Thoughts on the weekender

[les45]

After three years of lurking, discussing, building, camping, and mentoring on the Forum, I have come to the conclusion that the weekender is the "black sheep" of the teardrop world, especially among the roundy purists. After building one, however, I am convinced that the weekender is just as much fun to build, use, own, and share as any other style. I chose the weekender because I just didn't want to deal with bending wood and suffering with those large curved hatches. I actually "stole" the idea from Mike's early prototype. I am not a teardrop purist and I'm sure that other hobbies will take up my future interests while I continue to camp in my weekender. While I still have the interest, I thought I would jot down some thoughts on my experiences in building the "Super Bee".

1. General - as I said above, the weekender is a lot easier to build with all flat surfaces. No bending of wood or complicated hatch construction. The beveled ends allow you to add a foot or more on each end without having to extend the trailer frame or floor. My cabin is 5X10 and the extra space really comes in handy.
2. Trailer - if you have read my posts, you know that I am a big fan of the Northern Tool 5X8 channel frame trailer. For the money, you can't beat the value of this trailer and mine has proven to be very strong and reliable. The only change I made to mine was upgrading wheels and tires (see below).
3. Weight - I am an engineer by trade so I tend to overbuild and add lots of safety factor. With its higher GVW (nearly 2,000 lbs), the NT trailer was perfect for my heavier build with 3/4" plywood sidewalls, 1/4" skins, and heavier framing throughout. I'm just not a foamy fan.
4. Hatch - you will notice in the pictures below that I used a two piece hatch (I call the bottom piece a tailgate). This makes for a very light hatch that only needs a very basic support system. It was also very easy to seal and is absolutely watertight. It allows easier access to the counter space and cabinets. The only downside is that the ice chests, camp stove, and other gear is stored under the two piece counter and must be removed when camping. Most of these items are left out while camping except anything containing food which gets stored in the TV at night.
5. Doors - manufactured doors really look good on the weekender although I would agree that homemade doors look better on the traditional TD's. I just think that the manufactured doors give the weekender a more professional look.
6. Battery - if you decide to use a battery system, I highly recommend a simple battery box on the tongue. It provides the tongue weight you need for a stable ride and eliminates the problem of dealing with venting in a closed compartment inside the cabin.
7. Tires - I have never had a problem with the stock 12" trailer tires that come on the NT trailer (I've had them on my old HF utility trailer for years), but I decided to upgrade to 13" passenger car tires for the added peace of mind and smoother ride. My weekender was really bouncy with the stock tires and the larger, softer tires have eliminated all that.
8. Fantastic Fan - I'm a fair weather camper so I don't need an AC unit. The Fantastic Fan is perfect for ventilation on warm days and, in my opinion, the Ultra Breeze cover looks great with the lines of the weekender (it doesn't really go with a traditional look, but it is easily removed). My main purpose in using the Ultra Breeze is to keep ventilation during a heavy rain and on those really cold nights to avoid the loss of ventilation in the very tight cabin.
9. Progressive Dynamics Converter - if you decide to go with an AC/DC system, this is the way to go. It is a very reliable unit that keeps your battery charged while providing easy distribution of all your AC and DC power.
10. Trailer Wiring - I highly recommend running your trailer wiring inside conduit and, preferably inside the cabin. It makes the wiring look a lot neater and provides easier access for future work or maintenance. Also, I would run a dedicated ground to every light and fixture. Don't rely on the trailer frame for grounding.

I'm just throwing these thoughts out there for anyone who might be thinking about a new build. If you want to see details of my build you can go to my build journal at: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=49333&hilit=les45

Here are a few pics of the final build:

[rowerwet]

The weekender is the design best recommended to someone who wants to camp now! or has minimal building skills. In spite of the squareness it is enough of a teardrop for anybody to recognize the idea. It would also be a great design to build as a foamie, since curving foam is even more of a headache than curving plywood.
Mike had the right idea with this one, a simple design, able to be built quickly, with most sections being prefabbed. Great for winter builds in a small work space!
With a little bit of work you could make the front rounded later on using foam or plywood, though not really worth the effort (for those purists)

[les45]

The weekender is the design best recommended to someone who wants to camp now! or has minimal building skills. In spite of the squareness it is enough of a teardrop for anybody to recognize the idea. It would also be a great design to build as a foamie, since curving foam is even more of a headache than curving plywood.
Mike had the right idea with this one, a simple design, able to be built quickly, with most sections being prefabbed. Great for winter builds in a small work space!
With a little bit of work you could make the front rounded later on using foam or plywood, though not really worth the effort (for those purists)

I might add that, if built properly, the weekender can take nearly as long to build as any other TD. It can't be built in a weekend as some thought the name originally meant. I am retired and was able to spend a lot of time on my build and it still took over six months to complete.

