On Wednesday, May 22, 2013 1:08:11 PM UTC-7, Bob Whelan wrote:
On 5/22/2013 1:29 PM, Steve Leonard wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2013 1:35:24 AM UTC-5, GC wrote:

Aberdeen Angus, I think - or maybe Poll Hereford. Is that the trailer

where the fuselage and wings go in from the hitch end, not the number

plate end? Or is it the one with the door at the hitch end where the

wigtips go in first on a strop which runs in a track on the roof - until

it jams halfway in and you can't get past the wing and fuselage to

disgorge it (or whatever you need to do with jammed wheels in tracks).

GC



Ugh. Yes, the early Schleicher trailer has you hang the tip in a strap

that runs in a track along the roof, tip went in first, and you carried the

root out. Great fun with an AS-W12. Not as bad with a 15. Some US Made

Sailplane Associates trailers do this, too. But, a lot of them load

through the number plate end. Early Schleicher loaded over the hitch.

Then, there were the ones that had the hitch that got un-pinned from one

side and swung out of the way for loading from the hitch end.



Thank goodness we have evolved as we have. Those old trailers were a royal

pain in the Arse!





Haw! They were a PITA even "way back when (I was young and stupid)!!!" They

haven't improved with age - theirs OR mine.



Sailplane trailer evolution is a classic case of darwinism in

action...combined with intelligent design...uh oh, I may be in trouble with

some portions of society here.



Bob - I'll be leaving now, my work here is done - W.



P.S. For the life of me, I've NEVER been able to imagine even a

half-baked-rationale why anyone would have EVER designed a glider trailer to

load/unload over the tongue. I owned one once. I let the neighbor kids destroy

it with sledgehammers, then burned the resulting splinters. Both events were

immensely soul-satisfying for all concerned.

Bob,

There are excellent reasons for loading over the tongue which have to do with trailer stability. Putting the heaviest parts of the trailer at the back and moving the axle rearward gets you a reasonable tongue weight and rock steady towing stability (even at high speeds). There have been some poorly implemented versions, but not enough to condemn an entire category.

Craig