Launch Cahoots with the CRAB Trailer!

Launch Cahoots With The CRAB Trailer!

Project 2024-01-29 14:50:29 +1300

Update - 11th March: We've got nearly one month to go and we're very close to smashing that $10,000 goal! So now we're going to be aspiration and aim for $20,000! Every dollar over our original goal will be split with half used to pay for labour to build the trailer and the other half going directly into the fund we use to do work for poorer folks. Thank you all for getting us this far and let's spread the word to get us to our aspirational goal of $20,000!

Kia ora! This is the crowdfunding campaign to launch Cahoots, the sliding scale, bike powered, queer & trans run, practical community resilience and repair collective, of Wellington, New Zealand. This PledgeMe will build the “Cahoots Revved and Braked” e-bike trailer, so Cahoots can do its important mahi all across the hills of Te Whanganui-A-Tara!

Cahoots brings extensive technical background to household fixing and building, using income-based pricing and a friendly, non-traditional handy ma’am to build a better quality of living accessible across communities in Wellington. 

But being biked powered in hilly Wellington requires extra juice to tow tools and materials around! So we’re building the “Cahoots Revved And Braked” e-bike trailer (the CRAB trailer!) to get Cahoots fully launched. You can read more about Cahoots and the CRAB trailer plans below.

Thanks so much for your support! 

The Problem

It’s hard to keep our homes dry, warm, and liveable in wet and windy Wellington! Household building and repairs are good and essential for everyone, but not everyone can afford them. Income inequality is increasing, and differences in housing is a “large contributor to inequity in New Zealand.” What a pickle!

The Solution

Cahoots is a radical, community-forward LGBTQIA+ handy ma’am not for profit that strives to be:

- Accessible: Our sliding scale subsidises work for less well-off folks by charging more well-off folks a higher rate*.

- Representative: We’re actively diversifying the tradie space, and we work behind the scenes to support emerging non-male tradies.

- Community-focussed: We create community ties across income divides through our values, pricing structure, and community projects.

- Sustainable: We action our beliefs in sustainability, starting with how we get around. E-bike power is low impact, connects us with our environment, and is nimble in the city.

*Our sliding scale works like this:

Maybe you’ve seen us around town? Hard to miss the big rainbow flag 🙂

The Ask

Cahoots built a standard (but pink!) bike trailer for towing building tools and materials with a cargo e-bike, but on Wellington’s steep hills, it just doesn’t cut it. There’s not enough juice in the cargo bike to get up hills, and Jade injured her arm using enough force to brake safely downhill.

So! We thought, why not put e-bike motors and brakes on the trailer itself, so the trailer can offset its extra weight and reduce the risks and challenges of towing? This idea has become the CRAB Trailer (Cahoots Revved and Braked), the e-bike trailer that gives the extra oomph Cahoots needs. 

Click the image (or here) for a full break-down of how the CRAB trailer is going to work!

The CRAB Trailer is a big deal- only a few motorized bike trailers have been built in the world, and we have the engineering, design, making, coding and electrical skills to make it happen. 

So far, we've designed and 3D modelled the trailer, secured suppliers (at a discount) of e-bike motors, brakes, and framing materials, and spoken with other experts. The $10,000 will all go to supplies. Anything raised beyond $10,000 will offset the 150 projected hours of labour that will go into the trailer.

Where will your pledge go? Here’s a budget breakdown:

All progress will be posted in update videos, with detailed plans released open source so bike-powered people all over the world can make their own. It’s the ultimate Cahoots project!

Rewards!

Who doesn’t love a little something with their giving? We’ve got lots to offer our pledgers. 

- Jade will be hosting two DIY workshops in Newtown for certain pledgers, one on making your own upcycled earring holder, the other on making your own palette patio furniture.

- We have an option for those just interested in nerding out on the build, with access to a group chat with special updates, Q+A’s, and lessons learned.

- We have options to purchase an hour of labour for a community services card customer, or, for locals, 2 hours of labour for your own house projects, along with your contribution to the CRAB trailer.

- We’ll be making a thank-you video where you’ll get a shout-out, you have the chance to get your name or logo on the CRAB trailer!

- Oh, and we’re gonna have a launch party in an Island Bay park, where big donors can catch a ride in the CRAB trailer! So jump in, there’s lots in it for you!

Cahoots in Action

What does Cahoots do? What doesn’t Cahoots do!? Cahoots does the work of improving homes, building community connections, working sustainably, and paying it forward. Want an example?

A house of queer, disabled Cahoots fans got their most accessible road access blocked off by a neighbor, shutting them off from work and community. When the landlords intervening didn’t get them access back, they started looking around for alternatives- and found a very, very steep bank.

Could someone get stairs through there, somehow? Cahoots said, absolutely!

The landlords were on board, and happy to pay the higher (subsidizing) rate, especially as Cahoots found a way to do it for much less than the landlords expected. Cahoots made a plan of attack, took a week, delivered in the timber, and constructed four beautiful flights of stairs through the trees. 

The residents and landlords were thrilled, the disabled residents regained road access from their home, the trees were minimally disturbed and the whole endeavor subsidized a future job repairing the leaking roof of someone less well-off. Everyone won! 

In Summary

Cahoots has already soft-launched to wild acclaim, and has a weeks-long waitlist of eager customers. Cahoots has been able to do some jobs with the current trailer, but not being able to accept jobs in hilly spots is a big problem in Wellington! Sustainability, and being bike-powered, is at the core of what we do. The CRAB Trailer will fully launch Cahoots, making repair and building work accessible to folks across Wellington. Thank you so much!

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