Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-16-2018, 09:21 PM   #1
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 4
New 2104s 2018 owner

Hello everyone.

I just purchased my first trailer, a 2018 Rockwood 2104s!

I’ve been wanting a trailer for a long time. Grew up in them with my parents camping and doing cross country trips. It is something I’ve wanted to continue on doing. Wife finally approved after a tent camping trip in the sierra’s where fellow campers had to fire warning shots at a bear.

I was looking used on CL but my wife wanted something newer and the price difference between new and a couple years old wasn’t much so we headed down to the local Rockwood dealer and checked out some models.

As someone who has never towed a trailer before and plans on camping in smaller forest campgrounds I wanted a smaller trailer that would be a little more forgiving. We ultimate settled on the 2104s after looking at every floor plan in that length, plus all the 23’s and 25’s. The local dealer I guess is the largest Rockwood dealer in the US for 2017 so they have a lot of trailers on the lot. It is only the wife and I and our two small dogs so this will be more than enough space. Plus the U dinett looks pretty big once folded down as well. As I am 6’5” I don’t have many options. We looked at the Minnie Winnie’s as well by I hit my head on the ceiling when standing straight up so it was not an option.

I was really surprised by how much room they have inside for such a small trailer. The Murphy bed option is really great. I’ll be picking up the trailer this Sunday with my tow vehicle: 2003 Sierra 2500hd with 8.1/Allison combo.

I also wanted to make sure I would have enough truck for whatever trailer I picked, which is another reason I went with a lite weight., especially since my truck has nearly 200k miles and many camping desitinations are 6k plus climbs I didn’t want to need a new tow vehicle.

Some questions:

1. Any must do modifications?
2. Where do people store their pillows who have Murphy beds and how thick of a mattress topper can fit?
3. What trailer accessories were really worth it? Especially the inside amenities since storage space is at a premium?
4. And which ones ended up being sneak oil?


P.S. This is a great group,I’ve been reading non stop for the last few days; trying to soak everything in.

Take care
Jordan
Shooting4life is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-16-2018, 10:30 PM   #2
Lets go camping!
 
str8t six's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: VA
Posts: 259
congrats on the new trailer jordan!

i would say one of my best mods was installing a digital thermostat from the old analog unit that comes with the camper.
pillows, sheets, and comforter stay on the bed when stowed. there should be a strap that runs along length ways to secure everything.
as far as accessories goes, well there are alot that you can buy lol. but the basics would be a water pressure regulator, external water filter, a Y valve is handy with coil water hose. 50 amp to 30 amp adaptor, a trailer aid to help if you have to change a tire, and all the tools to go with that. spare fuses and a good assortment of tools to fix things that may break. leveling blocks and tire chocks.

a clear, level head, when setting up and taking down camp.
__________________
2014 Rockwood Mini Lite 2504s
2016 Ram 3500
str8t six is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-16-2018, 11:00 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 135
Digital Thermostat was also the first thing I did after one weekend of camping.

I am not familiar with the murphy bed as I have a 2109S, but due to your height, if possible make an extension for the bed. On my 2109S, I made a hinged extension that stores under the mattress and flips out to add the 6" of bed I needed to accommodate my 6' 1". I have a piece of foam that is 6" square that is bed width that I put in the space, then stretch the fitted sheet over. The bed stays made up, I simply lift the sheets from the foot end and remove my foam then flip the extension over. I cannot leave the extension out due to the slide when it is retracted. I also added a 2" foam topper.

Also, one campground that I frequent I need two water hoses to reach the shared hydrant.

Plus everything str8t six said.
__________________
2018 Rockwood 2109S
Cleveland, Mississippi
Sahall is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-16-2018, 11:42 PM   #4
Oz Family
 
dihomebod's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Thousand Oaks
Posts: 4
Welcome. We have the 2304 with Murphy Bed and love it to. A must to have is leveling blocks the ones that look like Legos don’t use your leveling jacks to level. I have seen bent jacks on similar light weight trailers. Just thought I’d put that out there. Enjoy!!
dihomebod is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2018, 08:06 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 13,709
I would suggest putting covers over your vents like MaxxAir for fresh air when it rains.
Wiscampsin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2018, 11:28 AM   #6
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Harford County, MD
Posts: 52
Another vote for digital thermostat. I got a Coleman Mach [same brand as the original] so the wiring and mounting was 1 for 1.

