Whitney's Weakender - Hatch / Galley Lid Redesign - Pg 11

[WhitneyK]

Thanks Rod!
Your more than generous with your compliments.
I actually had your build bookmarked to use as a reference.

[Rlowell]

Thanks Rod!
Your more than generous with your compliments.
I actually had your build bookmarked to use as a reference.

Go ahead...make my day...
Have you named the camper yet? Have you had her out camping yet? Looks like it is ready for just about anything.

Rod

[WhitneyK]

Rod,

Haven't had it out yet, wife wants to put graphics on the back "Moose on the Loose" which would be fitting for here in Indiana May go with "Kovener's Bed & Breakfast", I thought "The Kovener's Mansion" you know, like the Governor's Manision, get it? huh? get it? oh never mind....

Trying to get the back end finished up, rain today so I got some of the last boards poly'd and painted. The short white painted pieces are some leftover waincote (not sure if I spelled that correct ) that will be going up veritically behind the MW, or, that's the plan anyway.


My hatch weighed 60# at the handle, it was like lifting a sack of dog food over your head everytime you wanted in it. I did what I could to lighten it up some. By drilling the holes in the framework and removing the luan inside I got the handle weight down to around 40# Now I should be able to configure some kind of lift strut to help if my wife needs to get into it. Thinkin' about covering it with 1/4" foam, pealing off the plastic layer and paintin' it white. Rustoleum stuck pretty good to the foam underneath.


Below is a rough, I mean really rough sketch up of the galley lay out. There will be a wall behind the MW, a shelf extending into the sleeping area with just a stop to keep things from sliding forward. There is a curtain waiting to be hung across it to semi-hide it on the inside. Water container on the right, removable pull out sink below that. Pull out cooler on the left, storage on the right. Just a simple set up.


Last weekend we traded for a different TV, the Blazer was getting old (17 years), we had owned it for 16 yrs and decided it was time for a change. Found this '06 Equinox with only 27k mi. Still have to buy a hitch, but you can get the whole set up on ebay for about $180 Anybody have any comments about pullin' with an Equinox?


Anyway, just sittin' around watchin' paint dry......

[Rlowell]

Rod,

Haven't had it out yet, wife wants to put graphics on the back "Moose on the Loose" which would be fitting for here in Indiana May go with "Kovener's Bed & Breakfast", I thought "The Kovener's Mansion" you know, like the Governor's Manision, get it? huh? get it? oh never mind....

Trying to get the back end finished up, rain today so I got some of the last boards poly'd and painted. The short white painted pieces are some leftover waincote (not sure if I spelled that correct ) that will be going up veritically behind the MW, or, that's the plan anyway.


My hatch weighed 60# at the handle, it was like lifting a sack of dog food over your head everytime you wanted in it. I did what I could to lighten it up some. By drilling the holes in the framework and removing the luan inside I got the handle weight down to around 40# Now I should be able to configure some kind of lift strut to help if my wife needs to get into it. Thinkin' about covering it with 1/4" foam, pealing off the plastic layer and paintin' it white. Rustoleum stuck pretty good to the foam underneath.


Whitney,
Your owners manual should give you the towing capabilities of you TV. I do not recall if you have a frame with rearwheel drive? Non the less, you
should be able to tow the Weekender without any trouble.

You can also purchase automotive struts from the local parts store to handle the rear hatch. I went with a double prop rod made from oak.
I will try to post a picture. The hatch is still pretty heavy and I used luan and 1x2s for most of the framing. I left the framing open.

Looking good!!
Rod


Below is a rough, I mean really rough sketch up of the galley lay out. There will be a wall behind the MW, a shelf extending into the sleeping area with just a stop to keep things from sliding forward. There is a curtain waiting to be hung across it to semi-hide it on the inside. Water container on the right, removable pull out sink below that. Pull out cooler on the left, storage on the right. Just a simple set up.


Last weekend we traded for a different TV, the Blazer was getting old (17 years), we had owned it for 16 yrs and decided it was time for a change. Found this '06 Equinox with only 27k mi. Still have to buy a hitch, but you can get the whole set up on ebay for about $180 Anybody have any comments about pullin' with an Equinox?


Anyway, just sittin' around watchin' paint dry......

[WhitneyK]

OK, remember this picture? Note the 2 screws going down in the middle.....


Well, I moved on to the next step of installing the boards to cover the back of the ply and hide the screws without looking inside to make sure everything was still kosher.

Guess I'll cut 'em off, there was only 2, and run some screws in from the bottom.

On another note, I picked up some of the white plastic "J" channel that is normally used to trim out the edge of FRP to use around the boards I was attaching to the back. One problem, FRP is only 1/8", boards are 1/4" Duh! My solution was to route the backside of the boards to make it all work. Didn't feel like driving across town to borrow a router table, so I just clamped a piece of angle iron to my router and went at it. Still have 10 fingers too!


Here's a pic of the end results


Next, on to the slide out that will hold the cooler.......... (Tune in later, same Bat time, same Bat channel)

[Rlowell]

Nice!! Love the pictures.

Rod

[WhitneyK]

After returning from the auction, we got hitched! Ordered a complete package deal off ebay. Easy to mount on the Equinox, bolt holes where all there with factory weld nuts installed. Took longer to clean out the threaded holes than it did to install it.


