The trailer is mostly made out of scrap material: 5/16 plywood from packing crates found in an industrial estate and 3mm thick aluminium section found in the dump master of a company who makes shower screens and doors and bathroom fitouts.
The most expensive components were the gas struts, followed by the screws, bolts and nylocks (i wanted a riveted look) and finally the trailer base (2007-2008 Burley Tailwagon Dog Trailer) which i got from a closeout sale, make that a "throwout" sale as the company was deleting their distributorship for Burley Trailers and wanted the stuff 'gone'.
One of the consequences of using gas struts to magically open the lid is the pressure placed on the hinges, as the lid is trying to push itself forward as it is being closed.
Because there's about 2mm of play in a normal door hings, the lid then cannot close when being fully lowered.
I had no choice but to eliminate the play and use a specialty ball bearing hinge to solve the closing problem.
So far, i haven't come across anyone with a similarly designed trailer, but i'm sure there are people on motor bicycling who have plans to go one step further in a professional trailer build.
My interest would be to see someone build a 4 wheeled, independant suspension trailer with electrically operated disk brakes on all 4 wheels to handle off-road conditions with better stability, not to mention superior braking performance with heavy loads.
Fabian
