Bike trailer refurbishment and adaptations

In my post Bikes by boat I concluded that we are hoping to take two existing bikes. One is the Birdy folding bike, I've confirmed it's location below a big pile of "stuff". The other is Jane's Bish Bash Bosh which I've transformed so I can ride it as well (we just need to swap stem and saddle plus adjust saddle height to swap between us).

I had hoped I could use Jane's fancy unisex saddle but I found it horrendous 🤣 So I've moved my old Charge saddle over.

Today, I was able to focus on the trailer (Carry Freedom large Y-Frame), motivated by the arrival of a new hitch bracket suitable for the thru axle of the Bish Bash Bosh. I bought the version for eBikes which has a larger diameter axle hole. I didn't buy their custom thru axle as we already have a custom thru axle for the brilliant Tailfin carbon rack for panniers. At the moment I put on the original Tailfin version which doesn't support a rack top bag, I only have the newer version in alloy and I didn't find the rack top bag very convenient so it's not worth switching.

The Bish Bash Bosh had weird mounts in the back of the frame for mudguards and racks but one broke a while ago and now my epoxy repair of that also failed. However it isn't a big problem as we don't want mudguards because that will be too inconvenient when taking the wheels off to fit the bike inside the boat and dinghy. So we need to use the special Tailfin thru axle to be able to have the rack (which is ever so useful when not wanting to use the trailer for small loads or days out).

Anyway the new hitch bracket fitted (just).

I've had this trailer for years (I think more than 20 years). For a long time I've had a very useful and practical big plastic box with a lid (I used to be able to lock it on which was very handy when I used to visit multiple shops in the centre of Leicester).

This box is completely impractical for the boat as we need it to take very little space.

Anyway this all was a good reminder of the beauty of buying good quality, simple products that are easily serviced. I've stripped the trailer down and cleaned it. I've also removed the handle to make it easier to store flat.

This is a close up of the hitch bracket showing how tight everything is with the Tailfin leg.

Here is the trailer hitched on. Now I just need to sort out a way to carry shopping on it 🤣

I'm planning to make a simple plywood base from scraps. It will be about 900mm long by 600 wide. Roughly like this:

We are currently debating whether to make a "box" from fabric only or if we need some form of rigid but folding structure. We could make it very tall with a roll-top closure but we will need to find a way to make sure it doesn't bulge into the wheels. In my experience it is always better to have a much bigger box/bag than you think you will need as one day you will want to fit something huge in it.

Next step is going to be to take the bike and trailer to the boat to see if they will fit through the companionway.