eatSleepWoof gets a Winnie

[eatSleepWoof]

... and promises to not modify* this trailer.
* dirty, stinkin lie.

A few weeks ago I came across a fantastic deal (about $5k below dealer's invoice) on a brand new, 2022 Winnebago 2108FBS. I drove 7 hours to the adjacent province to get it, spent the night, and hauled the trailer back home.

Now, a mass-produced, Indiana-made travel trailer isn't what I'm normally interested in, but there are a few factors with this particular brand/model that appealed to us in a big way:

- only 7 feet wide, so I don't need to bother with tow mirrors
- about 23ft long, so it easily fits in my driveway and I don't have to pay for storage
- north-south bed
- dry bath
- heated water tanks for comfortable 3-season camping
- tons of ground clearance
- properly sized and laid out kitchen: big 12v fridge/freezer, big sink, big propane stove (without an oven)

These factors, combined with the price for which I snagged this combined into pretty good value. Yes, things will inevitably break and/or fail, but at this price point I'm willing to deal with that.

And so, day of pick up and drive home:

A few poor interior shots:

At home:

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

Nice trailer!! I bet you paid about what solar, lithium and victron cost in a fancy off road rig.

Have fun !

 

[eatSleepWoof]

First few minor things I addressed...

1/8" cable, a few round-eye electrical connectors and shrink wrap resulted in this 8" long (eye to eye) limiting strap.

Which I installed like so:

This prevents that flip-down drawer from opening too far and having the contents of that tray fly out.

I also grabbed a 36" wide, 7ft roll of 3mm-thick rubber from Home Depot, and cut it to size to fit in the pass-through storage. This protects the floor and provides tons of grip, so bins that I'll store there will not fly around (as they would have on the slippery, original floor).

 

[eatSleepWoof]

The trailer has a 12v fridge, but it draws about 13ah, meaning the stock (group 24, lead acid) battery would only be good for 3-4 hours of runtime. That won't do, so I ordered two 100ah lithium batteries (same ones I used on my last build).

I also picked up a Renogy 40amp DC/DC charger, Renogy battery monitor (negative shunt) and a few other minor goodies.

The original mattress in this trailer is 60x74x6", and is about the most uncomfortable thing ever conceived by man. I unwrapped it, we lay down on it, and in 30 seconds had decided that we would need to replace it immediately.

We'll be putting in a 60x80x8" mattress, and to better support it, I decided to rebuild the under-bed storage cavity, and also place the new batteries and electronics there.

The new unit is about 3" wider and 6-7" deeper, built out of 1/2" red oak plywood (made here in British Columbia).

I will have four, 20" deep drawers in the front, while the back section has room for four 100ah batteries (I'll be starting with only two), the DC/DC charger, and other minor electronics.

I made two round openings with the intention of putting 120mm fans, so as to circulate air under there while the electronics are running. I might just leave the openings without fans - will see.

The L-track will be used to securely tie-down the batteries.

In the photos this unit is already stained with Varathane's Classic Weathered Oak and finished with Varathane's Diamond Outdoor finish. On Home Depot's sample, this stain looked like a borderline perfect match for my interior paneling, but applied and dried, it still looks a bit too red. (The iPhone's camera exaggerates it even worse.) I expect it'll be a closer visual match once it's actually in the trailer. In any case, slight colour mismatch is not a big deal.

 

[CRYA]

Very cool! Admittedly while this Dad has dreams of Arkto and or Opus, the other members of the family are demanding more space. So I’ve been really drawn to the 2100 FLX for the bunks though never seen one in person. Plus it’s ready for the ol boondocking as I hate the RV park vibe

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Very cool! Admittedly while this Dad has dreams of Arkto and or Opus, the other members of the family are demanding more space. So I’ve been really drawn to the 2100 FLX for the bunks though never seen one in person. Plus it’s ready for the ol boondocking as I hate the RV park vibe

Bunks will definitely make life easier. We've got a little one, too, and for now the couch (which folds out into a large bed) will be enough. In the future I may remove this couch and build a custom one which will turn into bunks.

I looked at Arkto, Opus, and virtually all other options, too. Easily double the price for quite a bit less room and comforts, but better build quality. Then again, I'm quite confident that this Winnie will get to everywhere I would want to tow an Opus to, without any real issues.

 

[jgaz]

Nice trailer and your usual fine job on the under bed storage.

The holes in the angle braces in the battery compartment are a nice touch. Thinking ahead of the easiest, neatest way to route the cables.

 

[Ozarker]

Great trailer for two, a center island queen bed is a must for us.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Slowly coming along...

Electronics mounted, drawers built, finished and mounted. Still need to make drawer faces (will be recessed into the openings), and then the whole unit is going inside the trailer. One thing that occurred to me recently is that the left-side drawers might conflict with the couch in the slide out. Hope not, but not much I can do about it now. Worst case, drawers won't be pulling out all the way on that side.

The "blocks" above the fan grilles are for mounting gas struts that will support the lid. I didn't want to screw those directly into the 1/2" plywood walls and added an extra 1" of plywood for better support/screw grip. Already checked the gas struts and they do clear the drawers (only by a few millimetres, but even that's enough).

