Buy a Nissan Micra instead of a trailer instead of a pickup!
What looks like a tree trunk sticking out of the Micra is actually just bark -- birch bark to make a canoe. It's lighter than it looks: around 40 lbs worth.
The 8-foot aluminum ladder "load deck" is secured very rigidly to the car with ratchet straps cinched down to the child seat anchors in the cargo area. I meant to get a pic of me standing on the end of the ladder
FYI, I saw 44 mpg US / 5.3 LHK driving this automatic Micra over 940 km last week. (
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...uel-29461.html )