Moving a partially built Aeroplane from Auckland to Wellington

Forums › Travel (planes, train, cruise) › Moving a partially built Aeroplane from Auckland to Wellington

graemeh

2080 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 226

#175129 18-Jun-2015 13:35

I have a fibreglass kit plane (Europa XS Trigear) that I need to move from Auckland to Wellington some time in the next six weeks. The plane is not finished yet so it is still in a number of rather large pieces.

The two largest parts are:

4.5m long fuselage
4.65m long wings

I'm reluctant to trust this to a freight company and sending in a shipping container appears to be prohibitively expensive at around $1500 for KiwiRail to move the container from their Auckland depot to Wellington depot.

The options I've looked at are:

Enclosed trailer
Small truck

Unfortunately I can't find anyone hiring large enough trailers and if I go down the small truck route it looks like I'll need a class 2/truck license as the smallest trucks are not long enough.

I'd appreciate any suggestions on other options along with places that might have a suitable hire trailer.

1 | 2

4631 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1327273 18-Jun-2015 13:37

What about the insurance for these items if you were to take this on trailer/small truck?

I assume $1500 includes insurance? I personally think that is the best option.

graemeh

2080 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 226

#1327276 18-Jun-2015 13:41

Thanks for the suggestions.

I would not insure them if I was carrying them myself. Any damage that might occur when I'm doing the move myself is likely to be cosmetic or minor and as I've got to finish building the plane I could just fix it myself.

The $1500 is unlikely to include anything other than moving the box from Auckland to Wellington. On top of this you need a swing lift or similar in Auckland and Wellington to get you to and from the depot and also container hire.

I haven't looked in to the costs but I think it could easily be $2500+ which is uneconomic when moving a $10k kit.

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1041

Trusted

Vocus

#1327304 18-Jun-2015 13:54

Why not finish the plane and fly it down ;)

graemeh

2080 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 226

#1327320 18-Jun-2015 14:04

ubergeeknz: Why not finish the plane and fly it down ;)

You sound like my wife - although her suggestion was more along the lines of move to Auckland to build the plane and don't come back!

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1041

Trusted

Vocus

#1327323 18-Jun-2015 14:07

graemeh:
ubergeeknz: Why not finish the plane and fly it down ;)

You sound like my wife - although her suggestion was more along the lines of move to Auckland to build the plane and don't come back!

Sounds like you have solved your problem!

jim.cox

224 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 17

#1327324 18-Jun-2015 14:08

There is plenty of experience in the gliding community at moving aircraft in trailers - maybe try contacting your local club - gliding.co.nz is a good place to start.

If you cant borrow an open glider trailer, I'd suggest using a large tandem car trailer - should be big enough. You will need to build a cradle for the fuselage, and some braces for holding the wings.

Just my $0.02

=mjc=
.

Lego

Shop now for Lego sets and other gifts (affiliate link).

graemeh

2080 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 226

#1327341 18-Jun-2015 14:19

jim.cox: There is plenty of experience in the gliding community at moving aircraft in trailers - maybe try contacting your local club - gliding.co.nz is a good place to start.

If you cant borrow an open glider trailer, I'd suggest using a large tandem car trailer - should be big enough. You will need to build a cradle for the fuselage, and some braces for holding the wings.

Thanks, I might go down that track. Unfortunately the fuselage is still in two pieces so I am reluctant to use an open trailer due to the risk of damage as the parts are a bit delicate until joined together.

The bottom half of the fuselage and the wings are both in cradles.

I may just have to learn how to drive a truck.

wally22

504 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 128

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1327352 18-Jun-2015 14:27

I'll drive the truck for you, for the hell of it!

gzt

18678 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7809

Lifetime subscriber

#1327359 18-Jun-2015 14:33

Imho you want a small cartage company that can give you personal service (maybe on an hourly basis) with you riding in the truck. Or hire the truck and hire a driver from somewhere should be easy as.

graemeh

2080 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 226

#1327398 18-Jun-2015 15:21

wally22: I'll drive the truck for you, for the hell of it!

Thanks Wally, I've replied to your message and this sounds like a great suggestion.

cisconz

cisconz
1348 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 179

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1327400 18-Jun-2015 15:24

graemeh:
jim.cox: There is plenty of experience in the gliding community at moving aircraft in trailers - maybe try contacting your local club - gliding.co.nz is a good place to start.

If you cant borrow an open glider trailer, I'd suggest using a large tandem car trailer - should be big enough. You will need to build a cradle for the fuselage, and some braces for holding the wings.

Thanks, I might go down that track. Unfortunately the fuselage is still in two pieces so I am reluctant to use an open trailer due to the risk of damage as the parts are a bit delicate until joined together.

The bottom half of the fuselage and the wings are both in cradles.

I may just have to learn how to drive a truck.

Hiring the truck will be about $1500 anyway by the time you take into account paying for diesel km's.

In saying that, I wouldn't mind driving for a weekend

Hmmmm

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

graemeh

2080 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 226

#1327405 18-Jun-2015 15:33

cisconz:
graemeh:
jim.cox: There is plenty of experience in the gliding community at moving aircraft in trailers - maybe try contacting your local club - gliding.co.nz is a good place to start.

If you cant borrow an open glider trailer, I'd suggest using a large tandem car trailer - should be big enough. You will need to build a cradle for the fuselage, and some braces for holding the wings.

Thanks, I might go down that track. Unfortunately the fuselage is still in two pieces so I am reluctant to use an open trailer due to the risk of damage as the parts are a bit delicate until joined together.

The bottom half of the fuselage and the wings are both in cradles.

I may just have to learn how to drive a truck.

Hiring the truck will be about $1500 anyway by the time you take into account paying for diesel km's.

In saying that, I wouldn't mind driving for a weekend

So much cheaper than a shipping container then and I'd know that the driver drive like an angel

and not a bank robber

kingjj

1730 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 450

ID Verified

Trusted

#1327462 18-Jun-2015 18:01

I wish my life was interesting enough to have this sort of problem

Good luck

RunningMan

9184 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4834

#1327526 18-Jun-2015 20:32

The length doesn't look that long, when compared to a car, so what about an enclosed car trailer? You see plenty around for motorsport use and so on - maybe ask on a car forum if you could borrow one?

Batman

Mad Scientist
30012 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6217

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1327557 18-Jun-2015 21:56

Strap it to the roof of a wagon? I've seen it done before on their internet.

1 | 2