Team Trailer Ideas?

[ChuckDickerson]

No, not the kind we all hooked to our robots this year but the real kind that you put stuff in and drag behind your vehicle down the road! We had a nice 2 year old 6’x10’ standard type cargo trailer DONATED to the team about a week ago. It is in excellent condition EXCEPT the guy that had it before us ran a pressure washing business out of it and must have had a big tank of water strapped to the floor in the middle of it. The floor must have stayed soaked and due to the weight of the water tank bouncing on the floor driving down the road 3 of the floor cross supports were slightly bowed down and starting to rust. Well, being a robotics team it took us about 2 hours after being given the trailer before we had assessed the situation and completely gutted the cheap luan paneling interior and warped wet flooring and cut out the bent rusty cross supports. What’s left is nearly perfect and will allow us to “customize” the trailer to our specific needs. The steel trailer floor support structure has now been replaced better than new and after some good priming and painting the floor itself will be re-decked hopefully with some high quality HDO plywood if we can locate a few sheets. HDO is pretty hard to find around here. Once that is complete we will be ready to redo the interior sides and “customize” it for the specific needs of our robotics team. Which brings me to my question. I know many teams have there own team trailers. For those of you in this situation what advice can you give on how best to use a cargo trailer and specifically “set it up” for a FRC team use? Our trailer is a tad bit short inside height wise to fully stand up in for most people and a bit small to really even consider setting up any sort of “mini mobile machine shop” so that is pretty much ruled out. We plan to use it more to haul our pit stuff to competition, demos, etc. How do you keep your team “stuff” organized and secured while driving down the road? We have searched around and found some cargo restraining systems called “E-Track” that looks like it would work well for securing carts, crates, boxes, etc. inside the trailer for transport. Does anyone have any experience with “E-Track”? I guess I’m asking for advice on how to get the absolute best use from this generous donation. If you were given a 6’x10’ white box on wheels for your robotics team to do whatever you want with, what would you do with it? If you have a team trailer that you have customized with neat features you find helpful please post some pictures here. We have some ideas ourselves but are looking for advice from others that may have traveled this road before. Thanks!

[gorrilla]

I suggest you put some eye-hooks in there(like 1 in each corner and the middle) just to keep stuff down....

and its always nice to have places to hang stuff out of the way....

[ginosoprano09]

I remember seeing one in Team 67's website.

http://www2.huronvalley.k12.mi.us/sc...bum/index.html

The 5th Album in the 2009 season.

Apologies in advance to team 67 for looking through their website

[R.C.]

I think 217 has a great trailor also.

-rc

[keehun]

On Team 67's website, check out 1998 pictures as well.

[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by rc_cola1323

I think 217 has a great trailor also.

-rc

Indy Sam posted this photo of ThunderChickens' trailer heading north on I-75 in Ohio. This photo provided more evidence of the great Simbotics/ThunderChicken collaboration of 2008.

[DonRotolo]

1676 had a trailer donated three years ago, also white. I would guess about 6 x 10, 5 feet tall inside.

A local graphics company, that specialized in truck wraps (adhesive vinyl sheets, printed with whatever and applied professionally to the vehicle) was cajoled by a sponsor who uses their services into donating a wrap job. See the photo.

The handiest thing we have are tie-down D-Rings in the floor and walls, which allow us to use rope to secure whatever's in the trailer. You do not want the load to shift! The trailer walls are not strong enough for one of those 'spreader-bar' type holders you see in pickup trucks or big tractor-trailers. Also the roof is not strong enough to hold any weight.

A light inside the trailer is very handy when packing up after dark, which is typical in winter.

A crank-type front 'wheel' helps when storing the trailer, otherwise you need some kind of holder to keep it level when not attached to a vehicle.

Wheel chocks are indispensable! You need four.

A spare tire is not a bad idea, either.

[Chris Fultz]

Here are some things we did that have worked pretty well -

A small cargo box on the front. It has a jack, wheel blocks, and we keep the receiver bar and wire harness adapter in it.

Get a spare tire, a lug wrench and a jack. Get a spare tire mount if you can.
With a spare mount and the cargo box,all of this can be outside of your trailer.

Use D rings and put them on the floor and walls to strap things in. These are good because they fold "flat" and won't be sticking out to be caught on when not being used. You should be able to get them at a hardware store or trailer store. be sure they are screrwed into the frame material - not just the wood.

