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Hauling Wings In Trailers

DanH

DanH

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Old Faithful, my trusty red trailer, has been everywhere from California to New Jersey, Lake Erie to Florida. Probably hauled 50 or 60 different airplanes, maybe more. Typically one wing goes in the belly, then I deck across so the other wing rides at the upper level.

IMG_20220911_101607886_HDR 600w.jpg

A few years ago I added a 25 ft gooseneck, which is nice, but it's still an open trailer. With an open trailer the hassle is hauling incomplete projects and kits. It can rapidly start looking like the opening footage from the Beverly Hillbillies. Plus there are some parts which are almost impossible to haul in the open, like a floppy tailcone.

IMG_20250904_184056550_HDR 600w.jpg

So, I picked up an enclosed trailer, which I'm in the process of outfitting.

Enclosed Trailer.jpg

I'd like to haul wings upright, against the walls, and I've been kicking around various combinations of hardware, slings, racks, etc. Does anyone have photos taken at delivery of factory QB wings? No point in re-inventing the wheel.

All ideas are welcome. What have you seen?
 
I didn't take photos but my wings where slung/strapped to the ribbed padding strips on the trailer walls. They survived the trip from CA to FL with no visible wear/marks.
 
Here's what I did. The fuselage rode separately in a friend's 20ft trailer. But we were only going 25 miles or so.
PXL_20250127_174357298.jpg
 
DanH said:
Old Faithful, my trusty red trailer, has been everywhere from California to New Jersey, Lake Erie to Florida. Probably hauled 50 or 60 different airplanes, maybe more. Typically one wing goes in the belly, then I deck across so the other wing rides at the upper level.

View attachment 107351

A few years ago I added a 25 ft gooseneck, which is nice, but it's still an open trailer. With an open trailer the hassle is hauling incomplete projects and kits. It can rapidly start looking like the opening footage from the Beverly Hillbillies. Plus there are some parts which are almost impossible to haul in the open, like a floppy tailcone.

View attachment 107353

So, I picked up an enclosed trailer, which I'm in the process of outfitting.

View attachment 107356

I'd like to haul wings upright, against the walls, and I've been kicking around various combinations of hardware, slings, racks, etc. Does anyone have photos taken at delivery of factory QB wings? No point in re-inventing the wheel.
Click to expand...
QB delivery 2021
There were several deliveries in there. My wings were just removed and were hanging by the green straps. There might have been some little j hooks involved. Dunno… seemed awkward but they were fine.
 

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DanH said:
Old Faithful, my trusty red trailer, has been everywhere from California to New Jersey, Lake Erie to Florida. Probably hauled 50 or 60 different airplanes, maybe more. Typically one wing goes in the belly, then I deck across so the other wing rides at the upper level.

View attachment 107351

A few years ago I added a 25 ft gooseneck, which is nice, but it's still an open trailer. With an open trailer the hassle is hauling incomplete projects and kits. It can rapidly start looking like the opening footage from the Beverly Hillbillies. Plus there are some parts which are almost impossible to haul in the open, like a floppy tailcone.

View attachment 107353

So, I picked up an enclosed trailer, which I'm in the process of outfitting.

View attachment 107356

I'd like to haul wings upright, against the walls, and I've been kicking around various combinations of hardware, slings, racks, etc. Does anyone have photos taken at delivery of factory QB wings? No point in re-inventing the wheel.

All ideas are welcome. What have you seen?
Click to expand...
I have hauled my wings both in a open trailer, much like your picture (after the paint) which took 10 years off from my life expectancy and also in a U-Haul truck. No picture available but In the U-Haul truck is easiest and safest as it has rails attached to the wall. I put a layer of blankets on the floor and leaned the wings against the wall, attached with the straps to those rails. Long distance travel and they did not move the slightest or any sign of damage.
 
You can see my wings toward the front of the trailer. They were suspended by the straps on the wall. Not touching the floor. The straps and wall attachments were the same as the ones you can see better near the door, near as I can remember anyway.
 

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Dan: I'd suggest setting several runs of E-Track at various levels down the sides. There are a ton of ways and things that will lock in to them and help secure or hang loads, including cargo bars that can be used as the base for laying wings flat, or covering with plywood to create a temporary deck. E-Tracks in the floor for tidedowns as well.
 
DanH said:
Old Faithful, my trusty red trailer, has been everywhere from California to New Jersey, Lake Erie to Florida. Probably hauled 50 or 60 different airplanes, maybe more. Typically one wing goes in the belly, then I deck across so the other wing rides at the upper level.

View attachment 107351

A few years ago I added a 25 ft gooseneck, which is nice, but it's still an open trailer. With an open trailer the hassle is hauling incomplete projects and kits. It can rapidly start looking like the opening footage from the Beverly Hillbillies. Plus there are some parts which are almost impossible to haul in the open, like a floppy tailcone.

View attachment 107353

So, I picked up an enclosed trailer, which I'm in the process of outfitting.

View attachment 107356

I'd like to haul wings upright, against the walls, and I've been kicking around various combinations of hardware, slings, racks, etc. Does anyone have photos taken at delivery of factory QB wings? No point in re-inventing the wheel.

All ideas are welcome. What have you seen?
Click to expand...
DanH,
It looks like a caboose.
Daddyman58
 
When my RV-8 QB was delivered by Partain, it was loaded just like that pictured by NLPete. Straps on the side walls formed slings. There were three QB kits in that trailer, very efficient system.

When I moved the wood wings for the Hatz Classic in a U-Haul, I made cradles from 3/4 plywood and 2x4s. I covered the contoured cradle edges with the black foam tubes that keep your pipes from freezing for padding. Those cradles were screwed to a grid of 2x4s that locked into the corners of the cargo box to keep things from shifting around. (You can't really go screwing things down to the aluminum floor of a rented box truck!) All the other project components were screwed down to that grid with conduit U-clamps. Everything made the trip with no damage.
 
Thanks for the input folks. Rest of the story....

This trailer is 7'-6" inside height. I installed 2x2 padded rails on the walls, then hard point rings in the top of trailer frame, with spring snaps and endless loop slings. Additional hard point rings were installed in the walls below the bottom of the slings. A wing with a chord of up to 6 feet can hang in the slings and be held tightly to the wall rails with two ratchet straps. Same, only smaller, for tailplane horizontals. Seems to work well.

IMG_20260123_130830132 600w.jpg

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IMG_20260129_153842203_HDR 800w.jpg
 
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