Shipping a kit by road in Australia

[skippydiesel]

49 minutes ago, BrendAn said:

I can only speak from a lot of experience and have never had problems. Have a look at how well packed the trailer was in my photo. Carpet . Foam and old pillows seperate and protect everything.  

I don't know how the planes didn't fall to bits according to what I am being told here. A bit insulting really.

No insults just "shooting the breeze" and warning the inexperienced.

[skippydiesel]

2 hours ago, FlyBoy1960 said:

How about this purpose built plave carrier. Designed for a Pipistrel Aircraft but will fit anything, sides fold down for the wings to be fitted, electric winches, and long loading ramp will take just about any plane. Dual airbag suspension with special shocks.

 

I can get you the number if interested, there is a sign saying $7,500 on it.  Its just come a distance of about 2,000 kms so everything must be working.
 

Wow! $7.5K  that price is a steal, if its structurally sound & registerable - Have you seen the asking price for large "toy trailers"?  Double this price would be a good deal.

[jackc]

I hauled my Aeropup, with folded wings Gympie to Rocky on a car trailer with low pressure in trailer tyres, no problem.

[BrendAn]

5 hours ago, sfGnome said:

Thanks for all the info. Most appreciated. 

To get the best deal on moving your crate to Sydney list it on one of the freight agent websites. Load shift used to be good but there are better ones out there now.  Someone will bring up for you on a backload. If it needs to be dropped at a depot let me know. I can get one of my trucks to do that but for you. No charge if it's not far out of our way.

[skippydiesel]

2 hours ago, onetrack said:

You'd be lucky to pick up a worn-out Viscount Fleetwood caravan in my neck of the woods for less than $5000!

 

People buy them, gut them and rebuild them, because new caravans are anywhere between $90,000 and $150,000!

 

The Viscounts were very well built and luxurious, I owned several of them in the period of the 1970's to 1990's, both tandem and triaxle, 27 foot and 30 foot.

They were beasts to tow, heavy, and strong crosswinds affected them badly. You were lucky to get them up to 90kmh, 80kmh was a good towing speed for them.

Your welcome to rebuild it if you wish - might cost a tad more than $5k for me to part with it.  I think mine is about 8m inside, so about 10m all up.

 

Yes it's very well  built  and no its definitely not heavy, from imperfect memory 600 kg plus (all the heavy stuff has been removed).

 

On my 20 hr round trip, I came across quite a few BDdoubles & the like - she never even wobbled.  Very nice to tow.

 

On freeway did a 110 kph easy , no problem at all.

[BrendAn]

7 hours ago, facthunter said:

I went Gympie to Melbourne with  a four wheel trailer with a plank extending rearwards for the tailwheel and the wings removed and stacked together resting on foam on their leading edges  and strapped to a vertical square tubed steel frame down one side separated by and wrapped in  large rubber sheet foam spacers with all bits likely to rub protected. No way would I go any distance  with a set up like Bernie has shown. Opposing traffic will bring very high airloads with it. Especially Semis and maybe your plane will never fly again. I ran the tyres at reduced pressure too as there's not much weight involved. Being on it's own wheels,  tyres  and suspension, helped the fuselage to travel OK. It will need proper preparation even in a crate.  Nev

Yes but you were towing the trailer with your racing car at 120 mph and 7000rpm. 😂

[BrendAn]

2 hours ago, FlyBoy1960 said:

How about this purpose built plave carrier. Designed for a Pipistrel Aircraft but will fit anything, sides fold down for the wings to be fitted, electric winches, and long loading ramp will take just about any plane. Dual airbag suspension with special shocks.

 

I can get you the number if interested, there is a sign saying $7,500 on it.  Its just come a distance of about 2,000 kms so everything must be working.

 

And you can sell hotdogs and ice cream from it as well.

[skippydiesel]

Back to transporting a small aircraft;

 

Packing: As mentioned polystyrene sheets/boards, Bubble Wrap and packing tape (can be had from Bunnings Aerospace but cheaper from a packaging supplier) are my friends.

 

Try not to get the packing tape on a painted surface.

 

Packing tape is amazing stuff - will secure almost any package (covered wings, fuselage, empennage).

 

Polystyrene boards are used to spread the point load of a tie down strap/rope and between larger sections eg wings.  Secure in place using packing tape.

 

Tightly Bubble wrap almost everything and again secure with packing tape.

 

Polystyrene can be returned to original purpose (insulating a structure) if you wish. Bubble wrap - haven't found an alternative use for it at this stage.

 

Use a lot of  just secure straps/ropes (if you know how) rather than a few very tight ones to minimise the risk of tightening damage - check for  security /load shift frequently

[Thruster88]

Have transported quite a few aircraft on a basic car trailer recently. 5P, previous preparation prevents poor performance.  

[danny_galaga]

Yeah, we transported my half finished plane on a car trailer. And wings and cowls etc in a rental 3.5 tonne truck. Went ok, but really hadn't thought about insurance or anything. 

[walrus]

If at all possible, transport an aircraft kit crate yourself. Apart from the cost, using a commercial freight service will bring your aircraft kit into contact with the number one destroyer of kit aircraft - "Mr. Forklift".

