tube suspended with U shaped aluminium plate to affix to the roof cross members. Three sets were made to allow for different wing lengths. Over the tube the karabiners would be attached and then a sling made of seat belt material. Both the karabiners and the seat belt material were sourced very cost effectively on Ebay. The belts were cut to size and just sewn together.

I toyed with making the bags part of the sling but opted on keeping the individual wing bags that already existed. This again made it a little more flexible should I not want to take the trailer, or have other people’s wings to take.

The forward shelf was again made with reinforced brackets to take all the tailplanes and smaller wing items. Still to be added is the solar charging system and the interior lighting. I will cover this in another article.

So, how does it all work? Well – it makes for a great place to base yourself at the field. The models get less hanger rash – but due to dumb hands, it is not eliminated. And the system I have set up does not have any trouble travelling given my last trip was through the Black Spur and everything came out unscathed… event though I was pushing it a little.

I almost do not notice the trailer driving. It sits firmly behind the car and after a little testing with the tyre pressures has a nice smooth ride. The trailer is narrower than the car and you only really notice it in the rear vision mirror.

As was pointed out to me, balance of the trailer is vital to good handling, so heavier things like batteries, spare tyre etc have been placed not just for convenience, but for balance as well. Parking is a little more interesting and you do have to plan a little ahead… but not as bad as I feared.

There is a noticeable difference in the fuel economy in the hills (maybe about 22+%), but on the flat long roads only add about 10-12% on the normal fuel economy.

So, am I converted? Yes – I was apprehensive, but I am very pleased with the result. Just make sure you have somewhere to store it!

A quick thanks to Neil, Colin and David who contributed time, ideas and scrapped knuckles to this project. It is appreciated!