My old trailer was slowly falling apart, awkward to use, leaky. You name it. This spring it spontaneously decided not to fully open its brakes anymore. It was time for retirement.
I found a new one (well, a new used one) that used to be the home of an ASW 20. After a full weekend of remodelling the fittings, it was safe to drive the Libelle back to England.
Back home I continued working on it. It's all those little things that take forever. For example the ASW 20 has a large tail skid, while the Libelle has a small tail wheel. So I had to fabricate a new floor recess for it. My first attempt to make a mould using expanding foam failed miserably:
Instead, I went to the lathe and made a fresh mould in the size and shape of my tail wheel, epoxied a rim around the original recess in the trailer, and finally glued the two pieces together with lots of flox. Came out very nicely. I thought I had made a picture of the finished product, but I can't find it, so probably not. This is the tail wheel plug on the lathe:
The trailer still needs some work. I want to build a new ramp (the current one is crap), the outside needs a repaint, and the wingtips need new support blocks on the floor. But overall I'm very happy with it. It tows well, is mostly watertight, and fully insulated. Much much drier than the old one, even in rainy England.