We put a few shelf brackets on one side wall, up high, and made an 8" wide shelf front to back. it is great for the team flag, banners, aluminum rod, etc.

Buy some good ratcheting straps and get a bag to keep them in and keep them in the trailer. Strap down everything. Don't rely on bungee cords. If something inside breaks loose, it can slide across the trailer and be damaged, or cause the trailer to swerve suddenly.

Have fun with your project. We are glad we got our trailer a few years ago - it has been a great addition to the team.

[IndySam]

Just remember when you start customizing your trailer to keep in mind what kind of vehicle will be towing it and how much weight it can tow. Set yourself a weight budget and keep track of the weight (just like building a robot.)

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by IndySam

Set yourself a weight budget and keep track of the weight (just like building a robot.)

We have a weight budget

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

We have a weight budget

It's a good idea (though I think you are teasing) . The years that I pulled the team trailer, we were careful with the weight, also keeping in mind the weight that the vehicle I was driving would have to carry.

I just love threads about trailers, they are so cool.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

We have a weight budget

This is good, we accidentally overloaded a trailer a couple years back, getting a phone call from the parent driving it back saying it broke on a Sunday morning is not an experience I think anyone wants .

[kapolavery]

Model it after Optimus Prime!
Seriously!

[cpeister]

Be careful when loading the trailer of where the weight is located. Although you may be within the weight limitations of the truck/trailer, packing the heavy items too close to the front will cause increased tongue weight, pushing down the back of the tow vehicle. Likewise, placing heavy items too far to the rear will cause the tongue to be light, lifting the rear of the vehicle, and making the trailer more likely to slip off of the ball. Also, if it is uncoupled while loaded, the tongue will have a tendency to lift up. Plan to load the heaviest items over or just ahead of the axle, in order to prevent this problem.

[kramarczyk]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

We have searched around and found some cargo restraining systems called “E-Track” that looks like it would work well for securing carts, crates, boxes, etc. inside the trailer for transport. Does anyone have any experience with “E-Track”?

In college I spent several years in concert production which involved loading and driving trucks daily. As such I have learned the importance of load control for even the shortest jaunt. In my opinion, E-track beats D-rings hands down. E-track is a continuous piece that I can connect into wherever the load dictates, while D-rings force connections at discrete points which may not be quite where I need them. E-track also does this while providing the flush installation of D-rings. I would not recommend any method that does not install flush as it will be a consistent source of misery from catching on equipment and people leading to damage and injury. (Wheel wells in a trailer drive me nuts.) I have seen E-track run in vertical and horizontal strips within the trailer and I find the vertical runs to have similar problems as the D-rings. Best bet, install 3-4 horizontal bands of the e-track in the sides of the trailer. Pick heights that coincide with the stuff you carry; 18", 36" & 54" from the floor are probably good places to start, but adjust for your load. The source you found for the track should also have straps and load control bars. If not, check out http://www.etrailer.com/c-ET.htm. I'd start with 2-4 straps that clip into the track.

As an additional item, now that you have your own trailer, you have an opportunity to standardize your containers that may help making your packing life easier. We did this by making trying to get all of our container dimensions to line up with a fractional increment of the trailers inside width. For our 90" wide trailers this meant we had a 'half pack' dimension of 45", a 'third pack' dimension of 30", and a 'quarter pack' dimension of 22.5". As much as possible we made sure our containers had these external dimensions and they could quickly pack 2, 3, or 4 wide in the trailer without any real planning. This method lessened the amount of mental gymnastics required to pack the truck efficiently. Sure, we always seemed to end up with that roll of carpet or fake potted plant than needed to fit in there, but at least the silliness was limited. A robot with bumpers is probably a close half pack in a 6' wide trailer.

Just as a clarification, I'm not suggesting build your own set of custom road cases (which would be cool), but just keep those dimensions in mind as you look at other containers. Example, the KoP boxes do not fit well in my wife's mini-van, but some of the Rubbermaid 20 gal bins are 1/2 & 1/3 pack in that vehicle. Consequently, we use the Rubbermaid bins when we have to move stuff around in her van.

Good luck with the new trailer. As with any advice, your mileage may vary.