Carlisle, Here we come!

YaHOO!
After having many 'discussions' about the LONG drive down to PA and the safety factor of having our little Speedy on the highway next to monster trucks etc., Marc and I have reached a wonderful compromise! We are now the proud owners of a Mission trailer! It was made in Maine, all aluminium (2200lbs is all!), 18 ft long, has some great cabinets built into the bullet "V" in the front, & it's BRIGHT RED! (I picked the color!)
So no excuses for 2011! Carlisle, here we come!

That's GREAT!
So you'll be towing the Land Rover inside the trailer with a hitch on the Speedy, then?
Good for you!

Sweeeeeet!!! See you there.

Susan--great news--the more the merrier and it will be just that much better with y'all there!

O.K.! NOW we got us a party!!

Wow! I love this soooooo much. See you there next May.

Susie,
Super nice trailer for sure~
2,200lb. and the 1,600lb is 3,800 lbs. I have a lot of trailering experience as well as selling them.
Most important...Please check the GVW and tow rating for the Land Cruiser....if it is compatible I strongly suggest a tow stabilizer bar that gets affixed between the tow vehicle and the trailer frame to minimize sway which, can be nerve racking to say the least. Looking forward to seeing you both at Carlisle ! ~Alan

Nice rig. Check in with our boy in the TD club, Rich Wobby. He drove a camper down from NH this year with a tow bar for his Allison/MG. Maybe you could convoy.

You mean you guyz would let me trailer my speedy?

Hot damn!

I was just talking with local Speedy Loco Bob and he was insistent that we go to Carlisle. My back started hurting immediately. But if I were to put the speedy in the trailer... Bingo! Transport made easy (less fun but easier on the whole fam).

This could be a plan.

Move that Rover over please, the Big Ram needs room. :)

A great big question...Will Merlot be ready in time for Carlisle?

Let's hope so!

Susie's - FWIW, I'm pretty sure the towing capacity of your LR Disco (which probably also has Traction Control) is as follows;

Trailers without brakes = 1,650 lbs

Trailers with brakes;
High Range (on-road) = 5,500lbs
High Range (off-road) = 2,200lbs

Low Range (on-road) = 7,700lbs
Low Range (off-road) = 2,200lbs

Max Tongue weight = 550lbs

Hauling that trailer is well within your Disco's towing capacity. On another note, I'm guessing Marc already knows all this!

...and the Merklinator is right about that towing stabilizer bar!

Cool Trailer (and color)!

Bring on the infamous Carlisle weekend rain --- we now have a mobile party room!

Great Susie. We'll look forward to seeing you in May!

Drive 'em, trailer 'em, tow 'em but get them there somehow !!!

Ha! I was think'n the same thing ! ~Alan

Yep, Marc has checked out all the specs for towing. Probably getting improved shocks for the Disco ~ and will definately need extention mirrors to see the end of the trailer!

Right now, I'm in search of a cover for it. The New England winters can do wonders for things left outside. I've found several, but they are all made for a "flat front" trailer ~ or "TOY HAULER". I can't find anything for something with the "V" front.
Any suggestions?

Just get a wicked big blue tarp at Home Depot, flop in on and tie it down.

My hauler is open, but I've got a clear film on the front of the Speedie and haven't gotten a stone ding or anything in 8 years.

gn

Susie - maybe get a flat-front cover that fit the dimensions of your trailer then take it to a Sail-maker in your area to tailor the front to a V-fit. Check listings in your area for West Marine or some similar marine supply store that could point you to a sailmaker.

Also, since that cover will basically be some type of cloth fabric, a regular seamstress would be able to sew that modification for you (once you pin-up the cover where you need the alteration).

...I'm just saying...

I'm kind of "frugal" so I used a large, good quality tarp to cover my sailboat for the Winter and it would usually last for 4 years, depending on the amount of wind we got. I think even an expensive cover would eventually get shredded in about the same amount of time given the type of weather you have in the Winter. The tarps have lots of grommets for bungie cords to keep it from flapping which is what kills it. You can also get it "shrink wrapped" as many of the boat owners do around here. If you remove it carefully you can use it again.
That is a really nice trailer. See you in Carlisle.

You could always see a boat shrink-wrap guy, and seal it up for the winter. Then come spring, cut it off and throw it away!

BTW, good news on you guys making Carlisle!

Thanks for all the suggestions! Who knows what we'll end up doing, as far as a cover goes. I'm just happy to finally have a trailer! See you all in PA!

So why do you want to cover a closed tailer?

Just curious....

gn

If you get one of those fancy tailored covers for it you'll want to protect that with the tarp.

:)

Then maybe put the whole rig on one of those portable insta-garages.

;)

OK, I'm laughing! But stop ~ you're giving Marc ideas!
Honestly, I just want the bright red to STAY bright red for a little while!
We put the "snow stakes" up yesterday. It's going to be a rough winter if you can go by all the acorns that fell!

Well, OF COURSE it's gonna be a rough winter.

You live in "Snow-Hampshire", don'cha? Where you get a foot a week or something like that, right? Where, after January, you have to dig UP to get OUT! Where people go for groceries using their cross country skiis! Where, "I'm going out for a sixpack" means he'll be back in a couple of days after being snowed in at the convenience store. Where L.L. Bean is not just a store, it's a way of life!

Ah, Wilderness! (that's an old movie, that was filmed in Grafton, Mass.)

Saturday, we went for a tour of several of the old plantations and one Abby up on the Ashley River near Lane's Estate (actually, his gated community is built on a former cotton plantation, I think). The weather here in the Low Country is like the first of October in Massachusetts; upper 60's during the day, swamp maples and Hickory trees are just turning brilliant reds and yellows and the restored plantation homes were beyond beautiful. Even saw the ruins of an old rice mill at the Cedar Hill Plantation - steam driven, dating from the early 1800's.

Looks like SOC folks are still touring all over America!

Oh, and Suzie - on the trailer.....All that winter-over gook that gets on your trailer? Power wash it with some outdoor bleach mix and it'll look like new.

gn

Gordo, you need to study your lowcountry geography. THe plantations (excluding Boone Hall) are on the Ashley, but he place where Dunes West was built is off the Wando. Completely different sides of Charleston.

Either way, if I had known you were so close, I could have met you for lunch or something.

Estate, my butt. We have the smallest, cheapest house inside the gates. Been a real good investment considering what the market has done to some folks. Just got the refinance appraisal back and it was right where I'd hoped.

Woops - Sorry for the thread shift.

Lane, what thread drift? SOP around here. Glad you got good news on a re-fi. I did mine two years ago, and it's lower now which is hard to believe, but not low enough to do it again. It would have to go down to about 3% for me to pull the trigger.

Gordon, I've been driving my Spyder all weekend, Friday through today. Last night, I did put the top on, it was 40 F and a bit breezy on the way home. Turned on the heater and left out the driver's side curtain, toasty! Had the earplugs in, I need to take a sound reading, that is SO loud in there! I wonder if a blanket on the rear deck would kill some of the noise, I'll have to try that.