 

Now Mr. Forklift is a very, very dangerous beast; it is not very bright, it cannot read those signs saying "Fragile Aircraft" and  "do not stack", it assumes that your crate is as strong as a bank vault full of anvils and it will treat it accordingly. The lads who empty shipping containers are equally rough. The reality is that your crate weighs next to nothing, you have no idea how strong the box is, nor what shipping damage it may have sustained. It contains aircraft skins - large sheets of .016 aluminium that will dent if you frown at them. You need to watch the whole performance yourself. My crate was damaged by a fork in transit and I lost a rudder skin - its not the actual cost of the part - it's insured, but the buggerisation of making a claim and getting a new one is extreme. HIre a vehicle trailer if necessary. If you are going to build an aircraft, you will devise a way of getting the box on and off yourself. If you can't solve that problem. well, you probably shouldn't be building a kit aircraft.

 

As for moving a completed airframe, I hired a plant trailer which will take a little wider wheel track than a car trailer. Whatever you do, either remove or double lock all control surfaces and hatches because you will probably be travelling well above stall speed on the road.

 

[skippydiesel]

Hi Truster 88,

 

Observations:

 

First photo - Handy being able to remove the wing skins for transport.

 

Second 19-421. Seems to have only one wing. Empennage not secured

 

Last - no wings at all. Empennage not secured

 

 

Completed fuselage is possibly the easiest "bit" (aeronautical term) to secure & transport. 

 

Partially completed aircraft (lots of fragile bits) may be the hardest, depending on what the build stage is.

 

Wings are the hardest part of a complete aircraft to pack safely/securely due to size, shape, vulnerable skin (in most instances), lack of on wing tie options. Purpose built cradles, conforming to that wing aerofoil, are possibly the best solution but not always available. Making a flat to tray  "sandwich" polystyrene sheets/wing polly sheet/wing polly sheet (accommodating pitot tube) works quite well but needs to be monitored for load shift. In both systems elevator/flap are vulnerable and must be well secured .

Edited February 23 by skippydiesel

[BrendAn]

8 minutes ago, skippydiesel said:

Hi Truster 88,

 

Observations:

 

First photo - Handy being able to remove the wing skins for transport.

 

Second 19-421. Seems to have only one wing.

 

Last - no wings at all.

 

Completed fuselage is possibly the easiest "bit" (aeronautical term) to secure & transport. 

 

Partially completed aircraft (lots of fragile bits) may be the hardest, depending on what the build stage is.

 

Wings are the hardest part of a complete aircraft to pack safely/securely due to size, shape, vulnerable skin (in most instances), lack of on wing tie options.

Wings are easy to secure and protect.  Done it several times. T 88 has the tail feathers removed because of their width. I have moved my thruster with the tail feathers on but they are 2.6 mt across . I never got any attention from the cops apart from questions about the aircraft.  Don't tow an aircraft anywhere if your not prepared to talk to people because they create a lot of interest.  I came out of Macca's at Euroa and there were people lined up to sit in it and take photos.

Skippy you seem to make things hard for yourself. It's really not .

[BrendAn]

I towed my xair through bright and over mt Hotham at Christmas so I can say I have had the xair up to 6000 feet. Even on that trip I had people taking photos while I was refuelling in bright.

[skippydiesel]

"Don't tow an aircraft anywhere if your not prepared to talk to people because they create a lot of interest. "

 

Another good reason to have a Viscount Aircraft Carrier😜

[BrendAn]

18 minutes ago, skippydiesel said:

"Don't tow an aircraft anywhere if your not prepared to talk to people because they create a lot of interest. "

 

Another good reason to have a Viscount Aircraft Carrier😜

Excellent point.  But you must get some looks when U tell people U own an aircraft carrier.😁

Edited February 23 by BrendAn

[RFguy]

Get a logistics company to do it

This way it will be their boys  and trucks all the way. You can get a door to door, but since they are the only carrier you can trust them using their hubs. 

 

I use PFM Logistics. I use them for moving things like high value  robots, I got onto them from a mate that moves $100,000 photo printer plotters (well known company).

 

Edited February 24 by RFguy

[Kyle Communications]

Just beg borrow or steal flatbed trailer. Its easy enough. I bought Mabel from western mid NSW and bought her all the way to north of Brisbane on a trailer. Wasnt a drama at all. Just took her this week down to the hangar for final assembly when I can get a chance to work on her.She has been a long project to totally rebuild from scratch

 

IMG_3311.mov

[RFguy]

yeah if you can do it yourself

just arm yourself with lots of old blankets, foam pieces , straps etc so that nothing rubs on anything, even stuff with clearance like cables can get a vibration going and start rubbing etc, everything must be damped.

[facthunter]

Years ago there was a lot written about trailering planes rather than hangaring them and damage from bumps an airloads can be significant. Folding wings are designed for inside Hangars out of the wind..The best way to get a plane somewhere is FLY it Even carrying motorbikes can cause them damage. A flapping bit of canvas or tie down will wear the paint through in no time on anything..   Nev

[FlyBoy1960]

As RF Guy said, even cables inside a wing which are not tension like they are when the plane is assembled will bounce up and down and cause damage. We had one aircraft arrive at our airfield from Adelaide and the wings needed to be recovered because the turnbuckle managed to pop its way through the fabric and then a couple of other places as well

Edited February 25 by FlyBoy1960

[dtanner]

Im with you on that BrendAn, Have transported aircraft from Perth W.A. to Gold Coast, Shepparton to Minden Qld, and from Lismore, NSW to Gold Coast all on my two flat top trailers. No damage. As you say, it is all in the packing and securing of the aircraft and wings. Cheers Dave