 

[Todd n Natalie]

So I take it you ended up selling your converted trailer?

I hear you on the factory supplied mattresses. We ended up getting this mattress topper for ours:

 

[eatSleepWoof]

So I take it you ended up selling your converted trailer?

I hear you on the factory supplied mattresses. We ended up getting this mattress topper for ours:

View attachment 821846

Yup, the cargo conversion was sold in the fall.

I looked at various toppers, including that one, but ultimately decided that we will get a new mattress altogether. Currently planning on picking up a 60x80 (residential queen) Juno mattress from https://www.juno.ca. That mattress will be 8" thick, which is about the maximum thickness we can get that'll still allow a hand to reach to the "nightstand" areas. Mattress reviews are largely positive, but of course that's very subjective. Juno seems to have a long and easy return policy (should it really come to that), but I'm hopeful it'll be a comfortable mattress and will work well for us.

The way Winnebago designed this area is both lazy and stupid; the floor of the mattress sits above the height of the nightstands, and if you use a significantly thicker mattress (say, 12"), the mattress completely blocks access to the nightstands. Had they made the shirt closets not as tall, and instead made the nightstands some 6-8" higher, there would be much more usability in this area. I briefly even considered recessing the mattress some 6-7" lower, but decided that was more work than I wanted to deal with.

 

[Tex68w]

It's nice to see you making some quality improvements to a retail trailer. I have a buddy with one and even though it is more of a mass produced stick and staple style trailer his has been holding up pretty well to boon docking off-road. I understand making concessions on off-road durability and capability to some degree in favor of a trailer with more usable space and amenities.

We tried the dedicated off-road stuff in multiple forms over the years and it was always more of trade-off in terms of comfort and space than my wife was willing to make for more than a night which ultimately left me to using it by myself the majority of the time which is counter to why I had it in the first place. This is how we ended up with the Casita which I am now making similar mods and improvements to it like yourself in order to get more out of it in a boon docking capacity and for my wife's increased comfort in hopes that she'll be more inclined to come along for longer stints at a time.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

It's nice to see you making some quality improvements to a retail trailer. I have a buddy with one and even though it is more of a mass produced stick and staple style trailer his has been holding up pretty well to boon docking off-road. I understand making concessions on off-road durability and capability to some degree in favor of a trailer with more usable space and amenities.

We tried the dedicated off-road stuff in multiple forms over the years and it was always more of trade-off in terms of comfort and space than my wife was willing to make for more than a night which ultimately left me to using it by myself the majority of the time which is counter to why I had it in the first place. This is how we ended up with the Casita which I am now making similar mods and improvements to it like yourself in order to get more out of it in a boon docking capacity and for my wife's increased comfort in hopes that she'll be more inclined to come along for longer stints at a time.

Your Casita is a fantastic option for a couple. I've seen quite a few (online) with lifts and other modifications that allow to go plenty far enough off road. Just the right size, too. Unfortunately I can't fit my family in one, otherwise I'd seriously consider it.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Making some headway on this end...

Removed the old bed support, and installed the new drawer unit. Screwed (with much better screws) into the same panes/studs that the original unit was attached into. All screws bit hard, should work out great.

As I suspected, the left-side drawers do hit the couch, but the good news is that they are only two-three inches from full extension, so little to no difference in practicality.

I also re-mounted the drawers to make them flush with the front wall, and made the drawer fronts sit on the exterior. Reason for this was that the edge banding cracked whenever I tried to apply it to the tight radius corner of the recessed drawer faces that I initially built. Lesson learned there. In any case, this probably looks better than my original design would have.

Drawers are on soft-close slides rated for 100lbs.

I've got the "lid" built, stained, and just sprayed a coat of finish on it. Still have to spray the other side, and expect to install it sometime tomorrow. Then the electrical work begins...

And for anyone interested, the screws used by Winnebago protrude 3/4" into the floor and wall.

 

[Tex68w]

Your Casita is a fantastic option for a couple. I've seen quite a few (online) with lifts and other modifications that allow to go plenty far enough off road. Just the right size, too. Unfortunately I can't fit my family in one, otherwise I'd seriously consider it.

I agree, for a single person or a couple they are hard to beat, a third person when necessary can be done but it’s not ideal. You could of course forgo the bath and get the double bunks to sleep four and there’s the Heritage model that when equipped without the bath can sleep six but for 95% of people that’s a no-go, my wife included. I can tell you that there’s no way I’d want six people in here unless four of them are under the age of five lol.

I think where I have it at the moment will be more than enough for 98% of things I’ll ever want to do with it and that’s a huge win. I’ll give it the rest of this year and then I’ll reevaluate what we need/want from a camper and if the Casita hits 80% or more of that then it’ll stay.

We are currently camping in it at the moment at a nearby lake, first night shake-down run. So far so good, but I did realize that Casita forgot to give us a few of the items we were supposed to get. I’ll be reaching out next week to get that rectified.