Another newbie from Maryland

[Kharn]

Hi everyone!

So my name's John, I've been out of the camping game for a few years thanks to college, job, house renovation, etc, but then someone shared pictures of his Weekender on another forum and I realized "Hey, I could do that!" I built all of the cabinets in my kitchen, so I think a camper on a pre-built trailer shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

I could probably get away with a Weekender, but I'm sure my girlfriend will demand a toilet if I want her to come along and my 80lb black lab is very likely to have some interesting things to say about the limited space (she's not allowed on furniture, so she'd have to stay in the SUV overnight). An Escape Hatch would be a lot more work, and more challenging as I do not have a garage to build it in, but might meet everyone's needs if I put in a gate to keep the dog away from the bed.

Has anyone built a Weekender on a 5x8' trailer? I noticed the trailer is only $100-150 more than the 4' and the general commentary seems to be everyone ends up going wider on their second build. I would be towing this with a 3/4 ton Suburban, so I think the 5' wouldn't cause much of a mpg drop over the 4' due to the slip-stream I generate. It seems like the biggest issue would be the extra seam in the roof (there is one roof panel that is 51x48" on the standard plans) and the large amount of wasted material if I used 4x8' MDO plywood, unless I wanted to order 5x8' sheets.

Unfortunately I'm busy until Labor Day so I won't be able to build anything this summer, hopefully I can have everything planned out and start next spring.

[Rlowell]

Hello John.

Was that on the Kreg Jig forum? Yes, that was my rig. She was built on a 4x8
trailer and was five feet wide to hold a queen size mattress. That was also my
goal to build something wide enough for three. We have a teenager that goes with us. You will find that there is very little waste in building the five wide as you will use the material for other parts of the build. Mine was built on a shoe string budget and I had a great time doing it.

Let me know if you have any questions that I can help with and welcome to the madness!!!!

Rod

[Kharn]

Sorry, it was a green Weekender, not a red one, but thanks for the welcome.

[stevem50]

hello from belair md (20 miles north of balto), there are a few of us with teardrops around my lil' town, if you are not too far away drop me a line-

[Rvankeur]

Welcome.

Our 60 pound German Shepherd has her own space when we camp...her crate in the back of the van. We leave the back door of the van open, and her crate door open, she spends most of her time either sitting next to us, or in the crate. Depending on the campground and the neighbors, she's rarely leashed while on site.

If you make the back of the SUV the dog's "den", they'll be happy to hang out there, leaving your lovely teardrop dog hair free.

[Kharn]

I think that's what we will end up doing with the dog, or getting a side tent and moving her crate from the truck to next to the camper. She's a bit of an idiot so we never let her roam off-leash, I'll have to put an eye bolt on the trailer frame somewhere so we can clip her 25' wire to it and let her have a little freedom.

I've started working on a cost estimate and figuring out what items are required, good-to-have, and would-be-nice. At least I have a ton of camping gear from my Boy Scout years so I can reuse most of that, and I may buy the trailer this fall as I could use a utility trailer at the moment so that would help spread the cost out a bunch.