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I'm totally confused on why anybody would use a trailer without a side door to make car exit easy. Especially if like the car pictured it is a PDK and has buckets. Who is that skinny and flexible to get out of the window without scuffing the interior?
Winching a car in and out of a trailer is recommended over driving a car in and out of a trailer. With winching: 1) Total Control: You are in control of the speed at which it is being loaded or unloaded. You can stop at any time to address something else that is happening and then start again when ready. There's no chance of a foot slipping off the brake or clutch. 2) Total Visibility: You have total visibility with a remote control fob so that by walking around your car you can see its placement going up or down ramps and how centered it is in the trailer going in or coming out. It is easy to make adjustments by reaching in and adjusting the steering wheel. 3) Winching works whether or not the car is working. There are the rare situations where the car may not be running. It can still be loaded or unloaded easily with winching. 4) you don't need a driver's license to do it. You may have someone with you that you don't want inside your car driving it in or out of your trailer but you can keep an eye on someone else winching in or out your car without them having to know how to start/drive it.
A trailer with a door mid-ship either isn't as structurally sound as one that doesn't have that door or it weighs a lot more due to the additional structural framing, or both it weighs more and isn't as sound structurally. Then there's still the issue of clearing the wheel wells. Either a trailer with a side door has the trailer floor sitting above the wheels/tires to clear them which results in a high center of gravity and bad handling or the wheel fenders need to be removed which again causes structural questions.
Once a person starts winching in and out their vehicle it's very difficult to go back!
Winching a car in and out of a trailer is recommended over driving a car in and out of a trailer. With winching: 1) Total Control: You are in control of the speed at which it is being loaded or unloaded. You can stop at any time to address something else that is happening and then start again when ready. There's no chance of a foot slipping off the brake or clutch. 2) Total Visibility: You have total visibility with a remote control fob so that by walking around your car you can see its placement going up or down ramps and how centered it is in the trailer going in or coming out. It is easy to make adjustments by reaching in and adjusting the steering wheel. 3) Winching works whether or not the car is working. There are the rare situations where the car may not be running. It can still be loaded or unloaded easily with winching. 4) you don't need a driver's license to do it. You may have someone with you that you don't want inside your car driving it in or out of your trailer but you can keep an eye on someone else winching in or out your car without them having to know how to start/drive it.
A trailer with a door mid-ship either isn't as structurally sound as one that doesn't have that door or it weighs a lot more due to the additional structural framing, or both it weighs more and isn't as sound structurally. Then there's still the issue of clearing the wheel wells. Either a trailer with a side door has the trailer floor sitting above the wheels/tires to clear them which results in a high center of gravity and bad handling or the wheel fenders need to be removed which again causes structural questions.
Once a person starts winching in and out their vehicle it's very difficult to go back!
You have any videos of a slush box (PDK) car without an axle strap on what appears to be the sway bar? Any with an off centered tow hook? If after all of that the car still isn't pulled straight how do you back it out due to room limitations - video shows it awfully close to the raised fender wells on the passenger side. You don't show how much access room there is in the front, on your video, to tie the car down. Do you leave it in neutral?
Answering a couple of questions: 1) to winch a car out, you raise the jack at the front of the Aerovault so the front of the trailer is higher than the back (which also reduces ramp angle so we unload AND load with the trailer nose high). With the nose high, you just let "out" the winch and the car will roll out on its own with gravity. You can stop it at anytime by stopping the winch with the remote control fob. You are in control of how fast you want the car to unload. If you need to do a course correction with the angle just reach in the window and move the steering wheel.
2) yes, once the winch is attached to your vehicle and you have pulled up any slack in the cable with the remote control fob, you put your car in neutral to winch it in or out. Once its inside the trailer you tie down your vehicle and unhook the winch from the car or at least let the cable out some so there is no tension on the winch as you roll down the road. When ready to unload just hook the winch up, tighten the cable, untie your vehicle and then winch it out.
3) We don't have a video yet of winching in and out a PDK, just photos. On cars with the off center tow hook the vehicle can have a tendency to winch in at an angle but this is easily handled by pointing the tires slightly in the opposite direction as the vehicle enters the Aerovault. Course correction can be done at any time by reaching in the driver's window and moving the steering wheel. We've included some photos here that show the tow hook various ways people tie down their Porsches using the standard D-rings. Track is also available with over-the-wheel straps.
If that doesn't address all questions just let us know. More than half of Aerovault owners own Porsches so there's a large knowledgebase we can share.
Tow hook was used to winch GT3RS into Aerovault and then disconnected once RS was tied down.
As car was being winched in with remote control fob, Paul from Gaudin Porsche was making any necessary course corrections by turning steering wheel through window. Even though Paul walked into the Aerovault beside this GT3RS, at this point a car is normally on the right track and it needs no further guidance.
This 356SC is being winched into its Aerovault from the tow hook it has on its underside. Even though it would be easy to get in and out of this car when it's inside it's still best to winch it in.
An example of the storage room in front and on the sides of an Aerovault whose owner tows a GT3RS.
This is a huge, heavy Panamera AWD car being winched into an Aerovault (it lost its engine on a track so was lucky it had a way to be loaded that didn't require it to be drivable.
The Panamera was tied down in the front by putting straps through the wheels and then attaching rachet straps to those (the ratchet straps were wrapped because the owner pampers the Aerovault as much as the car).
The Panamera was tied down in the back by crossing the ratchet straps and then tying them down to the D rings in each corner.
We've been recommending Race Ramps to anyone with a car that has clearance issues with a standard ramp door setup. They're a great product and are high quality and lightweight.
ATC makes a great top-hinge escape door with removable wheel well that we also recommend to our custom trailer customers -- offers a ton of clearance with easy step out to the ground via an extruded aluminum step located between the axles.
07-13-2016, 06:31 PM
