Micro Minnie 5th Wheel pulled by GMC Canyon

[lucy]

We use Motorola Walk about hand held radios. It is easier then dialing a cell phone, saves walking up to the truck to tell him which way to go, and they are good for other things as well. I have no idea how men tell each other what to do, it makes no sense to me. When they stand there and point at the ground and twirl their finger. That means nothing to me. But they understand. We used to put our trailer away and sometimes it would take 15 mins then next time 2 hours. I think it must relate to the moon cycle. We live in a different location now. I leave the trailer out until he goes to work and then put it away. Works really well.

[bkg]

Originally Posted by Nitewindes

Our towel bar pulled out of the wall when my husband was gingerly trying to put the towel back up on it. So we are debating how to mount one that will stay. (epoxy?)

When mounting things on the walls of this unit, I have found that nothing is too strong when it comes to getting things to stay. Most of the command items do not stay on our walls without extra sticky strips (as many as I can fit). The clear ones are just not strong enough. I have to use the ones rated 5-16 lbs for anything I want to stay on the wall. Maybe it is because the walls are new. The non removable 3M products seem to work more reliably.

I would recommend a "backer board" compared to just about any other anchoring method including the 3M adhesive strips in an RV. No matter the RV brand or model, nearly all interior walls are luan paneling - and somewhat thin.
If the RV builder didn't place studs or anchoring blocks inside the wall for mounting hardware when the unit is built, not much is going to stay anchored in the thin luan paneling, especially a towel bar.

In my prior RV's what I've done is made a backer board wide enough to cross the wall horizontally over two vertical wall studs.
The backer board can be a 1 X 4 piece of wood such as poplar or oak that you can stain or paint. Simply locate the studs in the wall and secure the backer board with your towel bar or towel hooks already mounted to the backer board.

The idea is to transfer the weight to the backer board then to the wall studs versus 8 pounds of towel weight hanging on the 3/16" luan wall panel.

One time I got lucky and found an ideal back board at Target with 5 hooks already mounted and the pre-drilled mounting holes fell right on the wall studs in the RV bathroom. Granted it was a coat hook rack but served perfectly for our family as a bath towel hook.

NOTE: Mounting on the inside of an exterior wall is generally something I try to avoid if at all possible.

Nice write up on your experiences!

Bobby

[Nitewindes]

bkg, THANKS so much for your input on the walls. makes sense to use the studs. I am learning about trailer construction more every day. I will update you on how the towel bar episode goes :-)

[gretnagreg]

If you get a chance to get this entire setup weighed, I'd love to see the numbers. I've got a 2018 Canyon CCLB Duramax and I'm very interested in the micro Minnie 5th wheel.

[Lbowes]

I just purchased a 2020 2405RG 5th wheel, i planned on towing it with my 2016 GMC Canyon 6 cylinder SHORT BED, now the dealer is telling me there is no hitch for my truck that wouldn’t need to be retrofitted to work and that they don’t want to Be libel for a work around.
Can any of you help me with this issue? I love the unit and from what i hear it tows well with the Canyon and Colorado HELP

[Nitewindes]

Originally Posted by Lbowes

I just purchased a 2020 2405RG 5th wheel, i planned on towing it with my 2016 GMC Canyon 6 cylinder SHORT BED, now the dealer is telling me there is no hitch for my truck that wouldn’t need to be retrofitted to work and that they don’t want to Be libel for a work around.
Can any of you help me with this issue? I love the unit and from what i hear it tows well with the Canyon and Colorado HELP

We went to a special hitch customization installer here in the Austin area. But that is because everyone (trailer dealer, car dealer & hitch install) all told us it would not work to have a Canyon Short Bed tow a 5th wheel, even the new one.

Turned out that the hitch installation place had other Canyon owners who had previously used their short beds for towing many types of 5th wheels and was game to put the hitch in. We purchased a CURT manual sliding hitch because of all the cautionary tales we heard. But it turns out that we have never had to move the hitch even one time and have perfect clearance with the cab although it is CLOSE when having the truck 90 degrees from the trailer. I do wish this had one more inch of vertical clearance, but it works.

Our truck also fits nicely inside our garage and so no worries about Texas hail storms either. We are very happy!

[Nitewindes]

STILL WAITING to get our rig back from it's first warranty "fix it" appointment at the dealer. It has been there 2 1/2 months now waiting for the arrival of the parts to fix the various small issues it had. [Seams on the dinette seat loose; Mattress had a slice in it underneath; bedroom window had no screen; towel bar fell off wall in bathroom; weatherstrip came off around the front overhang exterior and the radio had to be replaced due to the led back light stopped working bright enough to read.

Thankfully it is not our main use season as Texas summer is too darn hot to sit outside and enjoy it. So fall, winter and spring is our main usage time. Still can't believe the incredible wait to get it back. From what I understand though, in the RV world, this is normal.

[Lbowes]

Need your help, I own a 2016 Canyon short bed, I just purchased the micro Minnie 2405RL, deadlier assured me I could tow it now they are saying they can’t find a hitch to install did your Andersen hitch have to be custom installed and how and where did you have it done!
Any help you can give me will be appricated

[Nitewindes]

We used Spillar's Custom Hitch. They have two Austin locations. The south location is where their most experience guy is and that is where we had our CURT Manual Sliding Hitch installed.


