Kitfox forum US Sport Aviation Expo

[ken nougaret]

BJ, you present a good forum. I saw you a couple of times at sunnfun and sebring. Hope to see you again at sebring 2015. Ken

[ken nougaret]

Kitfox2009, what is the length of your boat trailer used for your new rig. What is the material of your frame and front. Thanks, ken

[teamkitfox7788]

There are of course lots of trailer options. Two have been started in this thread. A modifeid single axle boat trailer and dual axle enclosed trailer.

The boat trailer with "fabric" enclosure keeps weight way down, is more cumbersome to load and unload and has less floor storage space but for limited use and a small tow vehicle a great option.

Since the Just Super STOL is too big to fit in 8 foot 6 inch wide trailer at least one fellow took his on a flat bed type vehicle , really slick looking rig, to Alaska. Again probably not everyones choice to have the plane exposed to elements , kids, and unsavory characters over night in parking lots.

Most Kitfoxes are about 22 feet long folded so a 24 foot long enclosed trailer seems to be adequate. Measure your plane then think about trailers

Most enclosed car trailers have rear corner structure that makes the ramp door opening too narrow to get a Kitfox thru and into the trailer.

One of my trailers is an 8 foot 6 inch wide trailer, identical to the one the Kitfox factory used early on with 1.5 inch wall studs front to back. This allows enough ramp door opening to squeeze a Kitfox in but loading is slow and must be done carefully or wing leading edges scrape against the trailer structure. So it was a PIA to load and unload the plane. Took too much time and effort compared to alternative -WIDER TRAILER

That trailer was 27 feet long with camper features in front and I pulled it with a 2,500 series Yukon XL (Suburban clone) Wife did not like smeelin"plane" in camper area so along came the conversion van and no motel or camp ground costs, big cost savings there but increased enrty cost for used conversion van.

Check pickup mounted camper as a tow vehicle for overhang of camper interferring with enclosed trailer front corners while trurning and trailer tongue lenght necessary for clearance. You may find that the truck is at gross rear axle weight rating with the camper and another 500 to 1,000 pounds of trailer tongue weight causes serious handing problems. Not sure.

Most class B and C motorhomes are limited to 500 pound tongue weight and 5,000 pounds gross trailer weight. Those that I have towed with have handling problems except the Chev y/Roadtrek 190 series conversion vans which are on a one ton chasis, have short coach overhang and great towing physics (and rated for 8,200 pound trailers!) That van is easy to drive around when dooing the see the USA in your Chevrolet part of our trips.

I accidentally got a 9 foot wide 24 foot long trailer, what a joy to load and unload the kitfox. The other trailer is now banished to hold a little Kubota loader, backhoe out of the sun and salt air down here in the Florida Keys.

Yes 8.5 feet is the strating point for general max width in most states. An online permit good for a year solves that in most states if you choose to bother but is generally a waste of money. All of us who tow much wider, longer and heavier sport fishing boats up and down the east coast have found from experience that under 10 feet wide no one bothers with a permit unless they are commercial haulers and go thru commercial weight stations. Use common sense, don't tow thru narrow city streets which are not interstate, don't go thru old bridges in the Northeast that are real narrow. Some folks should not be towing a row boat. Know your own limitations.

If I were going to buy a new trailer I would catch up with Mark Sorenson, Custom Aircraft Trailers, who has an arrangement with Arising Trailers to build an 8 foot 9 inch wide aircraft trailer. His base trailers are about $6,000 new. Two 3,500 pound gross weihht capacity Torsion axles give a low floor which makes loading easier and gives a soft ride for plane, very good idea there.. The thinner the wall studs the more room inside and the easier to load and unload. Have gussets welded in at the top corner near the rear wall stud to roof cross member joints to avoid weld cracks at those corners

Get ramp lift assist that does not get in the way of ramp door opening. Single peice roof to avoid leaks. Springs built into ramp door hinge line or a torsion bar in that same area,This needs to be done right or it does not work well. Two doors on passenger side good.

If you will be on the road significant distances, up grade to load range E tires and the largest tires that will fit on your trailer. Most original equipment ST (Special Trailer) tires in load range C are foreign junk. LT (Light Truck - passenger) tires are better quality ever since Firestone tires were blowing out and Ford Explorers were rolling over with kids and soccer moms inside. After that LT (passenger tires) started getting serious quality control. The big boat dealers and big boat trailer shops say go with LT tires based on experience.

IF YOUR RIG IS EASY AND SIMPLE AND QUICK TO LOAD, STRAP DOWN PROPERLY AND UNLOAD THEN YOU WILL PLAY MORE AND HAVE MORE FUN.

IF IT IS CUMBERSOME YOU WILL NOT USE IT NEARLY AS MUCH.

BJ 2004 Kitfox 1050 Rotax 80 Roadtrek 190

[teamkitfox7788]

Paul Z

Typical enclosed tandem axle plane trailers weigh about 3,500 to 4,000 empty. Check Toyota trailer weight rating to see if an enclosed 6,000 lb loaded trailer might work

The enclosed tandem axle trailer weighs about twice as much empty as the modified boat trailer pictured in this thread.

