Potential Rockwood Mini Lite 1909s Buyer

Coloradon · 07-22-2016, 05:19 PM

Just curious if anyone has the Rockwood Mini Lite 1909s and their impressions of it. Also is it light enough for a 2016 Chevy Colorado 3.6 V6 Crew Cab 4x4 to tow? The vehicle has a GVWR of 6000 and GCWR of 12000. Also it has the trailer towing package. The trailer has an unloaded weight of 3510. I have checked it with the RV Tow Check 2.1 Calculator which is on the web at http://fifthwheelst.com/rvtc_calculator. Thanks for any input.

rockfordroo · 07-22-2016, 05:42 PM

Not to be the weight police, but you asked.

It's going to depend on your specific Colorado. I couldn't find any specific towing capacity in the 2016 Colorado owners manual, but the 2016 Trailer Life towing guide says you have 3500 lb towing capacity or 7000 lb towing capacity. The difference seems to be if you the towing package.

So at about 5000 lbs GVWR (ignore dry weight - it doesn't mean a thing), you should be OK if you've got the 7000 lb tow rating.

However, you also need to worry about payload. Look in your owners manual, starting at page 204, for how to figure out your payload. Most folks hit the payload limit before they hit the towing limit.

Remember, if you have a weight distributing hitch (WDH), which I would strongly suggest, it will add 50-75 lbs to your tongue weight.

friendofacatahoula · 07-25-2016, 05:55 AM

We looked at the 1909 and the slightly smaller 1809 before purchasing our 2109S.

A few things that stood out to sway us away from those two and get the 2109.

There is almost zero counter space unless using the table.

The furnace is under the bed, it rumbles and is noisy when moving air.

We didn't want to crawl over one another any more, having a walk around bed made more sense.

As far as towing, well your vehicle sounds adequate, but where do you tow? We had a Silverado 2500HD with the 6.0 and the wind resistance on the newer trailer and higher weight made a more noticeable difference than we anticipated but we tow primarily in the mountains.

Mrs.Kay · 12-03-2016, 09:38 PM

Hi Coloradon, This may be a little late but I just saw your post. We purchased a 2017 1909s last month. We travel pretty light, not a lot of cargo, very little water, no kids. We tow the trailer with a 2015 GMC Canyon V6 which is nearly related to your Colorado. We have the tow package which rates us at 7,000 lbs. We are using a fastway E2 weight distribution/sway. It tows beautifully in fair weather with power to spare. Really put it to the test last week when we went for a 2 hour trip and there were high winds (60mph gusts) and some mountains. Of course it was not enjoyable towing in the wind, did feel it, but not crazy (as I suppose you would in any vehicle at those wind speeds) but it did fine. We enjoyed our stay at the lake (where it was not windy

) and made it home safely. We do a lot of camping within 1 - 2 hours of home and usually go for a couple of weeks farther away several times a year. Haven't had the opportunity for one of the longer trips yet, but I have no reservations about towing it further.
We really love the unit and are happy as campers can be... up off the ground and all the comforts of home. Hope this helps.

rat4spd · 12-03-2016, 10:06 PM

You basically have almost the equivalent of a 1/2 ton truck a decade ago. At 308hp, 275lbs of torque, weighing about 4500lbs, and almost as big as a half ton of yesteryear, your only real limitation is payload...about 1500# depending on your actual weight. That trailer is really nothing for that truck. Don't get too crazy loading it in the front though because it'll have a good amount of tongue weight for it's size. Heck, I towed the 1809S with a small Jeep Cherokee.

As a side note, I really dislike single axle trailers. They just don't pull as nice as a tandem axle.

Mrs.Kay · 12-03-2016, 10:15 PM

Hi Rat4spd, wow, we had a jeep Cherokee for years but never towed anything. Are you doing any towing nowadays?
(forgot to mention in my post above that we are using a prodigy P3 brake control)
Happy Camping

rat4spd · 12-03-2016, 10:23 PM

Mrs.Kay, It was the new (2014) much despised by the Jeep community Cherokee. I got rid of it as about 18 months. It was a wonderful Jeep, except....1st model year transmission issues. I got tired of all of the updates to the transmission firmware, the wonky shifting patterns, the useless 9th gear that only shifted into if you hit about 85 mph...

So, I traded it for a new leftover Ram 2500 crew work truck with a 5.7 and pretty much all the snow plow prep stuff you can get for a great deal. Then I traded the 1809S for a Rockwood 2650Ws fifth wheel. I can't imagine going back to a bumper pull now.

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