Kansan Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 When I first joined my current corps, they where a parade and exhibition corps. We carried all of our battery and pit stuff on a trailer and the horns kept their horns with them. As we grew in size, we quickly out grew the trailer and eventually bought a truck to haul everything. Now, after our first competitive season, we are starting to outgrow the one truck. My suggestion is examining what EXACTLY you will be hauling. If its full battery, pit and guard stuff, then get a truck. I have seen competing corps use trailers but a truck will give you room to adapt. And as for storage of the truck, ask your membership often SOMEONE has a place they can put it for the off season. Hope this helps! Growing a corps is always a challenge. Yes, Growing a Corps is a real challenge. Our Board pretty much agrees we will have a small pit with around 3 mallet instruments at most. We may have Timps in the future and some toys but thats pretty much it as far as the Pit. If we get some battery players we will have those drums to haul. Oh, forgot we will be hauling a Poduim, not sure what size it will be yet as we have not build one. Anyway, This year we will haul at least 1 mallet keyboard 3 Octives, a small Battery (don't know how many drums as we only have one Drummer at the moment), We will have 2 Contras along with the rest of the line we expect 15 or so Brass Players. The Podium with take up some room and we will also have a Souvenire Booth. Our Trailer is too small for all of this but the Truck would have enough room for our Gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kansan Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 Pro's - you have a truck that can travel and hold all you need at the moment. Also makes a good billboard.Con's - expense and limitations of a truck. The truck can only hold 2 people. extra registration and insurance plus maintenance. also limits on capacity. being stranded either way you have to trust your equipment vehicle If I was starting from scratch - I would go with 20 ft. trailer minimum and make sure you have a truck capable of towing it. I have seen some other corps rent a 24 ft box truck. Renting vs owning may make more sense. but you may have storage needs. we were also fortunate to get a donated box truck from Heatwave and used it last year. We towed a borrowed 7 x 16 trailer with it as the pit equipment would not all fit in the truck. The truck had sat for awhile and I blew out 2 tires and 2 trailer tires on Rt 95 on the way to Manassa,Va. (long story). Ended up replacing all tires. All brass and most of the battery went on the bus. This year we used a Ford Van that holds 8 passengers and a 8x20 trailer. (borrowed - not owned). and all brass and most battery is under the bus. Personally I like that better as it's more comfortable and you can drop the trailer and have a support vehicle that can do errands at events. The box truck is mostly a storage vehicle right now but can be used if needed especially if we do local events and parades. If we lost the borrowed trailers we could buy or rent a trailer and tow with the box truck. Yes, I like the trailer and van Idea. We were talking about renting a panel van to haul our stuff long distance and pull the trailer if we needed it. The truck would come in handy for rehearsals. Instead of having to hook up the trailer we could just jump in the truck and go so to speak. Billboard: Yes that would be helpful in our local area as advertisement. Wouldn't mean much outside our recruiting area. The Kansas Registration cost may decide if we keep the truck or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigken Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Never own anything with an engine... Jay Morlot 2005 The best advice ever given to CV by a competing corps direstor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HBD Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Never own anything with an engine... Jay Morlot 2005The best advice ever given to CV by a competing corps direstor. Words to live by. The Bushwackers have had great luck using our 40ft trailer pulled by a large pickup truck. We have been renting heavy duty pick up trucks from United Rentals the past 4 years but in order to save more money this season, I have been pulling with my personal pick up that I use to move the trailer in the off season. Owning a trailer and renting is the best way for us to go, Monthly rental fees are REALLY more cost efficient than owning your own vehicle. A $1300 monthly fee which includes insurance and unlimited mileage for 3 months is WAY cheaper than maintaining a vehicle ( most likely used), insuring and registering for 12 months. Im glad the Corpsvets have had success with my cost saving idea. Jay Bush Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kansan Posted August 21, 2009 Author Share Posted August 21, 2009 Words to live by. The Bushwackers have had great luck using our 40ft trailer pulled by a large pickup truck. We have been renting heavy duty pick up trucks from United Rentals the past 4 years but in order to save more money this season, I have been pulling with my personal pick up that I use to move the trailer in the off season. Owning a trailer and renting is the best way for us to go, Monthly rental fees are REALLY more cost efficient than owning your own vehicle. A $1300 monthly fee which includes insurance and unlimited mileage for 3 months is WAY cheaper than maintaining a vehicle ( most likely used), insuring and registering for 12 months. Im glad the Corpsvets have had success with my cost saving idea. Jay Bush Your plan sounds like the best one for long distance for sure. Our money is tight so we would probably just rent a pickup on a show by show basis. The box truck would be easier to drive in congested down town areas we might be finding ourselves in next year for a couple more Parades and possibly a standstill or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grenadier eh Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 We have a Ford turbo diesel cube truck and a 21 foot featherlight trailer. We use the truck to tow the trailer as one unit. The trailer has electric brakes and works well with the truck. It does require that you screen folks and not let anyone behind the wheel. We maintain as you would your car and in Canada it requires an emmision test and safety every 2 years. The truck carries our battery stuff,guard and large bore brass. It also carries our scaffolding and podium along with uni stuff and heads etc.We sectioned everything off with 1/2 inch ply so everything has it's own custom space and is protected along with bungie cords that we buy by the pound!!!! The trailer carries the front pit ensemble and all the food and dry goods for the corps. We enjoy having the access of our own vehicle not to mention that it really helps with storage. We endeavour to keep any surplus stuff out of the vehicles to avoid clutter and maximize access. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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