I bought the 9 foot wide tandem axle trailer I currently use on the used market off of Barnstormers

WanaFly,

I used to fly to Oshkosh from Md for the day in my PA-39, early start and slow ground speed outbound but quick on way back thanks to a pair of turbochargers on the PA-39

Once retirement, Kitfox, enclosed trailer and conversion van came into the picture I usually take a leisurely trip out and back flying here and there along the way down low and slow in the Kitfox. (no need to consider tents under a plane wing anymore for an extended stay at Air Venture)

[kitfox2009]

Hi Ken
The original trailer is a 24 foot Carni 2008 model that I purchased locally for 1700 dollars.The beauty of this model is 15 inch rims, real trailer tires,hydraulic brakes,movable axel location and torsion suspension. I found to get the hitch weight right it was necessary to drop the aircraft ramps below and outboard the frame rails. This also lowers the overall center of gravity .
The material is a heavy duty 18x28 hay storage tarp. They are cheap so I carry a spare. The tarp is winched down by having one half inch steel conduit in the pocket. It is only the rear 6 feet or so that gets rolled back for loading.The hoops are formed from three quarter inch conduit. Trailer is 102 inches wide, maximum for BC..
The floor and front is plywood covered with Coverall building fabric.
Sides are roofing steel. Uprights are 2 inch angle iron.
I utilized salvage material as much as possible.
Cheers
Don

[ken nougaret]

Thank you don, good job. Ken

[teamkitfox7788]

SkySteve and Paul Z

I posted a couple of batches of pictures on Photo bucket some time ago.

to get to them copy and paste the following into your browser. http://s1205.photobucket.com/user/N1...20N154K%202013

There are several sets of photos,click on one, if it opens, click on a photo to expand it and see notes for the photo, then click on an arrow next to the photo to go to the next photo

I am not good at this stuff and a couple of the files did not load photos so you will not get anything if you try to open those, sorry

BJ Kitfox IV 1050, Rotax 912, Roadtrek 190 motor home
bjones@dmv.com

[SkySteve]

Thanks, BJ. Will check them out.

[av8rps]

This thread is close to my heart as I started dragging an Avid Flyer around on a trailer behind my camper way back in 1987.

At first I used a Ford E-150 short wheel base van that I had built a crude bed in so we could sleep in it. I used an open trailer to haul the airplane. Later I had a custom cover made for the Avid that wrapped it up like a cocoon, protecting it from light road debris and weather. That worked well, but I had more desire for better accomodations when out camping for longer periods.

So I bought an older 22 ft Winnebago Class C-motorhome for $4500. Man, it was like heaven camping in that compared to the van...now I had climate control when sleeping in the queen size bed, gobs and gobs of storage so my wife could take all the shoes she wanted, and ice cold beer in the fridge for our evening entertainment . Now we were living!

Then a year later I bought a set of floats for the Avid, and thats when the real fun started. I was the hit of the campgrounds wherever I showed up. Because we had an extra bed in the motorhome we occasionally would take friends with us. One remembrance of that was when we took friends with us to a campground up on lake Superior. As soon as we arrived I backed the plane into the water at the boat landing (after folding out the wings in the parking lot and putting the turtle deck cover on - all of 5 minutes). Then we dropped the trailer and positioned the motorhome in the campsite with the awning out, and took my Honda Elite 250 Scooter down from the back bumper rack. After we had the campsite all set up, the girls took the Honda to town to do some shopping. In the meantime my buddy and I flew up and down the Lake Superior shoreline sightseeing, taking in all the beautiful scenery conducive to a pristine clear water shoreline laced with caves, rivers, inlets, marinas, beautiful homes, etc, etc. The conditions were perfect, so my friend and I flew all afternoon, spending nearly as much time taking off and landing and step taxiing as we did flying. But as the afternoon turned into evening we were eventually forced to come back to camp as the sun was beginning to set. The girls were back at camp (with more new shoes ), and had a nice campfire going. A few hours after a really good campfire-cooked steak dinner and some fermented adult malt beverages, we all turned in to our nice cozy camper for a good nights rest.

The next morning I took the girls up for a beautiful lakeshore tour in the Avid, and then later my buddy and I went up for a longer trip to check out the other direction and some islands. The next morning we packed up the camper and the Avid and headed on home. My friends said it was a long weekend they would never forget as most people are lucky to have a fishing boat, much less an airplane you take camping.

I now fly an amphib airplane and live on a lake, so I don't have a lot of need to camp anymore . But I miss doing that and sometimes think I need to find time to do it again. I keep thinking I'd really like to trailer an airplane on wheels out west to do some airplane camping and booney bashing in the mountains. I just can't allocate the personal time for that right now. But I am most definitely keeping it on my bucket list.

I'm convinced these planes we all enjoy here are probably the coolest toy a human being can own. Going places with your plane behind your camper is just one more of the incredible features we can enjoy that most other planes can't do. So if you've never tried it you need to.

It's a blast!

Paul S
Kitfox IV 912 UL amphib

[Paul Z]

SkySteve and Paul Z

I posted a couple of batches of pictures on Photo bucket some time ago.

to get to them copy and paste the following into your browser. http://s1205.photobucket.com/user/N1...20N154K%202013

There are several sets of photos,click on one, if it opens, click on a photo to expand it and see notes for the photo, then click on an arrow next to the photo to go to the next photo

I am not good at this stuff and a couple of the files did not load photos so you will not get anything if you try to open those, sorry

BJ Kitfox IV 1050, Rotax 912, Roadtrek 190 motor home
bjones@dmv.com

I'd have a hard time leaving your back yard. My biggest issue is I live in town with a small lot, storage of a 22' trailer would be difficult. I've been trying to get my wife to move out of town with no luck. So I am stuck in the crappy suburbs of Dallas.