Pull behind trailer project

[husoi]

A little progress and a major milestone

The wheel arches are cut in and started the final stage of the frame, the front bit from the wheels to the hitch.

Decided to have 250mm straight bit and then the final bit to an angle to the centre with approximate 700mm long.

[husoi]

Making good progress

Base of box is getting there, almost ready for carbon dressing.

 

Frame is getting there too. Missing only the hitch connection.

 

Base box on the frame. Will need the complete the wheel arches.

 

Looking good

 

[Guest]

Looking good .

[husoi]

I'M A FLEEPING IDIOT

Nearly finished the towbar.

All welded, just a little brushing and fine tune the welding grinding so it looks really nice.

Then I realised that I forgot the space for the socket

So Left to do, weld back the bit of the plate I've cut so I can install the socket, then drill the holes for the ball and the socket.

Pass the cable for the lights and fix it to the bar.

Once the trailer is done (or near finish) will wire the electrics in the bike.

These will include a connector to be stored under the seat so I can remove the towbar when not using it

Strongly considering giving a nickel coating by electrolysis to prevent rust mostly in welding areas.

[husoi]

How about that?

After all I don't need to have the trailer inspected.

This tweet followed a couple of questions I put to DVLA about how to register.

Now, according to further information I found on DVLA and other gov.uk pages all trailers will need to have displayed the unladen weight so I still have to fit the VIN plate but with reduced information.

I'll be adding the max allowed weight of 150kg

whatever is the final unladen weight once it is finished and some more info that I can add there.

Frame is finished and ready to be painted, black probably.

Towing bar will need the final fit test, for that I'm waiting for the new bolts to fix it to the bike and the M16 bolts to fix the towball. Final task will be wiring the towbar and place a connector to the bike.

All effort is now to the box.

Finished the welding on the corners.

Decided to recycle the parts I've cut and put it in the groves of the base so I will minimise the use of carbon cloth and resin. This won't have an structural impact as the carbon cloths will be placed flat both sides of the base.

[husoi]

A new update.

Slight change to design, decided to get some mudguards instead of leaving half the wheel outside the bodywork. Initial plan was to build a wheel arch but I think this is looking better

Frame painted with 2mm chassis paint from Hammerite and swivel part is with etch primer for now then will have some primer and black paint before final fitting (for test run)

Frame is now complete

Bike wiring complete

Towbar complete

Lights wiring to junction box complete

Still to do:

Fixing jockey wheel

Carbon fibre covering

wiring from junction box and fixing lights to bodywork

fitting cover holder, locks and hinges

getting and fitting number plate and VIN plate

Then the very important test ride

[Guest Swagman]

Looks good with the mudguards on it .

[husoi]

Well.

After an accident where the box had to be welded in 8 different places

I finally managed to complete the welding and sanding of the trailer box.

Next stage was preparing the moulds for the fibre tape that will close the gaps. (Done)

Cutting the tape to size and have everything ready for starting the process.

Will have to apply a PVA release agent so the white mould will come off then is to the final stage with the full body carbon fibre.

[husoi]

Had a quite productive weekend and was able to progress the trailer project.

Frame is now complete (99.9% will just need fixing the electrical cable once the box is done)

Decided to give it a spray of silver because I didn't like the looks of the black stuff

Started the carbon fibre and finished the outside of the box.

 

Next will be the inside of the box before going to the cover.

A slight change of design for the cover.

Instead of making a "sandwich" with the existing plastic cover I'll be using it as a mould and will manufacture a full carbon fibre top with 1 layer of black cloth and the red on top.

[husoi]

Good progress yesterday

 

Electrics and number plate placeholder

finished the 10 coats of wax on the cover, is now ready for final PVA coat and resin release agent layer will be complete and ready to work as mould for the carbon fibre cover.

assembly with cover

The electrics are almost done, all fully working (tested)

inside box

 

To be done (other than cover and cover fittings):

Trim the carbon fibre around top and mudguards ( the proxxon drill got burnt and I'm waiting for replacement from Amazon)

fix and cut the cable to size,

close the junction box,

trim the bolts and cover them with a bit of resin to prevent water ingress (same to do with all other openings)

Fixing the box to the frame with U bolts

Fit the number plate (already ordered, expected delivery midweek)

drill holes for hinges, lock hatch, handle and opening holders

Fitting hinges, lock and handle

weight the trailer (no idea how I'll be doing it

engrave information and fix VIN plate.

Optional:

Considering making separate compartments fixed to the side using the same fibre for tools and first aid kit so I always know where to find them

[Guest Swagman]

Nice work it’s really taking shape now.

[Bender]

To weigh it borrow some bathroom scales one for each wheel.

[husoi]

Important test today

Waterproof of the cover.

Last thing I need is a pool instead of a trailer

So I did a 10 min waterproof test.

Went pretty well, only a minor leak on the side but I knew about it already.

Still doing 2 or 3 more coats of resin so that area would be covered.

