converting a kid's type trailer

[eric von zipper]

i'm not to sure where to post this but i figure that you car free peeps could help out. so i can get my hands on a trailer for a really cheap price $25... it is this one: http://www.instep.net/products/detail.php?id=132 and i was wondering how hard or is it possible to turn in to a utility trailer. i don't have kids. i've never been around one of these kid trailers so i'm not sure how they are constructed. any advice is appreciated.
thanks.

[attercoppe]

Looks like (from the specs) there is a child seat in it - shouldn't be too hard to rip it out! Even if you had to leave it in, there's supposed to be cargo room behind it, and if you're carrying something like groceries, they could go in and around it anyway.

Unless it's that cheap because it's in bad shape, buy it, and if it doesn't look like you can use it for cargo after all, surely you could sell it at a profit to someone who would use it to haul their kids. At $120 new, I'd think you could get at least $50 for it.

[Michel Gagnon]

I have one (Chariot) that I currently use for cargo. There are some limitations when you compare it to a cargo trailer (ex.: Burley Nomad), but they are not unsurmoutable, and since the price is right...

Limitations:

– The frame usually goes around the roof, so you can't remove the canvas completely at the top and use the trailer to carry a bulky item such as a bicycle.

– Loading heavy items (ex.: 40 kg of earth) is ackward because you have to sneak it through the front door.

- The front door is plastic, which is flexible until -5 or -10 C. It will definitely crack at -20 C.

- Since the doors weren't made to hold stuff, you might need to reinforce them if you carry a lot of stuff inside. I use 2 $ nylon straps for that purpose.

- It has a wider footprint and a larger frontal surface than the typical cargo trailer. In a headwind, you'll suffer a bit more.

All in all, it's a great concept to carry grocery or other items like that.

[Sir Lunch-a-lot]

When I was a young lad (maybe five years back...) I was in posession of a similar trailer. I don't know what material my mother had used to refurbish it, but I do recall hauling an engine block thingy in it (my friend and I were doing a "pod-racing" type deal, where we roped our two bikes to it, and we were like the engines, and the trailer was the pod, and we needed the extra weight in the back. If you've seen Star Wars I, you may know what I'm talking about. Even if you haven't... you may know what I'm talking about).

The point of this little anecdote is that these trailers (to the best of my knowledge) can handle a fair ammount of weight. Although, I suspect that either you or I would be heavier than that engine block if big human cargo is what you're after. For $25, I'd say go for it!

[legot73]

My neighbor has this exact trailer. I have a Burley version for my kids, and use it for lots of other things, as is.

Unlike the Chariot models, the top does come off this one completely. The two black dots you see along the top side are snaps, just like the ones on your pants as a kid. That holds the top in place and lets you vent the back/front without the cover coming off. You unsnap the top completely, disconnect a cross-bar at the top, then fold in the cross-bar and fold down the sides to store it.

The seats are attached to the cross-bar with webbing, and should be able to slide off. They might be secured with screw or two. The lower part of the seats are strapped to the frame with webbing. You can see the loops for the sling seat support in front of the wheel. You should be able to remove these without damaging the original design and get about 1.5 by 2 feet of floor space. The floor is just heavy nylon fabric, but it can support more than you'd think. Kids stand on it all the time at about 35lbs a piece. It's not flat, though. The front is lower to create foot space, and there's a drain hole there too (you know, for juice :))

As is, I've used my Burley version to haul kids & day gear, groceries and shopping, buckets of rocks from the beach (with kids=100+lbs). Mine is very stable and doesn't affect bike handling much at all, just extra weight climbing or braking.

This one is probably not going to be as light or refined as a Burley, but it is still very, very good and probably just as strong.

If you wanted to get nuts, I've had thoughts of taking off all the fabric and sidewalls and mounting a piece of plywood to the deck. The existing side panels should be attached at the bottom with standard nut/bolt hardware. From there, you could make removable side rails by bending some conduit from the hardware store and drilling bolt holes to match the side panel mounts. Rubbermaid lockable totes bolted, anything lashed w/ cargo straps, whatever. I'd figure about 150-200lbs tops.

If you wanted to get really nuts, you could bend new rails (or rebend the existing ones) and sew new side panels and top and make your own version of the Burley Nomad. This would reduce the drag, and could be done pretty cheap of you have the skills or access to them.

http://www.burley.com/products/trailers/defaultedbb.html?p=Nomad&i=5

For $25, I'd be all over that thing, and not to put my kids in, either.

[eric von zipper]

cool. thanks all for your input...i've decided to get the trailer, esp. for that price. groceries and light hauling is what i'll use it for...unless i can somehow strap my 9' surfboard to it!