Your 2 cents

[Randy-OK]

My wife and I just walked through a 2104 Rockwood 2109s and are thinking of buying it and would like to know what you think of yours. Thanks from Oklahoma.

[Ole Buzzard]

We have a 2104. We looked at both and decided we wanter a dinette rather than a sofa. We really enjoy our 2104, its great dor the 2 pf us.

[raspivey]

Same here. Take a look at a 2104S if you haven't. There seems to be more interior living space with the deeper slide and not having to put the table somewhere to keep from having to walk around it. The slide motor setup is different on the 2109S as well and there are several posts here about problems with the way they were mounted (possibly isolated events overall and may or may not be just a nuisance). The only downside to the 2104S for me is the lack of counter space as opposed to the other floor plan. Either way, most people seem to be happy with both models. I really like mine.

[GlacierGus]

Wow, how much time do you have? I have a 2013 2109S (built May 2012). In Sept I completed an 11,000 mile trip to Alaska and back. I am very happy with my TT. For the most part it worked flawlessly. Is it perfect? No, not by a long shot but the negatives were outweighed by the positives.

I selected the 2109 for it's weight so I could tow it easily with my Durango. I also wanted the sofa rather than a dinette. I never use the table and took it out. It is heavy. I use a small collapsible camping table if I want to use one. I also liked the extra countertop space that the 2104 does not have.

The slide out gives you a lot more space inside. There is ample storage. The shower is small but functional.

On my extended trip I did not have any water leaking issues and the refrig, water heater, TV, heater and AC all worked without any problems.

As stated above, there have been problems with the slide motor on 2109s. The motor detaches from the wall. It is affixed with 4 short worthless screws. Luckily before my trip, the motor pulled itself out of the wall and twisted around itself. I took it to a local dealer and they reinstalled it with some serious bolts. I have not had any problems since.

The biggest problem I had on my trip was on gravel roads. I did at least 300 miles on gravel and after a long stretch my camper was full of gravel dust. The dust seemed to be getting in around the wheel wells on both sides. I found that the wheel well was put in poorly and had a buckle which left an open gap into my camper. I had quite a clean up job, the floor, under the sofa, in the drawers, everywhere. I have taped the seams and will continue to work on this.

I did get rid of the OEM tires and put on Maxxis. I had no tire problems at all for 11,000 miles!

I am sure you understand that the 2109S is a light weight TT and a basic RV. I treat it as a hobby. There are always things that need to be done. Forest River used ineffective staples to hold things together inside when screws should have been used. There are a number of places I want to strengthen or secure better. You will see this on the sides of the kitchen unit and the minimal structure that holds the drawers.

Besides the tires, I installed an Oxygenics shower, the Wingman antenna attachment, the Winegard SensarPro meter, 2 vent covers, a fan in the refridge, LED lights, a 4" mattress pad, new outlet covers and other mods. Again, view RVing as a continuing hobby.

But as I said, the positives far outweighed the negatives on my trip. Other than the gravel dust, I had a terrific, trouble free trip. Half of the time I stayed in commercial campgrounds. The other half of the time I stayed at state parks or boondocked.

This has gotten to be a long response but I'm trying to give you the full picture. If you understand that there will be projects for you to do to improve the TT, you will be happy with your purchase. I would buy a 2109S again. The weight and length work well with the Durango SUV. 11,000 miles was certainly a good test and the 2109 handled the trip easily.

Good luck with your search. (A picture of my TT in northern Mn a couple of weeks ago.)

[Randy-OK]

I meant to say we walked through a 2014 Rockwood 2109s........
We actually plan to buy it Monday and it's technically a 2014 1/2 model.....
I hope that means many of the little things we've read about have been resolved.....

[Randy-OK]

Thank you for the gracious replies. Our research had lead us to the Forest River brand and our personal needs have lead us to the Rockwood Mini Lite 2109s. Thanks again and we'll be following this forum for ideas on comfort mods and maintenance. Randy

[GlacierGus]

Randy, welcome to the forum. Good luck with your purchase. This forum is a great place to learn what is going on with Forest River products. There is much to be learned here.

As you are an Ok resident, do you have any trips planned soon in your new 2109S? I would like to hear how your initial trip worked out. And we require pictures as well! In Mn, the Rvs are down for the winter.

