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When I purchased the Hurricane I knew transportation would be problematic. The car I had at the time, an '86 VW Scirocco, would not be able to pull the trailer I brought the hovercraft home on. That said, even my current ride, a '99 Subaru Outback, would have issues since the trailer itself is so heavy. Okay, so the correct action would be to find a large enough trailer which weighed next to nothing (I only have 2,000 lbs towing capacity to work with here, folks). Finding a ready-made one proved nearly impossible and/or was cost-prohibitive. So, what do I have to do to catch a break? |
Suffice it to say, it was again time to hit the interwebs. With local papers being defunct or crap in their classifieds sections I really had no other choice. I asked around, asked people to keep their eyes out, but finding a trailer 72" (183cm) wide is nigh impossible. With the thought that the Hurricane is titled as a boat, perhaps a boat trailer would work. The boat trailers I found were much longer than necessary (to the tune of 240" (609cm) long) and the one which were long enough were too narrow. Likewise used landscaping and utility trailers were either too expensive, too heavy, or sat too high off the ground. Argh!
| Then one day an angel named Craig came down and showed me his list of items for sale (it would be nice to say it was a hustler offering me a watch - but it wasn't). About 50 miles (80km) away a gentleman was selling a custom trailer...72" wide. And, while it wasn't long enough, it was steel and titled. Oh, and it weighed very little and sat about 13" (33cm) off the ground. And the price? Well, seems to me I paid the same thing for the Hurricane. How could I refuse? | 
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So, after driving an hour, waiting for another half-hour, and another hour getting the trailer mated to the truck (the hitch was neither 1 7/8" nor 2") we wheeled on home with our new platform. As the light was failing, and I still had to get home to work the next day, we spent the next two hours trouble-shooting a wiring issue we didn't have on the way home. We hacked into the existing wiring (no problem since the trailer needed new lights anyway) and off I went.
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The next few weeks were spent taking the trailer down to the frame. The first thing to go were the tires which were lucky to hold air. Next to find a new home were the lights. I purchased a nice set of LED's from Amazon.com and installed those. All that was needed was to get a title. And, here, is where the funny thing on the way home from the BMV happened. A stop at the title agency told me I needed to get the trailer weighed. The first location I went to had a broken scale. Going back across town, past the title agency, I found another weigh-station who could help. $5 later, I was back at the title agency and was able to purchase my new plate. Being the law-abiding citizen I am, I put the plate on the trailer before driving off. Wouldn't you know, when I check not but fifteen minutes later, the plate was gone. Backtracking yielded no results so I went home and laughed...or cried - I can't remember which. At any rate, a few weeks later I received a nice letter from the police department telling me they had something of mine. Dropping by during lunch I was able to pick up my once-beautiful plate which appeared to have used in an origami gone wrong. |
During the time of losing and regaining my plate, I was able to continue working on the trailer. The reciprocating saw came out and the wood decking went. Also gone was the existing tongue with the unknown-size hitch, replaced with a square tube and hitch I had from a previous project. After that, it was a quick drive over to Ohio Trailer Supply to ask them to relieve me of some money (~$100) in exchange for some 2" (5cm) angle-iron and 2" (5cm) c-channel steel. Procuring my own angle-grinder, I began the process of grinding down and/or brushing away the existing finish on the trailer. This went well until I realized I hadn't drawn out the dimensions I needed to make the trailer. Hmm.
| While I could have gone the traditional square route, I made the decision to contour the front of the trailer the same as the Hurricane. This would allow the hovercraft to pull into a pocket and center itself while also allowing me extra room to turn if needed. I would love to say this all went wonderfully easy but, yeah, not so much. The angles were the most difficult part as metal will contract when welded (ask me how I found this out). Still, after a few welds there, some retouching here, I created a rather fashionable front end...for a trailer at least. | 
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The rest of the assembly of the trailer was rather straight forward since only 90° angles were necessary to round it out. Something to note, however: flying sparks are hot. How hot? Well, after smelling something funny and looking down, I saw I was on fire. The last picture says it all. Please feel free to chant "Dumbass" along with me.
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