Community Forums

sasquatchsam · 09-18-2021, 12:44 PM

Hey everyone,

My wife and I are looking at purchasing our first trailer next year and would like some opinions on the Rockwood 2509S vs the Winnebago 2306BHS.

Tow vehicle is a 2021 Ram 1500 Crew Cab, Hemi with 3.92 axle ratio. Payload is 1656 lbs. Passengers are myself, wife, and 2 kids under 3 years old. Total family weight ~400lbs.

We would prefer the Rockwood based on layout, but the Winnebago is lighter. My concern with the Rockwood is that the loaded tongue weight might be cutting it too close. It seems like some people have seen tongue weights of close to 1,000 lbs or more with these. Doesn’t seem to be as big a deal with the Winnebago since it’s lighter.

Any opinions on these two in general (quality, reliability, features) and any thoughts on whether they are a good match for my TV? Thanks!

Marine359 · 09-18-2021, 01:06 PM

Hi Sam,
I would advise you pay no attention to the tongue weights on manufacturer websites. For safe towing, you need to figure 12% of the trailer GVWR. So, if you’re considering the 2306bhs, plan for your tongue weight to be 700lbs. My actual tongue weight is 575lbs vrs brochure weight of 460lbs.

At 1,400lbs payload, I have to be careful to not exceed my Rear GAWR, by putting heavier items in the pass thru, and only light stuff in the truck bed. Just the two of us, but We carry bikes on crossbars over a hard sliding tonneau. Even with the lighter Winnebago, you’ll be close to weight limits for your TV. The good news is, the Micro Mini is only 7ft wide, which totally changes the towing dynamics. My mid-size tows it like a dream with WDH/anti-sway. My 2108ds weighs 500lbs less than the 2306bhs, so no doubt you’d be close, but not over limits. I don’t know if your TV can handle the Rockwood.

Happy trails.

bneukam · 09-18-2021, 03:36 PM

The Rockwood is a 6 sided aluminum framed, with rigid foam board construction. The roof is vacuum bonded using foam board.

The Winnebago will have wood framing in the attic, floor, and front wall. These areas will also have batten insulation.

For that reason alone, I would go with the Rockwood.

Sky1926 · 09-19-2021, 06:29 AM

Have you tried the payload calculator on the mini lite Facebook page? I think with that 1600 payload, you “should” be good depending on how you load up. Rough planning factor, assume 7600lb trailer and 800-900lb tongue weight. Rockwood was my families choice between Winnebago and grand design. It had a better feel in our opinion. More “solid” for lack of a better term.

tuffr2 · 09-19-2021, 12:37 PM

I like both the Winnebago and Rockwood/Flagstaff. I do like the build with styrofoam laminated roof on the Rockwood/Flagstaff units better. The Rockwood/Flagstaff trailers also have other nice features like wifi extender and sound bars.

TXiceman · 09-19-2021, 02:51 PM

From friends experience with Rockwood, I would not recommend one. Our daughter had a Winnebago Minnie Plus and it was excellent for the money...a bit more and heavier.

Ken

Suru11 · 09-22-2021, 11:14 AM

I can't reply to the Winnebago, but we had a Rockwood Mini-Lite and it wasn't great. It does have lots of goodies and the finishes are very nice. However, all those goodies and finishes were just slapped together. The build quality was very poor. We went 17 trips in a row where something broke or quit working. Unfortunately it was usually something that put a big damper on using the trailer. An example is the kitchen sink fell into the drawer below so it was unusable. Or the shower miser sprung a leak and we couldn't use the water pump, so no water. It was all because things were not installed correctly or installed shoddily. It was stressful because we never knew what was going to break or quit working next. We then had to spend hours of our camping trip trying to fix things (thank goodness my husband is very handy) After owning it for two years, we got sick of the nonsense and traded it in for a different trailer by a different manufacturer. After 8 trips with the new trailer, so far, so good.