We've bought a lot of Command hooks by 3M. We have two just over the command center [for slide out, awning etc.] to hang a dish towel and a hand towel. At night we drape one of the towels across both hooks to block the light from the water heater switch and the like. We have others for hanging jackets on the wall. Others are on the entryway, above the breaker panel for keys. We used a couple of command clips, above the window in the door, so we can put up a shade [currently a black trash bag] to block out the light when sleeping. We have recently added command strips to hang pictures, as we are spending a lot of time camping this spring, summer and fall, and it is much more homey. We just pulled the down [they are like velcro] when we recently moved, and popped them back up.

We use the wardrobe next to the refrigerator for a pantry, I added some shelves in there.

We bought two plastic boxes with lids from Ikea, that fit under the wardrobes on either side of the bed. We use those for our non-hanging clothes.

One thing our salesman did for us, was cut the sink cover in half. One half stays in a cabinet and does not get used. The other stays on the left side, except when we are actively washing dishes. The dirty dishes go in the right sink. The cover gives us more counter space. Then when we want to do dishes, the left sink is clean for rinsing. We have a folding wire rack and drainboard that goes on the stove cover, and one of those microfiber drying pads along side it for big pots.
SmilinBeard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2018, 11:52 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
Tigger1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: MD
Posts: 259
Some questions:

1. Any must do modifications?
2. Where do people store their pillows who have Murphy beds and how thick of a mattress topper can fit?
3. What trailer accessories were really worth it? Especially the inside amenities since storage space is at a premium?
4. And which ones ended up being sneak oil?


Welcome to the forum! We’re enjoying our 2104s just the right size for two. You will get lots of good info on this site. Check out the Search function. As to your matress topper question, we use 1” and strap our pillows, sheets and blankets to the bed and simply fold it up.
__________________
2010 Toyota Tundra DC SR5 5.7l 4x4
2020 Grand Design Imagine XLS 22MLE
Andersen WDH
2018 Rockwood Mini Lite 2104s
2014 Jayco x17z Hybrid
Tigger1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2018, 12:45 PM   #8
Grammar Pedant
 
67L48's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Frederick, CO
Posts: 1,580
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shooting4life View Post
[...] 1. Any must do modifications? [...]
Not really. Your trailer is good to use out of the box.

I added a digital thermostat. I went with Coleman because it was a 1:1 install with integrated fan control. Search here for other options. I like it, I'm glad I did it, I'd do it again, but there's no "must" involved with this upgrade. I used a dreadful analog thermostat for 6 years on my pop-up. Every year I told myself I was going to swap it out. Never did. I survived just fine and that furnace kept us warm and toasty. So, no, not a "must."

I added a push bar to the screen door. Nice, but not a "must."

I will probably add a Slim Shade window/shade to the door. Search here on that for info. I hate the useless frosted window in the door. Can't see out of it; can't block light coming in from it. Garbage. But, again, not a "must."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shooting4life View Post
[...] 2. Where do people store their pillows who have Murphy beds and how thick of a mattress topper can fit? [...]
Mattress and topper concerns are better answered with a search here. Tons and tons and tons of threads on mattresses and toppers. For toppers, I think 4" fits just fine, based on memory.

We store our pillows either on the bed or in the pass-through storage below. Sometimes the strap keeps them in place on the bed ... sometimes they drop through. Either way is fine for us. Some people don't like having that open gap that reaches the pass-through storage and have come up with some pretty nice solutions/fillers (search for those). For us, we don't care and use it in factory condition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shooting4life View Post
[...] 3. What trailer accessories were really worth it? Especially the inside amenities since storage space is at a premium? [...]
We got some cheap cabinet organizers, which are nice. I'd like to get some battery-powered lights for the pantry, because it's hard to see ... having those push-on lights in there would be awesome. Still playing with getting a good-fitting over-the-door rack for the bathroom for hanging towels and such (RV doors are so damn thin that walmart/target racks don't fit at all). Otherwise, we are only using about 50-75% of our interior storage.