One more thing. Make sure you get a good weight distribution/anti sway hitch.

[Randy-OK]

We don't plan to take the new camper out until spring. We are not nearly as cold as Minnesota, but it still gets icy here. We also ride a motorcycle, but not much during the winter.
We plan to journal our camping trips next year and will post pictures. Take care and thanks again.

[Randy-OK]

Bought it today and pick it up next Tuesday!

[mkillora]

We have a 2012 2109s and just love it. We take it on extensive road trips and it has close to 30,000 miles on it. Tows well and is a perfect TT for 2 people. That being said, here are a few of the issues that we have experienced with it over the past 2.5 years. You can get more details on these issues by doing a search in this forum using the key words.

- leak in kitchen cupboard over stove as a result of poor caulking where exterior antennae wire goes through roof. Repaired under warranty;
-melting rocker switches on interior light switches. (Replaced with LED lights.) Forest River failed to claim responsibility, however light manufacturer did say they had a bad batch.
-bent fresh water tank brackets. Caused by poor venting apparently. Repaired under warranty;
-slide motor (under sofa), became detached from wall. Repaired by dealer with longer screws but as it is still affixed to the fibre board wall, not sure how long this will work. Warranty expired.

[Sargent's Fox Hole]

I got my 2109S in March. I wanted a smallish TT [under 22' ] with no dinette and after much online searching, this floorplan was just what I was looking for. Even though I have 5 RV dealers in my area, seems they don't like to stock smaller travel trailers and they don't have Rockwoods.

So I had to drive 50 miles away to Ruff's RV in Euclid, OH. Their service department has handled warranty work without a hassle. Warranty issues:

1. slide shear pin broke--fixed

2. Door was very hard to close...you had to slam it. They replaced the whole door, same problem, but worse, so they put my old door back in, saying that's all they could do. That's when I noticed, with the help of a speed square, that the bottom of the door frame was 1/8" out of square, causing the door to hit the door frame. So they took door and frame out.....squared up the body opening....replaced door...and voila, it closes great....no slamming.

3. Whenever I would turn on an overhead light, the TV reception would FREEZE, not skip, but freeze. Dealer contacted FR and they said they were having this problem and we needed to upgrade to LED...personally I couldn't understand this, cause there was already LED in the trailer!!! But anyway they installed completely different LED light units....won't know if that fixed the problem until Spring....

Have towed about 15 times this summer [longest trip was 400 miles round trip] and it tracks well....don't even know it's behind me. Planning to haul it to Florida in Jan and Feb, 1900+ miles round trip.

Would I buy another 2109S....yes. I agree that most RVs are a work-in-progress and some tweaking is always needed. And from a woman's standpoint...there is never enough storage.

One of my most proud modifications is the small cupboard by the entry door, under the tall wardrobe. Inside, it is a small, triangle cupboard/cubby. I hadn't a clue what anyone would or could put in it, so I took the door off and that is where I keep my dog's water bowl, leash and poop bags!!! No more spilled water bowls!!

[Randy-OK]

Is there anything we should look for, ask for or have demonstrated at the dealer when we pick it up?

[caper]

Have the dealer run all appliances, have them run water (city and fresh water tank) If it moves have them show you how it works. Take pictures of PDI if you have access to a video camera take a video of the PDI. Will come in handy when you get home and want to use the trailer. If you forget how it is done just watch the video.

[robert elling]

On the PDI, have them set up the television, and have all the components operating. Make sure you have ALL the wires, and the ones behind the panel, in the wall under the television, are connected correctly. Record this whole procedure for your own sanity. Have them also check that there is a good glob of sealant around the antenna wire, where it goes thru the roof. Mine was minimal , and it leaked. Check also that the gasket on the slide is secured completely. When our slide was closed we could see daylight at the bottom, at the forward corner. We had one kitchen drawer that was installed wrong. The area around the shower, where the wall joins the shower pan had to be re-sealed. Have them operate all the water faucets in the trailer. Ours had construction junk in them, hence we had little to no water pressure. They will have to take off the aerator on the end of the faucet, so the junk can flow out of the system.

Other than those few squawks, we do enjoy our 2109S, very much.
Robert

[Randy-OK]

Thank you for all of the replies. We are charging our video camera and have a list of items to go over during the PDI.