Just to close the [recent] loop, I mounted my spare flat on the floor under the nose of the glider. BTW, I was able to "reuse" the hole in the trailer floor where a bolt securing a bracket under the floor was already secured. The bracket is a simple strut that supports the brake rod about half way back from the coupler to the axle and keeps it from flapping around. I noticed that the bracket had been bent back by a previous collision with something under the trailer, not seriously but enough that it would have given me pause to locate the spare tire there. There's not much load on the bracket or the spare tire.

I have 13" wheels but went up one size in tire the last time I bought them to get more ground clearance (don't recall the size). As a result, the tire is JUST small enough to lie flat between the wings and not interfere with the spar dollies rolling in and out. Conceptually, the factory mounting the tire above the nose cone gives a lot more flexibility because there's more width there (due to the wing root shape) and the dollies are irrelevant. But obviously the load on the mount is a lot higher.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.