Trailers, trucks, and cars, oh my!

[DELurker]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

Did you rent a U-Haul truck or trailer? The trailers are under $20 a day, so if you have something to tow with it really isn't that bad.

We actually rented the 10' truck. The final price wasn't as bad as we had feared, but it was still more than we could have hoped for. Of course, that was after Budget bailed on us with 4 hours to go before we were to pick up the truck.

Part of what we are trying to do is to eliminate reliance on the mentor/parent vehicles. All of the mentor vehicles that could tow a trailer are unreliable enough to give us, in the words of King Julian, the "heebie-jeebies". The one mentor that we used to use the minivan of is moving too far away at the end of the school year.

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by DELurker

This past weekend was the first bag-and-tag that 1370 has attended in a very long time. We ended up renting a 10' UHaul and transporting our stuff up to Rutgers in it. However, based on the price, I'm not sure that we can continue doing that as a long-term viable plan.

How do other teams transport their equipment? What are the pros and cons?

We've bounced around getting a trailer, but the main objection is that we would still have to get a mentor or parent with a trailer hitch to drag the trailer to our events. Given where we are (Delaware), most events are 1-3 hours away without traffic.

Oh wow. You really shouldnt be complaining about 1-3 hours. My team traveled 10 hours to Smoky Mountains, travelling 4 hours to GTR West, 4.5 Hours to Queen City, and 11 Hours to St.Louis. I would love to only have to travel 1-3 hours.

Our Biggest sponsor Centerline Lends us 4 Vehicles (2 mini vans, 1 pick-up truck, and an impala), along with a 12 foot trailer. But wait, there's more. They also pay for all the Gas! So we don't have any problem with travels costs. If you could find a sponsor willing to do this much for a team that would be the best thing for your team.

Try to find parents that can get you a sponsorship from the company they work with. Getting the Owner/Boss of that company on board with FIRST is a great way to do it. My dad's Boss is always trying to help us out more, even if we don't need anything. They paid for all our new pits last year, donate all the sheet metal parts for our robot, pay for traveling costs, and even donate Money at the beginning of the year.

Hope you can find a sponsor like this.
Good Luck this season!

[Phyrxes]

Our team (through the school) just purchased a 6' by 10' trailer that has ramp and an opening that is 6' tall (this makes the total trailer height about 7'4"). The trailer is registered to the school division (it has local government plates) and is covered by the school division's insurance.

Total cost of the trailer was about $2500, but now we have it and don't have to deal with the hassle of renting a box truck or organizing a fleet of mentors and/or parents.