BYYB Forums

I am in the process of deciding which to build: Weekender or Vacationer.

I have a family of 4: me, wife, daughter(6) and son(4). We will be sailing on 2 inland lakes: Lake Charles and Prien Lake. These lakes are salt water built not overly large, so they should be safe. I have never sailed but would like to start. My questions are below:

1) Is either boat much safer than the other?
2) Is the Weekender easier and cheaper to build by a noticable amount?
3) The cockpits look a little tight for 4. Can the cabin be made substantially smaller without compromising the hull? I would lengthen the seats to the shortened cabin.
4) Can they both be single-handed?
5) Is one or the other better for a beginning builder and beginning sailor?
6) Does the Vacationer require an outboard for auxilary power or will an electric do?
7) Is it possible to raise the boom on the main sail a little? I am 6'2" and would like to minimize the amount of bending over I have to do.


Thanks in advance,

Gary

Hello gary,
well im no expert as i just started building a vacationer and im pretty new to it but i have seen some folks build the weekender with no cabin or even a removable cabin.
as far as size goes there is much more room in the vacatiner both of the boats are built the same ones just bigger thats why i chose the vacationer
i know both boats can be single handed but really thats all i can tell you
im sure other folks here can help you more than i just keep checking the board

Bri

Here's my 2 cents worth ...

I've built a modified weekender, with a shortened cabin, extended seats, and a bridgedeck connecting the seats at the forward end, maximizing seating. I have a family of four ... Myself, 6'1 (155 Lbs), my wife, 4'8, (100 Lbs), my son, 9 (50 lbs), and my daughter, 3 (30 Lbs). Both are on the short side. Without my modification, somebody would be sitting in the cabin. With my modification, it's been much easier to fit everyone in, although in higher wind, it may still prove interesting if I forget to reduce sail. As such, I have only limited sail time due to trailer issues, and my being a fairly slow builder.

In addition to my own boat, I've been on a finished (more or less) stock weekender, a pocket cruiser with a similar cockpit/cabin modification to my own, and a vacationer. The Vacationer and Pocket Cruiser are the most stable, the Pocket Cruiser is the easiest to singlehand, closely followed by the weekender. If rigged properly, the Vacationer can be sailed alone well enough, but some people report problems getting it on and off the trailer alone.

The Weekender and Pocket Cruiser are similar weight, cost, and time to build, the Vacationer is about double the cost and time, and slightly heavier ... also the Vacationer requires a larger trailer due to length ... usually resorting to something way over the requirements for weight, which equals more expense too.

Each boat has their own strengths, and depending upon what you are looking for, each may well be the boat for you. If you're looking for an idea of how tippy the weekender is, it's basically a large dinghy. If you really try, it can go over, if you over-rig it and sail in very high winds, it can go over, if you cleat your mainsheet in higher winds, it can go over ... I'v done a few of these things simultaneously ... yes, I went over ... but, it wasn't that big a deal. I learned that I needed to add floatation, how to right the boat, where and how much water collects, and what I need to do about it. All in all, It was almost fun ... if it weren't for the long bailing session, it would have been. Since then, I haven't been close to capsizing, and I really was asking for it ... an extra 65 sq ft. of sail, no way to reduce it, restricted boom movement, an experimental schooner rig, and winds hitting 25 mph. In hindsight, I should have been amazed if I hadn't flipped.

Anyway, they're all a lot of fun to build, especially if you are fortunate enough to live near other byyb folks who may help out from time to time, they're a blast to sail, again even more if you have other folks with similar boats near by, and we're always here to answer questions.

Good luck and happy building

Welcome,

Where are you located?

I will offer this perspective, having sailed in both of them but more extensively in a number of different Weekenders. Both on salt and freshwater and on a Weekender in open ocean as well.

1) Is either boat much safer than the other?

