Minden Tube.

In article ,
wrote:

"Then, there was a Swiss company that made egg shaped trailers. "

We've got one with a Twin Astir RG in it. Ouch. Great for removing gelcoat
and skin and punishing your muscles. Assembling it out of that trailer always
makes me wish there really was a product called Flintstones' Chewable
Morphine available. Since there isn't I usually end up grading how well an
assembly went by the number of scrapes/cuts/Advils taken afterwards.

Not the same "egg shaped" trailer mentioned above, but I have a Swiss
made trailer that is "different". It is a "Spengler" trailer made around
1970. I know of two in North America. It is basically a "tube" type
trailer, but looks like they pulled the mold from a beached Orca. I have
toyed withe the idea of painting to look like a whale. Some have
suggested that I might seek sponsorship from the Doc Johnson or Swedish
Erotica companies.

Regardless of its odd appearance, the trailer is very functional. It is
very weather tight, has good aerodynamics,tows well, and assembling my
Libelle out of it is relatively easy. It is roomy for a Libelle and the
trailer hardware is robust and well designed. The trailer opening is
large and high, so the tube trailer problem of damaging the wing trailer
edge does not occur.It does have it's issues. It loads over the tongue
which I'm told used to be looked on favorably by those whose airfields
tended towards soggy. The trailer could be backed to the edge of the
hard surface without getting the tow vehicle or glider in the muck.
Whatever, I find "over-the-tongue" to be inconvenient. The worst problem
is that the wings load backwards. The tips go in first. This means one
has to carry the heavy roots into the trailer. With a Libelle, not so
much of a problem. If I had an LS-3, no effing way.


Still, I have to agree that, generally speaking, a clamshell trailer is
always better than a tube. BUT, a half clamshell trailer combines the
worst characteristics of both!