Maybe an articulation in the tow bar that doesn’t have lateral movement but does allow vertical movement? Then it would be more like towing a car vs towing a trailer. It would rely on the eskate to absorb lateral force that way though
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Yes this is exactly what I was planning to do. Thanks for considering my point of view
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Fiona’s chariot has an ~5 foot lever to a handle from axle. If she, who weighs 55lbs, moves all the way forward, the handle maybe gains 10 lbs of weight in my hand.
The chariot handles best , by far, when she is centered over axle, and then the handle is almost weightless in my right hand. I can carve around islands at speed when she is in the right spot.
I love frontside turns, when i pull her up parallel with me, initiate the turn with the chariot and we take the corner nearly side by side in a stable 3 point turn.
She loves it.
I’ve carried 6 bags of heavy wet mulch in her chariot. Centering that load was simple dimple, and even when i took 3 bags from back, lifting the long lever handle was easy.
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Did you build that? It’s almost as beautiful as your dog
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I’ve given this some thought.
My Problem with Skatepacking/camping would be…
Finding trails to places I want to go that I can’t drive to, but that also has a trail I can ride. ( allowed to ride + is navigable with smallish wheels)
As well as achieving a range that I couldn’t just walk.
The trip I’m going on this summer, I’m hiking in 11 miles.
Ignoring the fact for a moment that its a wilderness area, now that I have some hours on my electric mountainboard I know I would only get ~4 miles on this terrain with my 363Wh before it won’t be able to do uphills.
So to make a similar trip in Esk8, I’d need ~2K Wh.
Maybe if I can get my Esk8 legally registered as a horse, they’ll let me destroy trails in wilderness areas with it… Worth thinking about.
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Yes i did not consider this at all, and that would definitely mitigate the issue i was thinking of.
I still have concerns about how that caster wheel will behave at speed…
Time will tell I suppose!
I did build it.
It is Still a work in progress, but has been fully functional for ~3k miles, but has evolved a lot since then.
We’ve rolled about 600 miles since Feb 18.
I dislocated my right shoukder in December, and that’s the arm I usually tow it with, remote in left.
It is about 26 lbs, and Fiona is 55, and it is really easy to tow. Lots of control. Stable
I like being able to throw the esk8 in there and walk through the parks that we just rolled to.
Keeps us sane.
I’m open to making changes! How would you go about this with my design goals in mind?
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Ditch the caster and lean on the mechanism bike kid and cargo trailers utilize with a spring.
Triangle is best angle. You need to be the 3rd point of contact though, not the caster.
If you need to detach the trailer and push it, maybe a fold up caster would help
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I want to put really heavy things in here and I really really don’t want to have to do any kind of load balancing. I want this to be able to be towed with a rope if necessary.
Am I mistaken in assuming that weight on the rear trucks is a bad thing for stability?
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Pig vs Dog trailer
Hauling weight on your boards rear trucks is inevitable.
Balancing your loads COG over the rear trailer axle is key
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Like Geoff briefly noted above, the weight experienced at the end of the lever becomes less the longer that the lever is.
I’d much sooner look at lengthening the lever arm and centering the axle under the load platform than add in that caster.
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Just from my perspective as a dog masquerading as a skater on the internet:
You’re not wrong but also the swing arm action of a trailer forces compromise. If the weight is too far back behind the pivot point on a trailer it creates feedback for oscillations, think tail whipping. So single axle trailers mitigate this by balancing the weight between forward and rear of the axle.
The caster doesn’t actually change the pivot point of the turning moment so when the caster pops up off the ground in a uphill or pot hole the very rear biased axle will put all the weight on the tow hitch, then when it regains contact it goes to zero. Any bounce will make this exactly what you don’t want plus instability.
With a flexible linkage with no lateral movement the trailer will put all the weight on the caster and lateral force will pull hard on the rear trucks making it difficult to steer and putting lots of stress (the entire leverage of the trailer length and weight) pushing on the rear trucks
If using a standard type of trailer connection with a pivot at the rear truck connection - the caster is going to create the 100% then 0% weight on the rear oscillating force as you move across the terrain. Exactly as you don’t want.
Im not saying your following along dog trailer won’t roll - im just saying the physics of towing a multi axle or single axle trailer imposes certain limitations. Like double dump trucks - to get around the limits of hauling big un balanced weight - the length of towing arm becomes ridiculously long to also be stable so they make them adjustable - go fast needs to be long. Go slow - can make it shorter. And that arm is mounted to keep the total weight balanced at 60/40 front biased to dampen oscillation at that - just look at the axle placement on double dumps (i love saying that btw 
) they are either centered to keep it pivoted or they have steering leading wheels locked to the tow bar direction
Maybe attach the tow bar to the caster?
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Well I’m convinced, I’m gonna do the pig trailer setup with a long arm. If it doesn’t work then a bunch of us get to be wrong together lol.
Will move the axle closer to the middle but biased to the rear a bit. Is that correct?
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The caster’s wheel, at speed, is going to resist responding to left and right turns with the gyroscope effect. I see it wanting to start hopping and overreacting when it lands.
The flexible tow bar turning the caster is an idea like far better than a passive caster.
I wish someone with a lot of Esk8 trailer towing experience were nearby to try towing Fiona’s chariot and compare.
The worst aspect is if i absolutely need my left hand and need to stick remote in my teeth and hub motor coast, while I scratch my balls.
If my phone pings or rings, fvck it, it can wait.
With a good tailwind, I’ve hit 28mph with it, and its stability is not a concern in the slightest, and I can emergency avoid an obstacle, using my arm to negate much of the motion the back truck experiences and no fear of throwing Fiona out or it going up on one wheel.
My trucks are as loose as the nylock nuts allow.
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Anyone stumbling across this thread, all you really need is the VX4 Spork Mod and a javelin. Game is plentiful.
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I finally remembered why I did this configuration and was so confident in it.
This isn’t me arguing I was right, but simply providing more examples of implementation. All I want is an esk8 trailer that works 
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Yeah but thats not a caster in the front of the trailer… it’s a bike fork tied on by the handlebars so its guiding that front wheel in line with the tether point.
Empirical data wins though, if it works for you and your needs.
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I think I may try to copy the fork up front then
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