Depends upon what you mean by safer. The larger size of the Vacationer and additional weight makes it more stable. It will be less prone to tippiness as you move about the boat and will allow you to move fore/aft and not have as much change in attitude. The Vacationer will have a little less of a tendency to heal over than the smaller Weekender.
This is a relative thing to someone with some experience sailing in small boats. All small sailboats heal over even with though some of them have ballast added to keep them upright. Some Weekender builders have added ballast to keep them from feeling quite so tender. (Tippy from side to side.) Personally, I don't feel ballast is neeed with either design once you learn how to tune them and sail in them.
2) Is the Weekender easier and cheaper to build by a noticable amount?
Yes.
3) The cockpits look a little tight for 4. Can the cabin be made substantially smaller without compromising the hull? I would lengthen the seats to the shortened cabin.
The Vacationer will offer more cockpit space so all 4 of you can enjoy being out in the open. On a Weekender it is tight for two adults and a third will sit on the companionway storage box. Small children really don't have anywhere but the cabin to move about and it is small on a Weekender for anything but overnighting for two. Neither of them are large enough for a small child to be anywhere but in the cabin or cockpit under full time supervision. A big advantage to the Vacationer is room for a Port-a-poti.
4) Can they both be single-handed?
Yes, both are set up with a clubfoot for the jib and it makes single handing it realativley simple. Loading and unloading from a trailer at launch is more difficult with a Vacationer simply because it has more size and the wind can fight you a lot when trying to load to a trailer. Adding a roller furling system to the headsail makes it even easier to handle from the cockpit alone.
5) Is one or the other better for a beginning builder and beginning sailor?
The Weekender is a quicker/easier build simply because there is less to do and less materials to have to deal with. Also the cabin is easier to build and has essentially nothing inside to have to fabricate. As far as sailing, they are both easy to handle and sail. Both are under powered (sail area) so they are a lot easier to learn on than other boats their size and they can be tuned to be competitive with a lot of the larger production boats. The Weekender is quicker in conditions where there is little or no wind to speak of. And when the others are sitting because there isn't enough wind to get them moving, you an be sailing. But the Vacationer is more stable, feels more solid under you and can sail faster for given moderate to moderately heavy wind condtions. Both can handle moderately sloppy water and some pretty good wave conditons. But this is a learning process. The smaller sail area makes handling the sails to reef them down in winder conditions easier to accomplish and in particular when single handing.
6) Does the Vacationer require an outboard for auxilary power or will an electric do?
An electric trolling motor of about 55# thrust will be adequate to get you around, in and out of the launching area and work fine unless you expect to get somewhere in a hurry. Or have to fight significant tidal current flows. Then a 4-6 hp ouboard will help a lot. Nothing much larger will help you to go any faster. You are limited by hull speed which is in the neighborhood of 6 knots. More power just makes more wake and uses more fuel besides weighting the back of the boat down and costing a whole lot more. A dual battery arrangement with switching to select between the two batteries is plenty for most weekends unless you are motoring around all the time.
7) Is it possible to raise the boom on the main sail a little? I am 6'2" and would like to minimize the amount of bending over I have to do.
Yes, but if you build it as designed you will have headroom under the boom unless you want to stand while sailing.
I'm 6'2, I sailed on a Weekender off Maui with two really large linemen from the U of Hawaii football team, both over 6'3" and well over a combined weight between them of more than 700#. They were all over that boat in breaking seas like ballerinas. No problems with headroom under the boom for any of us and the boat as solid as a rock. At no time did I ever feel uncomfortable or in danger in 2-3' seas and 20+mph winds.

If you find that after building it and gettting used to handling it a bit that you need more headroom and everything is built to specs, then a 3" block under the mast will give you plenty. You will need to lengthen the forestay and the shrouds enough to accomplish this but it is easy to do. Most of the builders that don't have enough headroom have unknowingly built their Weekender with too much mast rake. (It leans backwards too much.) That makes the boom hang lower and also causes some handling complaints that are relatively easy to cure.

You will find that if you are on a tight budget, that you will be better off to take your time, save a little bit more and be patient to shop the sales for materials, etc. Get the best materials you can afford and try to avoid using common construction grade materials. You can make them work, but if you want something that will last and be less hassle to maintain, then stick with materials suitable for wooden boat building.