[working on it]

The weekender is the design best recommended to someone who wants to camp now! or has minimal building skills. In spite of the squareness it is enough of a teardrop for anybody to recognize the idea. It would also be a great design to build as a foamie, since curving foam is even more of a headache than curving plywood.
Mike had the right idea with this one, a simple design, able to be built quickly, with most sections being prefabbed. Great for winter builds in a small work space!
With a little bit of work you could make the front rounded later on using foam or plywood, though not really worth the effort (for those purists)

I might add that, if built properly, the weekender can take nearly as long to build as any other TD. It can't be built in a weekend as some thought the name originally meant. I am retired and was able to spend a lot of time on my build and it still took over six months to complete.

I considered the Weekender design, for strength and "avoiding curved hatches" (which seem to plaque most new builders), and for the simple straight-forward functionality. But, as I planned to build a 4x8 on a smaller trailer base, I modified a "simple" instead. And it still took 2 years of interminably intermittent building to complete. My next build will be more along the lines of a weekender, like les45's (not the "shuttle" or "ironclad" concepts I had, but more reasonable!). Might include foam inside, but not structurally, and not curved just for form. Again, "teardrop" in spirit only.

[PKCSPT]

Ahhhh do not despair, my daughter and I are toying with the idea of building a weekender in foam,,,
Your Super Bee inspires me. We just haven't decided if we can overcome the one reason I bought premade, impatience, to do it right and finish it. We would probably maybe skip the galley to simplify it but would have to have two doors.
Preparing the frame and attaching the body to the frame is where I tend to question my patience.

[rowerwet]

campable in a weekend? possibly, finished? nah. to even have it assembled in one weekend would take days of pre-fab prep work. the hull is one thing, all the little details, latches, hinges, wiring, lights, doors, drawers, take as much time as the hull.
I built my tear in a few weeks of marathon building sessions, and started sleeping in it before it even had windows. I had to add the door hinge after work the first night I stayed in it, before that my door was held on with screws. My wiring was an extension cord and a power strip. Not the way anybody else does that I've known of.

[LWW]

I built my Weekender a couple years ago and it only took me a couple weeks to get it to where I can camp in it. I'm not as anal retentive as a lot of people but I think my camper will do anything I want it to do, in fact I've used it several times as a place to stay for a week at a time while working on boats. I didn't even put a galley in mine until this past fall. I used a cabinet out of a boat I stripped and recycled some wood from another boat. That's the nice thing about Mikes Weekender, you can use it quick and for anyplace or time.Larry

[tony.latham]

Great looking trailer! That thing looks like it need to get outa the campground and head for the boondocks.

What's it weigh?

Tony

[Chuckles]

Squaredrops rule!!

They can be simple but they certainly aren't all "weekenders". I sent about a month and a half of marathon nights and weekends to get it campable.

Waiting for spring so I can finish the galley cabinets and the interior.

Chuck

[LWW]

Hey Tony. Mine weighs in a 1180 with matterest and minus the little cabinet I put in the galley area. Its a 5' wide version of the weekender.Larry

[absolutsnwbrdr]

By design you can definitely get more living and storage space from a weekender design compared to the curvy nature of a teardrop. Another one of the things that drew me to the weekender design is the sharp angles - it just has the potential to look much more aggressive than the traditional whimsical teardrop.

I'm still working on tweaking the some of the details for my weekender-ish design (The X-Cubed) and can't wait to get started! Its definitely going to take much more than a weekend to build. The only part I'm stressing over is where my trolley top meets the angled front end. So many angles coming together makes for a very complicated intersection of wood. The good thing is that I have the X-Cubed loaded into AutoCAD and can spend a few hours getting the issues sorted out long before I cut any wood. The rest should be fairly straight forward!

[les45]

Great looking trailer! That thing looks like it need to get outa the campground and head for the boondocks.

What's it weigh?

Tony

Fully loaded with all my camping gear (including food, water, ice, etc.) it weighs in at 1,400 lbs. Tongue weight is 160 lbs. I load most of my gear in the front of the cabin in order to get the extra tongue weight.

[working on it]

...

What's it weigh?

Tony

Fully loaded with all my camping gear (including food, water, ice, etc.) it weighs in at 1,400 lbs. Tongue weight is 160 lbs. I load most of my gear in the front of the cabin in order to get the extra tongue weight.

Same here, a little heavier at 1515 / 170 lbs, warned not to use the gear as ballast (works fine though).

[rowerwet]

viewtopic.php?t=6456&p=72938

[les45]

is there any design places or sites or photos to work from on the weekender design?

I got the weekender bug tonight.

slow

check my journal at viewtopic.php?f=50&t=49333&hilit=les45
I did a lot of pictures and narrative details of each step of my build.