Luggage Trailer

[AriLea]

That's what I was getting at earlier. In fact, I had a small teardrop camper in mind. The image that comes to mind give the vehicle/trailer an insect like appearance with the trailer being the belly. Anybody care to draw something like that?

I'm thinking about that... a bug-like appearance? I'm not sure how that would pair up with the Elio styling.

Even the image I uploaded (from my 3d file), could stand to be more style compatible. It is the same body width as the Elio, and wheels a bit more wide.
But I guess you were thinking of styles that are more aerodynamic.

Generally the air behind a moving vehicle is pretty messy, and the hitch puts the trailer a bit too far out to 'integrate' with the main vehicle form. So one just tries to not poke out from the shadow air-form. Other than that, any shaping of the trailer has a minor effect on the overall drag. It does become more of a style looks issue.

As for weight, the lowest limiter is avoiding a level that will jack-knife the Elio in a turn, when slowing down or down hill. This will be less than what the power and mechanical thresholds limit to. This is because of the lightly loaded single wheel at the rear. The Elio, passengers, and luggage together are maybe 1800 at the very most, so the rear is around 450-750lbs (empty to fully loaded) against the ground. I would guess the trailer and rigging plus load should be substantially less than that, 300-400lbs? "Your experience may vary", slightly up or down from that.

PS, I've become fond of the wire-wheel look. I'll just get standard steel from Elio and seek out the wire to match to my custom nacelle-covers design you see here.

 

[WilliamH]

I'm thinking about that... a bug-like appearance? I'm not sure how that would pair up with the Elio styling.

Even the image I uploaded (from my 3d file), could stand to be more style compatible. It is the same body width as the Elio, and wheels a bit more wide.
But I guess you were thinking of styles that are more aerodynamic.

Generally the air behind a moving vehicle is pretty messy, and the hitch puts the trailer a bit too far out to 'integrate' with the main vehicle form. So one just tries to not poke out from the shadow air-form. Other than that, any shaping of the trailer has a minor effect on the overall drag. It does become more of a style looks issue.

As for weight, the lowest limiter is avoiding a level that will jack-knife the Elio in a turn, when slowing down or down hill. This will be less than what the power and mechanical thresholds limit to. This is because of the lightly loaded single wheel at the rear. The Elio, passengers, and luggage together are maybe 1800 at the very most, so the rear is around 450-750lbs (empty to fully loaded) against the ground. I would guess the trailer and rigging plus load should be substantially less than that, 300-400lbs? "Your experience may vary", slightly up or down from that.
View attachment 10426

PS, I've become fond of the wire-wheel look. I'll just get standard steel from Elio and seek out the wire to match to my custom nacelle-covers design you see here.

You hit it right on the head with the jackknife issue.
That and the fact that on a motorcycle the rear wheel is the driving wheel while in the Elio it just supports weight.
(This is almost making proper trailer loading with an Elio sound like a weigh and balance problem in a light plane.)
The other thing I wondered is would trailer brakes help some with stability issues?

 

[AriLea]

You hit it right on the head with the jackknife issue.
That and the fact that on a motorcycle the rear wheel is the driving wheel while in the Elio it just supports weight.
(This is almost making proper trailer loading with an Elio sound like a weigh and balance problem in a light plane.)
The other thing I wondered is would trailer brakes help some with stability issues?

In the case of braking in a turn? Yes, very much so. The worst case is of course, after a fast straight, a blind turn down-hill, humped for water-run-off, and just a bit of gravel on the road. Brakes on the trailer would even help there.

Other than the expense, I can't think of anywhere they would hurt. OK sometimes the things overheat braking downhill for a few miles with a full load. And they do modify your feeling of over/under steering a bit. In this case bringing you back to more understeering than no brakes on the trailer.

Maybe if you are on 100% gravel and you lock up the trailer brakes, then you got an issue. But I can't say you would have been better off with-out the brakes, possibly triggering that jack-knife. Nothing can help you when exceeding all measure of limits.

 

[BiloxiGeek]

View attachment 10426

I really like that design. Maybe just a little larger. My initial thought was get it just big enough to hold three airline carry-on sized bags. In my head it seems like should be big enough to make it useful, but not so big and heavy to really hurt the mileage and hopefully not bust any tow limitations that Elio will (hopefully) determine.

 

[outsydthebox]

....Upon studying the drawing, I came to the conclusion that the rear wheel would be taking on a lot of weight... .

Not sure what you have in your mind, but a few years back I spoke with a man who fabbed a traditional size teardrop (4'tall/4'wide/8'long) on an old "pop-up'' trailer frame. he said it was under 400lbs. He pulled it with a '38 ford pickup. Iv'e seen the same size pulled behind a Harley. I wouldn't do it.
My concern behin the Elio would be the width & height...might want to extend the side mirrors about a foot. fwiw

 

[Frim]

In the case of braking in a turn? Yes, very much so. The worst case is of course, after a fast straight, a blind turn down-hill, humped for water-run-off, and just a bit of gravel on the road. Brakes on the trailer would even help there.

Other than the expense, I can't think of anywhere they would hurt. OK sometimes the things overheat braking downhill for a few miles with a full load. And they do modify your feeling of over/under steering a bit. In this case bringing you back to more understeering than no brakes on the trailer.

Maybe if you are on 100% gravel and you lock up the trailer brakes, then you got an issue. But I can't say you would have been better off with-out the brakes, possibly triggering that jack-knife. Nothing can help you when exceeding all measure of limits.

I heartily endorse the idea of trailer brakes. I once put them on a two wheel utility trailer pulled by a Corolla and was saved a serious accident. They were electric. U-haul and others have used a hitch activated hydraulic system. It would be relatively expensive, but fool proof and instantaneous. I do think the Elio could be subject to jack-knifing.

 

[W. WIllie]

I've got a "surge brake" on the trailer I use to haul my dunebuggy. It works great. sometimes little hard to back "uphill" is the only problem.

 

[ehwatt]

Not sure what you have in your mind, but a few years back I spoke with a man who fabbed a traditional size teardrop (4'tall/4'wide/8'long) on an old "pop-up'' trailer frame. he said it was under 400lbs. He pulled it with a '38 ford pickup. Iv'e seen the same size pulled behind a Harley. I wouldn't do it.
My concern behin the Elio would be the width & height...might want to extend the side mirrors about a foot. fwiw

That rear camera everyone's talking about might be the cheaper solution all the way around: initial cost and efficiency.

 

[outsydthebox]

That rear camera everyone's talking about might be the cheaper solution all the way around: initial cost and efficiency.

Now, why didn't I think of that?
Great solution!

 

[ehwatt]

Now, why didn't I think of that?
Great solution!

Even a blind hog (old, too) finds a hickory nut once in a while