There is a lot of good information available and a lot of good people represented here with a lot of varied backgrounds. Plenty of help if you are not bashful about asking. The only dumb question is the one you didn't ask until too late to do anything about it. Some of the contributors have built a lot of boats and had a lot of experience in sailing and maintaining wooden boats. Most of the others are just like you, this is their first boat and first sailing experience. Fortunately both learning curves with these designs are relatively easy to work thru.

I am located in Lake Charles, LA. Lake Charles is about 45 minutes from TX and 45 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico.

My main concerns for a boat are:

1) Ease of construction
2) Ability to take the family
3) Able to single hand
4) Cheap to build

At this point it sounds like the Weekender may be the project for me. I am not in a huge hurry, so will wait on other replies.

Thanks,

Gary

I have a finished weekender and a partially built vacationer (which i practically stole) - and can tell you with the two of them in the back yard next to each other - the Vacationer is MUCH bigger. Lots bigger in my opinion. The cockpit of the weekender has been successfully modified by some folks. John in Arizona added to the plans and his boat is bigger, roomier, and more stable than mine. If I were sailing with a whole family - I would want more room in the cockpit too. I hear the pocket cruiser is nice...shorter in length but beamier.


a.

Welcome to the BYYB Gary

Concidering what it is you are looking for you might want to take a close look at the Pocket Cruiser. Though it is smaller in length than the weekender it has more moving around space. The Vacationer is a great boat, but if you want to save money and time a smaller boat might be what you are looking for. You also need to consider how long it will take to build your boat and the ages of your kids at launch time. I took 5 years to build mine but it did sit idle for a long time. If I had worked steady on weekends and such it probably would have take 2 years. Glass and epoxy were the biggest single cost during constuction. You can find bargains on ebay for items. I got my glass and portholes for a good deal there, just check till you find what your looking for at the right price and buy it whether you are ready for it now or later. My portholes are $300 each retail and I paid $150 for all 4 of them on ebay, they sat there for 3 years till I was ready to install them. Good luck and keep us posted on your decision

Keith

I own a Vacationer, and have sailed in both the Weekender, and Vacationer. As previously metioned both have their pros and cons. The bottom line for me was the total cost to build the Vacationer came in at $4000 Canadian dollars, probably not much less for the Weekender. I favor the extra stability of the Vacationer, as I sail on a larger lake that weather can change quickly on. I can sail it solo in lighter wind conditions.

If I had to choose a second boat to the Vacationer, I'd pick the Pocket Cruiser, for roominess, and stability, over the Weekender.

Your family will likely grow into a larger vessel, if you build one. You also should consider space required to construct and later store your boat.

You should try to locate someone in your area to sail with them, as I recall there's were some members around that part of the country that might be able to help.

All of these boats are easy to construct, about as easy as it gets in cabined boating. The larger the boat the more time and materials you'll need to complete it. All can handle your family, though the Vacationer, being considerably larger will feel more comfortable, followed by the beamy PC with the Weekender being the coziest of them all. Comfort is partly a factor of size.

Singlehanding a boat is a state of mind and rig arrangements. I use to singlehand a 63' wooden ketch in the USVI for a number of years. Singlehanding a big boat with 7' of draft in shoal waters takes some experience, but if the boat is setup properly and you have your head and skills on straight then it's not very difficult. Singlehanding is great fun, builds skills without embarrassment and provides a good sense of pride. All these boats can singlehand easily, though the Vacationer can give skippers difficulties when launching or recovering, particularly in contrary currents and winds. This is just a function of the boats size and windage.

The larger the boat the more things will cost, but these boats are intended for the low budget approach, many boat plans aren't. This, in concert with the large support group (here and else where) make it a fine choice for the inexperienced sailor or builder. There have been countless variations and adaptations of these boats. You needs aren't new and have been successfully completed before.

The most difficult part of the build ing process is selecting a design. Many spend years looking.

Does the Pocket Cruiser have a full length keel like the Weekender or another design. The wider cockpit is appealing.

Would it be possible to simply widen the back of the Weekender cockpit?

Thanks,

Gary