So this summer the trusty HPE has served as a workhorse as well as vacation toy. Doing some construction work on our cottage I re-installed the tow bar the first owner put on it that the previous owner had removed. He considered it unfitting for such a sporting vehicle. Absolute tosh IMHO, the dual personality is one of the great things about it. Fortunateley he had not binned the irreplacable parts, only the electrics. So I pulled trailer of 1973 vintage loaded with cement sacks
I got lots of positive comments about the combo being used for a real task, no sour grapes whatsoever on the tow bar.
Now the salty season can happen any day so it has gone into hibernation waiting for next spring.