Lighter than air TT

[Alistair Camelford]

Got back from a one day trip to Toronto and found a message on the answering machine.." This is Dave from the storage yard. We had some high winds last night and your trillium must have lifted off the axle stands and is tongue down on the ground." I zoomed across town at 9:30 pm and sure enough, the little 1300 had been moved back about four feet and had slipped off the four aluminum tripod stands! I could only find three at first and had visions of the fourth underneath and piercing the shell ...but I retrieved it from underneath the propane tank brace . No damage done but my learning curve moved up in a hurry! We had had 80 km/hr winds during the night and I guess I had not put enough trailer weight on the four stands...nor had I chocked the wheels! Well. they're chocked and blocked now and my little green machine is back on a level footing. Now if it survives the coming snow loads....Florida, here I come

[peterh]

[Roger H]

Alistair, the wheel chock is what will save you next time... and that's also a good reason to leave your tongue jack down. The stabilizer jacks are really only for stabilizing the trailer for use, not to take weight off the wheels for storage; and you're right... the more weight that's on them, the more likely you're going to have undercarriage damage next time it moves off of them.

Frankly, I think you're much better off leaving the trailer on it's tires and tongue jack and using chocks on the axle. That way the suspension has a fighting chance of allowing the trailer to rock on it's suspension rather than just blow over in high wind. Even small amounts of angle during rocking will relieve a significant amount of air pressure on the sides.

Roger

[Alistair Camelford]

Good points, Roger. I did leave the Toad in the tongue down position one winter. The rationale being the snow would slide off the roof (it didn't ) but the downside was that, up here in The Great White North, the tongue was buried in snow and frozen into the ground when I went to retrieve the Toad for its Florida trip. But yes, if one were to leave the tongue jack down, it would give a "belt and suspenders" safety range against future wind gusts. Just have to put a piece of plywood under the jack wheel to stop IT from freezing in place.
Ya "we get too soon old and too late smart!" Alistair

[Kurt & Ann K.]

And if all those ideas fail, you could always fill it part way with a mixture of anti-freeze and water to prevent it blowing away! Or less messy, how about a pair of concrete piers connected with a length of chain over each wheel instead of plastic or wood chocks? (where's a "thumbs-down" smilie when you need one?)

Kurt & Ann K.

[Pete Dumbleton]

Just get a pair of the screw-in ground anchors that they use to tie down the Park Models in trailer parks -- Screw them into the ground before moving the trailer into place and then tie the axle to them -- It won't blow sideways, front-back or tip over.

[Donna D.]

Thank goodness in the Trillium Travels...IT didn't run into anything! Your storage yard must be more spacious than the one where I stored my Scamp for a couple of years. I don't believe there was four feet of space between the RVs. We've joking talked about these lightweight molded fiberglass trailers floating...but don't think we've even discussed whether or not they'd fly. Your's must have been the first. Glad there was no damage done.

[Alistair Camelford]

Thanks for the responses,fellow eggers. One has to keep a perspective in all these things...the Toad didn't end up in"OZ' and it missed the twin Trill I am parked beside by a foot.
Interesting footnote: They assigned me a spot right beside a "twin" of my TT. This 1300 is pretty grungy and un-polished and gooped up with sealant eveywhere. (Mine is shining fro a fresh polish of 303!) Both rigs were bought at the local trailer park on the lake that served as a dealership for Trills.The grungy one was built in May 73...mine in June 73 . The only construction difference seems to be Mr. Grungy had four welded on stabilizer/outriggers and mine sits on those awful aluminum pyramids. (Now I do have a set of Honda Civic jacks that I use when travelling, but I didn't want to have THEM frozen in place on Jan.12...Florida lift-off date)
So go figger, it's like when I parked my new tug with only 1000 miles on it this spring and someone gave me my first door ding . Like my navigator says, "It's only "stuff"!"
Donna...how about five feet away? That's how close we are.
Pete...six inches of crushed limestone in the lot...no anchors goin' in there nohow
Kurt & Anne...still working on the antifreeze angle...think I'll save the Scottish antifreeze that is in the TT for those chilly nights around the campfire
Happy campin' folks...Alistair

[Kathy & Doug Roach]

Wow, that must have been a scary phone message to come home to. That must have been like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney World. I am glad that everything worked out ok and there was no damage.

The Pearl is happily sitting in the new driveway in Tennessee. She would be happy if the Toad stopped by for a visit sometime.

Kathy

[Alistair Camelford]

Hi Kathy, All is well You just might have the Toad up there in Tennessee on our return trip home from your old stompin' grounds. It'll be too durn frigid in mid -Jan to stop by...we got to get to the palm trees asap...but early April when we're headin' north...you never know . Take care...and howdy to you too Doug Alistair

[Andrew Gibbens]

peterh,

I'm sure you meant that photo as a joke, but you really should look at the Shorts Skyvan as this is a real airplane with much the same shape! It was variously known in Britain as the Flying Shoebox, the Flying Skip or 'the Leyland National* with a wing on top'.

Andrew

* A British transit bus