Hi all,

I want to share some pictures of a project I just started working on: building a long trailer for my Quest. I know it's not as crazy as building your own velomobile but I need to start self-building with a project within my reach!

In https://kanthaus.online/en/" rel="nofollow - Kanthaus we do a lot of food waste prevention and that generally means picking up relatively large quantities of food that cannot be sold anymore. We generally do this using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_container" rel="nofollow - Euro containers , which are nicely foldable when empty and stackable when full.

These containers can be put on bike trailers, so far I have used the https://carryfreedom.com/the-y-trailer/" rel="nofollow - Carry Freedom Y-Frame , which is very nice but quite small, so containers end up stacked quite high up, which is not great for stability. And of course it's not very aero!

So my goal is to build a trailer that is both sturdy, light and specially adapted to transport euro containers. Its frame will be a ladder whose steps are designed to fit the dimensions of euro containers nicely. The trailer will not have any floor, which should make it a bit lighter. The frame will be built with aluminum profiles, screwed together using angle brackets (if I had the skills and tools I guess I would weld it, but it should still be reasonably lightweight like that). http://www.xyzcargo.com/" rel="nofollow - XYZ Cargo are a good source of inspiration for the project (check them out, they do recumbents too!).

I am reusing the Y-Frame's hitch system, which is rated for 90kg on the large version of the trailer. And wheels come from https://www.hinterher.com/" rel="nofollow - Hinterher . They make great trailers too, but if was to buy one of theirs with the same capacity, it would be about 1500€, which feels like a bit much!

I just got all the parts today (except the bolts), so I am excited to share some early pics:

Also we discovered that the alu profiles make for great kaleidoscopes…

I finally found someone who could weld aluminium (it was harder than I thought) and I am pretty happy with the result. After a tiny bit of grinding in the corners, the boxes fit perfectly in the frame:

My next step will probably be the fixation of the tow arm, which should roughly be positioned like this:

Does your Quest already have the reinforced body and hitch fitted?

The hitch is already there, not sure about the reinforced body (the hitch was already on it when I bought it second hand)… I am planning to open up the Quest at some point to do some fiberglass repairs at other places, so I was thinking I would check how it looks there on that occasion, and perhaps lay a few more layers there…

Of course I would be greatly relieved if you tell me that the hitch would not be fitted on an body without reinforcement :)

The use of the Euro Container F-KLT standard allows a great delivery platform for medieval towns and cities with their narrow streets. Currently delivery vans end up blocking both the pavements and the roads. A narrow and ultralight trailer looks like a very useful delivery platform when combined with a local consolidation hub.