C

catman

Member
Does anyone have plans or pictures for a RV-12 trailer. Any information will help. I need to transport mine soon and would like to see what other builders have done.

Catman
 
Catman,

There were several threads on this topic a while back. Suggest doing some searching.

Are you looking for a one-time solution to getting your craft to the airport, or something to be used repeatedly?

For my one-time trip to the airport I borrowed a double wide snowmobile trailer.

John
 
By design or luck the wheels fit inside flat bed a car trailer. You may need to pull the gears together with a ratching strap and wet the wheel so they slide easy. For transport loosen the strap and the fuse is snug with the wheels pressing on the fenders.
 
I copied another members idea and used a Harbor Freight folding trailer for the purpose. It has worked out very nice, but I still have to engineer the wing racks, to hold the wings on each side of the plane. I intend to use it for transport to the airport when done, and to the paint shop.
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I used a four place snowmobile trailer. There are no wheel wells and the platform is low with the small 8 inch tires. It works great for a finished plane because nothing hangs over the front or back
 
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DonFromTX said:
I copied another members idea and used a Harbor Freight folding trailer for the purpose. It has worked out very nice, but I still have to engineer the wing racks, to hold the wings on each side of the plane. I intend to use it for transport to the airport when done, and to the paint shop.
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I can just about guaranty that trailering an RV-12 on the 3 main wheels, without supporting the tail will result in damage to the airplane.

The tail has quite a bit of weight that will be waging around behind as a result of the elasticity in the airplanes tires, landing gear legs, and the suspension on the trailer.

There is a lot of good discussion in the archives. I suggest that anyone considering engineering their own RV-12 trailer should do a bit of research. It is a bit more complex than just finding a trailer you can make it fit on.
 
Inexpensive trailer

I have designed and built an inexpensive trailer for my RV12. I would not recommend it for high speed or long distance hauling but it worked well for me from home to the airport. I no longer have the RV12 but still have the trailer that someone may be able to use.

For photos and a detailed description my contact is:
 
Most interesting, I did the archives a number of times and never heard of any problems like that, nor of anyone tying the tail down.. I would suspect the way I land will be far more damaging than a trailer ride. Can anyone add their experience to trailer trips on the wheels? I cannot off hand imagine tying the tail down with the wheels and landing gear bouncing around not being a way to add to damage. Come on guys, if you or someone you know wagged the tail off a RV12, fess up!

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rvbuilder2002 said:
I can just about guaranty that trailering an RV-12 on the 3 main wheels, without supporting the tail will result in damage to the airplane.

The tail has quite a bit of weight that will be waging around behind as a result of the elasticity in the airplanes tires, landing gear legs, and the suspension on the trailer.

There is a lot of good discussion in the archives. I suggest that anyone considering engineering their own RV-12 trailer should do a bit of research. It is a bit more complex than just finding a trailer you can make it fit on.
Click to expand...
 
With the fuselage by itself on a trailer the NOSE is light. You don't want to "tie down" the tail, you want to tie down the nose wheel! I hauled mine on a flat-bed trailer that had a 7-foot wide bed wood plank. Just big enough for Sweetie's tires to fit between the wheel wells. I took ~1-foot pieces of 2x8 and joined them at a right angle with screws, making an L-shaped piece I could then screw to the trailer bed and thus block the wheels from moving forward or aft or sideways. Then across the TOP of the nosewheel, run some tight ratchet straps to hold it down.
 
I didn't make my post just out of speculation or to stir up an argument.... it is based on experience.

The weight of the tail, coupled with the long arm length of the tail cone adds up to quite a high moment value. If you don't do something to stop the tail from waging around it will make you unhappy. The tires make the airplane very elastic.

-We have shipped RV-12's in closed trailers numerous times.
- We use a support rod between the tail and floor.
Lateral straps to prevent the tail from moving side to side.
-And a thick plywood board that slips through the spar opening with holes for the spar pins. The board protrudes about 6 inches out each side of the fuselage with additional holes for hooking straps to. These are angled for and aft, and outwards to anchor the fwd fuse.
Doing these two things will prevent damage.

