[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

Okay, I suppose it would interfere with your ability to load akward cargo and parallel park. But if you drop the requirement that it be able to be stored inside the Metro, it becomes easier to design and build, since you can use a single rigid frame. Storable in the garage is almost as good. You'd use the boattail on road trips, and leave it at home for commuting.

You're right about a rigid frame being easier to construct and more stable, but being able to fold a boattail and stow it in the trunk is very useful. Not all road trips are of the 'drive to grandma's ranch' type. This summer we drove to Romania and a boattail would have been awsome on the 1500+km trip each way, but once there we were driving around, sightseeing, city driving, parking, etc. The boattail would only be in the way, and we couldn't just take it off and leave it at the border station for two weeks. But if it deflated and packed into a size not much bigger than the rear light assembly in Botsapper's pic, then it could just get stuffed anywhere until it was time to return.