After "re-working" the hatch, I went ahead and re-did the latch as well. Put a little "English" on the latch rods and moved them forward so they would go into something with a little more meat to it. You can see the original holes (which I'll have to fill with ?) It's always nice to have extra "material" (al diamond tread) laying around to use. (actually picked it up off the interstate - hi, my name is whitney, i'm a pack rat)


A friend gave me a bunch of the ball bearing drawer slides that extend fully, but needed a little more since they were only 10". Me being one not to turn away free stuff, figured out a way to make them longer. It's a little hard to explain, but I removed the largest section from one slide, flipped it over and bolted it to the other slide. Now, rather than having a 3 section slide, I now have 4 sections. Since the original middle part didn't have any mounting holes, I drilled and counter sunk some where they wouldn't be in the way.





So, now that I have that mess hopefully explained away, the end result is this; the cooler drawer will now extend out far enough to get the lid open and it didn't cost me anything but some time.


OK, now that the MW's in place (still have to figure out exactly how I'm going to get it to stay there), cooler / drawer is done, on to the sink......
With the water supply sitting on top, I wanted a way to have a sink without "plumbing". Since I still had more FREE drawer slides why not a pull out sink? Make it removable for easy "disposal" (dumping), and leave it out far enough so if the spigot drips, it'll catch it. Here's what I come up with, still need to work on the "quick release" system, but I've got it figured out in my head


Don't really have to tilt it that much to get it out, just exagerating for easy understanding?

Anysomeway, here's where I'm at the end of Tuesday evening after the storm went through and had to quit for a while (rain delay)

We've got a wooden box in mind for the storage under the sink area, just need to stop by the barn & pick it up.

I really need to get this thing wrapped up 'cause we're supposed to go to a gathering the weekend of the 19th

That's all for now folks!

[KCStudly]

Galley's looking great!

To fill the old holes from your latch rods, why not use wooden dowels, trimmed flush and stained to match the darker color of your wall panels? It would contrast nicely, celebrating the difference rather than trying unsuccessfully to blend it in and hide it by some other means. you could get real crafty and drill another hole symmetrically on the other side of your new diamond plate bracket, and it would look like the ribs were sections peg joined together like old timber framed barns used to be. Just a thought.

[S. Heisley]

Looks good, Whitney. I like the slide-outs! Pretty color tow vehicle, too.

[parnold]

I'm real impressed with your work, and especially your creativity Whitney!

Maybe we'll meet up again sometime in adjacent campsites!

[WhitneyK]

Thought I'd post some updates.

Sharon, Paul & Rod, thanks for your kind words!

This past weekend was our maiden voyage / first gathering / first trip / first time sleeping in our li'l camper. Our li'l camper pulled great behind our Equinox, hardly knew it was back there. It was the Hoosier Tearjerkers Spring Gathering not to far from home at Clifty Falls State Park in Madison, IN. Good turn out, had a little over 25 TD / TTT / ect show up for the event. We had around 8 people (2 of which were passerby's) come by to get a tour of our "new" li'l camper.
Here we are, set up at our well shaded camp site. A wild turkey kept running through our site (a real one and no, I'm not referring to Bob Henry ), woke us up in the morning by goblin'.

Galley's looking great!
To fill the old holes from your latch rods, why not use wooden dowels, trimmed flush and stained to match the darker color of your wall panels? It would contrast nicely, celebrating the difference rather than trying unsuccessfully to blend it in and hide it by some other means. Just a thought.

KC, Good call, I took your advise, look close and you might be able to see the "repair". Used some pecan stain, it matched the luan on the walls

Thanks to my wife, here's some shots of the bed all made up and decorated, the view of the foot of the bed shows the curtains we hung to cover the storage shelves (sorry, no cabinets), and a shot of the curtains parted to show the shelves.


Wife said we needed a box to store our food in and thought one of the old wooden boxes out of the barn could be cleaned up for use. So here it is after a few coats of poly.


And last but not least, a pic of the galley all set up. You can see the cooler on it's pull out drawer (she covered the "Big Red" logo with a quick scrapbook page, "The Kovener's Bed & Breakfast". I'll try to get a shot of that to post. MW & water tank strapped in place (like to never found the little screw down thingy's for the straps, come to find out their actual name is a footmans loop, like I'm gonna know that)(oops, realized the tank wasn't strapped when I took the pic, oh well) Last minute install of the paper towel holder and of course my wife decorated with the towels she bought. She specifically told me that those towels are just for show, DON'T USE 'EM! (oops, forgot the door mat on top of the cooler) I'll be adding a drawer / slide out counter above the cooler to hold our electric griddle, kind of a drawer with a lid. It can double as a pull out extra counter surface in front of the MW. A "utensil" drawer will be added to the left of the sink.


Still have to add a little inside trim to hide the butt joints on the head & foot boards. After our first "experience", a side curtain / changing room would be nice. I'll have to work on that too

It was great to meet up with a couple of new friends we have gotten aquinted with at a previous gathering (CRA) from the KY TJ group

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Looks great! Glad you had a good time! Really like the embalming fluid crate

[KCStudly]

Nice.

+1 on the crate.

Glad the patch worked for you.

[Rlowell]

Great looking "Weekender"!!!
I is amazing how you can start with a basic style and build it the way that fits your own needs and wants!!
I really like the way that you did the hatch...similar to mine but totally different then mine. Great job.

I am in Florida but would love to meet up some day to compare builds.

Rod

[CliffinGA]

Great job on it Whitney and its a beautiful tear +3 on the Embaling crate! Glad ya'll had fun and enjoyed the gathering!

Cliff