Part of the problem with talking about trailering an RV-12 is the huge difference between slow and careful on back roads to get it to the airport the first time, Vs going cross country.
You can get away with very little in special design considerations for this.

Trailering cross country on highways and freeways... a whole different situation.
If you attempt to do it the way Don as proposing... I can pretty much guaranty you will damage the airplane.
 
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I am not trying to be argumentative - or to "propose" a hauling method, I was just passing on another users methods, and sincerely appreciate your input. That member hauled his quite a ways with the tail sticking out of a fairly short U Haul truck, only the wheels inside the box, you may recall seeing that. He then built the Harbor Freight trailer to haul it around, was happy with the results, so I just copied his plan.
The only warning I had come across, was to support the ENGINE! There are those that maintain that the engine bouncing around on the mounts could damage the firewall upon which most of the Rotax hangs, not even connected to the longerons. That did seem like a valid concern, but apparently you have had no problems with the engine bouncing around? Seemed like a support under the prop flange area would be nice.
 
Having read about full-fuel tiedown and how light the nose can be, I made a tail support using pvc pipe that clips to the tail tiedown ring. Has a pvc coupler so the pieces can be short. Haven't had to use it yet but I am ready! The point about trailering on slow easy backroads to the airport (my situation) vs. x-country, that could make a difference.
 
The best idea I have seen or heard so far, is to put a board thru the wing spar channel and tie things down from that. That will definitely be in my final plans.
 
Scott,

That's very useful information. I haven't entirely ruled out trailering if I can't get a hanger locally, although regularly travelling long distances with a $95,000 Oz-dollar investment hanging off the back of the car doesn't appeal to me much either.

One thing I'm not sure about is whether there is any concern about the engine bouncing around on its mounts?

Also, in your post I assume the straps fixed to the board passing through the spar hole are fixed fore and aft in a horizontal plane, and not angled upwards to help support the fuselage, and so take some of the weight off the tires?

With the tail rigidly supported on a rod, it would seem sensible to also reduce the flex in the gear and tires as much as possible to avoid inducing unnecessary loads in the fuselage?

Any comments appreciated.
 
Would you by any chance have any pictures of your setup? That would be really helpful to see just how you support the tail.

Jim

rvbuilder2002 said:
I didn't make my post just out of speculation or to stir up an argument.... it is based on experience.

The weight of the tail, coupled with the long arm length of the tail cone adds up to quite a high moment value. If you don't do something to stop the tail from waging around it will make you unhappy. The tires make the airplane very elastic.

-We have shipped RV-12's in closed trailers numerous times.
- We use a support rod between the tail and floor.
Lateral straps to prevent the tail from moving side to side.
-And a thick plywood board that slips through the spar opening with holes for the spar pins. The board protrudes about 6 inches out each side of the fuselage with additional holes for hooking straps to. These are angled for and aft, and outwards to anchor the fwd fuse.
Doing these two things will prevent damage.

Part of the problem with talking about trailering an RV-12 is the huge difference between slow and careful on back roads to get it to the airport the first time, Vs going cross country.
You can get away with very little in special design considerations for this.

Trailering cross country on highways and freeways... a whole different situation.
If you attempt to do it the way Don as proposing... I can pretty much guaranty you will damage the airplane.
Click to expand...
 
Moving my fuselage

Go here to see a photo of me moving my fuselage to the paint shop on my brother's snowmobile trailer. I drove slowly and VERY carefully. Without the tail feathers there is not much of a moment acting on the tail. No problems at all.

Just make sure you have it hog-tied in all directions so it doesn't move around. After painting I used the same technique going to the airport. I do not anticipate ever moving it again by trailer.
 
I am thinking something like two pieces of PCV pipe from the tail tiedown to each corner of the rear of the trailer would support it and keep it from wagging.
 
Hmm, two used like spars. My thinking was only one going all the way, but when I get to engineering it, maybe this would be a better idea.
 
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