pmason

Stupid basic questions for those with enclosed trailer. I'm looking at buying an enclosed trailer and have some basic questions.
Searched and read the tie down threads but haven't seen anything on the following.

How do you load your car, drive it in/out or winch it in/out or other?
If you drive your car in how do you get out? Is there enough room in a 8ft wide trailer to open the door?

What is the minimal length that would hold a 911? 16ft, 18ft,...

Thanks,

VERBOTN

I am a big believer in using a winch. They are not very expensive and far cheaper than a clutch. They can also be nice if you have a failure and have no power etc. Trailer size is dictated more on what you’re pulling with rather than what you are putting in. I would not recommend anything smaller than 20-24.

Tons of trailer posts on the board my short story is: had steel, then had 24' featherlite enclosed which was stollen (ouch), now have 30' and wish I purchased 45' goose.

Gary R.

24' V-Nose Thule, pull it in and get out. I have a spot marked which gives me about 500LB tongue weight.

ltc

Driver's side escape door in trailer...makes ingress/egress VERY easy.
Drive in, back out.

Tie downs courtesy of Autometric chassis tie down hooks.

smlporsche

Probably 90% of guys just drive it in. The rest winch it.

pmason

So if most drive the car in, how do you get in/out of the car?
If you don't have the side escape door do you get out the door or window?

RickBetterley

Like Gary said (mine is a 20' trailer plus the 4' v-nose).
I climb out the drivers door. An escape door in the trailer would be real nice.

KOAN

I drive in and have an escape door in a small enclosed Trailex. A winch is still good to have, as stated above, just in case.

banzaisan

I have a 24' ATC which I had the floor raised so I can open the door over the wheel wells. The door doesn't open wide but wide enough to get in and out.

Gary R.

My door opens about 12-15" which gives me enough room to get in/out.

Bob Rouleau

Winch is the most convenient even with an escape door. With a race car and a racing clutch, a winch is double worth it. In any case when youo winch it in you can watch to see that nothing scrapes or gets bent. That's very hard to do in a race car if you have a modern seat with full head protection.

NaroEscape

I used to just climb out of the window.... tough to do in a 914 with roll cage, race seats, etc, but you make it work.
Oh, and I drove it in.

Greg Smith

Drive in and dukes of hazzard it out.

Tom W

Winch in and out while standing at the back and watching for clearance. My car has a race clutch and with a halo seat it's hard to crawl out the window. Why make life difficult when the winch makes it easy? I'd guess it cost more to add an escape door than it is to put in a good winch.

I have a 24' TPD. Most guys I know that originally buy a smaller one end up wanting something bigger. It comes down to the weight you can pull and the parking you have for it between events (in addition to price).

Brinkley

minimum size is never good to shoot for. I had a tow vehicle limitation and determined the min size was 24 feet, which gave you enough room for tool, jack, etc. So I got a bigger truck. A truck that would not limit me on trailer size. So I got a 40' gooseneck and love it.