Enclosed trailer NOSE - suggestions?

[freebeard]

This one is in my Photoshops album. Rather than an inflatable, a virtual bubble. I learned this from you years ago, showed Hersbird this pic, and he implemented on his Hi-Lo. I forget his results.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by freebeard

This one is in my Photoshops album. Rather than an inflatable, a virtual bubble. I learned this from you years ago, showed Hersbird this pic, and he implemented on his Hi-Lo. I forget his results.

Well I don't know if it worked but it looked dang cool! Seriously that trailer did get really good MPG but I didn't have a lot of before testing and did everything at once so I didn't know if any one thing helped more than others, or if it just did good the way it came from the factory. I could get over 15 mpg towing with a rig I seldom got better than 17 mpg not towing.

I'm now back in the idea of planning a ground up build again now that I have the TDI and the tongue weight on my big camper is really over the hitch rating although the overall weight is within the tow rating. I could probably ditch 1 of 2 propane tanks and switch in Li-ion batteries and move them inside and get it under the 615 pound limit. That wouldn't get me that sweet 15 mpg again though, and I think I can beat 20 mpg with a ground up build.



see how it faced the air in relation to the tow rig.


also notice the factory trailer is "shark nosed". I don't know if that helped in any way either but as the back of the Aspen sloped in a parallel manner I can't imagine it hurt.

[freebeard]

I always thought those forward facing radii should be perforated wit RGB-LEDs inside and a plasma globe in the cap. Sort of a Dekotora/Wurlitzer trailer.



If you do a ground-up rebuild consider a trolley top. It could match the crown of the tow vehicle's roof.