I will admit that as first time 5th wheel owners, it took us a bit of practice to get down the use of the hitch, but once we figured it out, it hooks up and disconnects quickly.
IMPORTANT: WE DID HAVE THE ELECTRICAL BOX ON THE ARM OF THE TRAILER RELOCATED UP INSIDE THE ARM BOX. IT HIT THE BED RAIL ON OUR FIRST TRIP AND CAME LOOSE. I have heard other owners of this particular 5th wheel have done the same thing.

[Nitewindes]

Updates on the micro-minnie 5th wheel.

We have had enough experience with this unit now that we have it pretty much down to a science. One thing that has been incredibly helpful was measuring each of the areas and searching Google for clear acrylic storage bins to fit each area. Now I am feeling like we are really maximizing the area we have and feel much more organized.

Our experience with our portable satellite has been really iffy. We rarely get enough channels to make it worth our while despite using satellite locators and moving it around quite a lot. We just turned it off and will try using regular antenna and DVD's for a while. We brought our Blue Ray in and use it instead of the unit built into the rig. We do wish we could replace the built in unit with a Blue Ray player but it is really hard to find people who are a, qualified and b, willing to work on a motorhome or trailer entertainment system.

I found some corner organizers for the bathroom and they made all the difference in our organization and comfort there. We did find out that when mounting things on the wall of our unit we had to use actual epoxy to get stuff to stay on the wall during the hot summers our unit is in storage. Everything else I tried, (Command bins, Velcro tape and super glue) just didn't hold up the weight permanently.

I did a really stupid thing one time and wanted to sleep so I stayed in the trailer while we were travelling. MAN, I will never do that again. But, it did show me just how much bouncing the trailer takes while going down the road and I am surprised anything stays on the walls. (Please don't repeat this at home. It is obviously illegal for a reason).

The only part of the whole system that we find really wanting is outdoor storage. The under trailer pass through system is really narrow in height and once you get two lawn chairs and two 6x9 patio mats, the sewer hose and our small tool chest, you are pretty much done. Everything else has to go in the truck or inside the trailer. We have managed to keep the parking lights and dog tie outs in the cab so we can grab that as soon as we get to the spot. That has made parking and setting up much quicker. We are always getting setup in the dark arriving Friday night late after leaving work. The lights have helped a lot! I tried outdoor rated roll of led lights, but found many parks didn't have regular outlets in the power pole. Too bad, they worked amazing the one time we found an outlet. Have considered battery operated ones, but still undecided.

One of the things we really struggled with was getting our refrigerator door to stay open between unpacking at home and parking at our storage lot. None of the standard options kept the refrigerator open during the drive over. So I resorted to bungee cords.

When I get a minute, I will place links to the items I have found useful on our web page. We don't get anything from it since we don't have an amazon sellers setup. It just makes it convenient for you.

Love to hear other campers experiences in their trailers. Happy Camping!

[Newyooper]

Nitewindes, just finished reading your thread. I sold my 28' Puma 5th wheel last month, and I'm in now looking at the Winnebago Micro Minnie 5th wheel. I don't know if it's because of the Covid BS, but no one, within 700 miles has one in stock. I haven't seen any used Minnie 5th wheels. Do you have any photos of your storage solutions? Enjoyed reading your post!

[Nitewindes]

Well it has been a while since my last post. Our little "Minnie" has given us lots of great experiences. We did install some stronger "springs"? on our truck in the rear and it made a lot of difference with the "chucking". Very pleasant ride now.
We got a Satellite dish but it stopped working even when pointed right at a satellite. Don't know if the bouncing in the shower of the trailer caused a problem or what?

We have decided that our next rig no matter what it is will have auto leveling. The trailer works fine for now, but we can tell that crawling under the trailer setting the stabilizers and leveling will be more difficult as we age.
As far as space goes, buying the custom sized acrylic bins to fit our cabinets has been wonderful. You can also use them to transport your food in and out when getting ready to leave or when coming home. We measured and then searched for acrylic bins on Amazon.
We still aren't thrilled with getting things into and out of the under dinette storage. I tried a sliding drawer but the door is so much smaller than the depth of the storage area, it really made the area not nearly as useful. So I just try to keep the stuff I need most near the door.
I have considered trying to talk my husband into getting someone to make a drawer under the bed that would pull into the bathroom just a bit when fully extended. But he isn't sold on the idea just yet. If anyone decides to do this, let me know. Our bed has a mattress topper on it that makes the bed really comfortable, but also makes it heavy to lift to get under it.

Love to hear everyone your experiences!

[gretnagreg]

Did you ever get the opportunity to have this combination truck and trailer weighed? I would be interested in seeing the values. Thanks

[Nitewindes]

Due to my concerns, my husband did put better springs on the truck. But I can't seem to convince him we need it weighed. :-(

[Teegh]

Is that with the 5’2”bed?
How is that working for you?

[Leaky]

I use a 1/2 ton Silverado 4x4, the 5.3 v8 screams like a banshee going uphill but my real problem is the frame flex on the 2405RL !!!! Winnebago dropped the ball on this trailer so badly they stopped making this bad design of a fifth wheel. How you like yours??? Lol