Happy days

[husoi]

One more update on the trailer

I bet you thought that I have given up

The cover was too dull for my taste so I decided to make a vacuum chamber.

No way in hell I'm spending +£200 on one so diy it is.

The first attempt work for around 30min and then the pump packed up.

Back to design board and was time to recover the fridge motor I had hanging around.

First the silicone seal on the lid refused to work and had to redo it.

Then had to paint the plywood on the bottom because there was too much air coming trough. Some more silicone on the joints.

This shown to not be enough as there was still some small leaks.

Finally managed to make it work at around 5th attempt

Had to add a piece of wood in the middle of the longer wall (not in pics), if you look closely you will see that under pressure it was warping.

The max negative pressure I managed to get is just under -0.40 (-10psi) but I don't think the tempered glass will take much more. The glass is also warping at that vacuum.

A test with a small portion of resin shown that a good amount of air was removed from the resin.

Tomorrow I'll be running a final test with a larger amount of resin while I will be preparing the cover for a final layer of red Kevlar and carbon.

Edited September 14, 2020 by husoi

[gymwitch]

Thats awesome !!! Dont suppose you have any leather left for a little project???

[husoi]

Thats awesome !!! Dont suppose you have any leather left for a little project???

 

Depends on the size. But probably not because I'm using some for refurbishing the seats on my shadow.

what size you need?

[husoi]

Some data on the trailer.

Weight:

left wheel 22.4 kg

right wheel 22.6 kg

front wheel (jokey) 15.5 kg

total net weight 60.50 kg (61 kg on VIN plate as solar cell will be removable)

Total max weight 150 kg

loadable weight 89 kg

Still to be added.

Solar cell and converter 3.5 kg (including battery)

300 gr on added resin layers

capacity (average measures):

base: 93.5 X 70.5 X 31 cm = 203 lt

cover: 93.5 X 70.5 X 20.5 cm = 135 lt

total volume: 338 lt

weight on hitch (unladen) 14.8kg Aprox 23%

This is relatively high for what I found online (9 to 15%) but can be balanced by a good distribution when loading it. and the additional weight of the solar cell to be added on the rear.

Dimensions don't consider small rebates and wheel arches as this would roughly balance each other out.

Considering the fixed weight for tent (4kg), air mattress (3.2kg) and all other "actual essentials" of around 5kg I'll be left with a net available weight of just over 76kg.

I think I can manage that.

Although the first comment I got was "ONLY 75kg????????"

[husoi]

And this concludes the trailer soap

Final fittings to the trailer and towbar.

In the trailer I've installed the hinges for the topbox, existing locks and cover holders. Has to adjust the fitting on the holders.

On the towbar I've add the security cable holder and a small chain to hold the pin in case it comes undone.

did 2 run tests.

First test empty trailer top speed 40mph for 2 miles

Trailer behaviour was very good, not jumping around and over 30 looked glued to the ground

At slower speed I noticed the many bumps on covers and potholes but hardly noticeable the pull on the bike.

second test run.

trailer was loaded with 2 tents, 2 air bed and 2 large bags all together around 13kg

Did a longer run, around 10 miles.

This time the trailer was very steady and hardly any noise from the bumps.

65 mph top speed on dual carriage (A92) and around 5 miles on city riding.

Again an excellent behaviour and hardly no pull on the bike.

Isn't pretty, some techniques should have been different, like using vacuum on laminating the carbon fibre.

But it is waterproof, very strong and hopefully next year I'll be riding to the continent

[Guest Swagman]

Great just need a camping hol now to test it properly.

[husoi]

Yeah, even if it ids just a 4 days weekend

[Six30]

If Frankenstein had a trailer ....

[raesewell]

You just need to get some paint on it now.

[TimR]

I would make sure of the legality of your rear reflectors on trailer as they should be of the triangle variety

 

[husoi]

I would make sure of the legality of your rear reflectors on trailer as they should be of the triangle variety

Screenshot_20200919-193908.png

 

That and all other details were check with DVLA.

Those rules apply to trailers over 350kg. Apparently there is little legislation for trailers for motorbikes and DVLA told me that the ones I have are legal.

Same for the light setting, the important is the distance to the edge of the trailer, in this case the end of the mudguards.

There is a implied obligation to have a VIN plate indicating the weight which I have

[TimR]

I would make sure of the legality of your rear reflectors on trailer as they should be of the triangle variety

Screenshot_20200919-193908.png

 

That and all other details were check with DVLA.

Those rules apply to trailers over 350kg. Apparently there is little legislation for trailers for motorbikes and DVLA told me that the ones I have are legal.

Same for the light setting, the important is the distance to the edge of the trailer, in this case the end of the mudguards.

There is a implied obligation to have a VIN plate indicating the weight which I have

 

See i would differ on that and they may have got your question mixed up with additional rear retro reflectors which are optional on 01 type trailers whilst red triangle reflectors are mandatory on all trailers

For relevance check the table page 4 of the 2019 iva manual ..( i know your not having it tested )