Outside accessories that I love are for cooking. I use an Iwatani 35FW butane powered stove for light-duty work. I had been using a Camp Chef version for a few years, which was nice. The Iwatani is 2x hotter and I can use the entire butane canister. Love it. Super convenient. Wouldn't camp without one of these butane stoves.

For big meals, I use a Camp Chef 2-burner stove and griddles. This connects into the trailer's propane quick connect line. Really like this setup. Cast iron griddles cook the best burgers, steak, and chicken I've ever cooked.

I got BAL wheel x-chocks for stability, but still need a bit more bracing to take out excess sway (I may go with Valterra). I use Camco for leveling (the cheaper knock-offs of the Anderson levelers that fit our tighter axle distance without modification). The levelers work as advertised and I like them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shooting4life View Post
[...]4. And which ones ended up being sneak oil?
You mean snake oil? I don't know that I have any products that don't really solve the purported problem. Everything I've purchased seems to work for its intended purpose.

Good luck.
__________________
Every time you use an apostrophe to make a word plural, a puppy dies.

TV: 2019 F-350 Lariat 4WD CCSB 6.7 PSD 3.55, 3,591 lb payload
Former RV: 2018 Rockwood Mini Lite 2504S
Former RV: 2007 Fleetwood/Coleman Utah
Former TV: 2005 F-150 King Ranch 4WD SCrew 5.4L Tow Package
67L48 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2018, 12:57 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Saint Louis
Posts: 1,458
we had an older version of the trailer b4 we got our fifth wheel.

I concur with the Max Air vents. They allow airflow in any weather.

We have dogs so a screen protector/ guard for the door was a must have. The first time we had camped and a squirrel ran by the screen would have been destroyed

I recommend that you get a water regulator, leveling blocks, a GOOD Sewer hose, a brass hose y connector, 50 amp to 30 amp dogbone and a 30 to 15 amp plug.

One of the most important things i can tell you is a EMS system to plug into at campgrounds. not a surge protector, an EMS system. they are $250 ish but worth every penny. You can buy either plug in or a hardwired unit. EMS projects against Surges, but also against Reversed polarity or even low voltage, which can do just as much damage as High.

Most of all, I recommend having fun. the trailer is a great size and you can fit it in almost any Park. We loved taking ours to Yellowstone.
__________________
2015 Ram 2500 4x4 6.4l with 2015 Sandpiper 25RLS
Wife, myself and 2 furry kids
Mountndream is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2018, 01:32 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 270
Upgrade The Bed!!

I had a new mattress before the trailer arrived...

That heated mattress that comes with the trailer, that weighs about 2lbs and is about as comfortable as sleeping standing up had to go!

We went with a 10" short queen from "Mattress Insider". Fits with bed folded up, also we put all the pillows 4 of them under the straps and put it all up with the bed.

All fits fine, stays in place and no problem with space when the bed goes up.

You have to enjoy and look forward to using that camper, gotta improve that bed that comes with all these trailers... not fun.
6CatDaddy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2018, 02:17 PM   #11
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Santa Fe, Tx
Posts: 243
TPMS, Oxygenics shower head outside water filter
__________________
2012 F250 6.2 gasser 373 rear
2013 Rockwood 2104S Mini Lite
Ole Buzzard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-18-2018, 08:43 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 1,011
Obviously, you need a sewer hose, water hoses and adapters for the 30 amp plug. Also get a good water pressure regulator with a gauge. As far as mods go, my 3 best were, a digital thermostat, bracing the fresh water tank, and putting a 12 inch shelf cut to length with extra brackets in place of the board used to keep the mattress in place when the bed is up. Jay
Jay2504 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2018, 09:55 AM   #13
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 113
Welcome! As you can see from my footer (btw, all should put their TV and TT model in the footer) we have the same model, one year older. New as of a year ago to all this and are now in the middle of 3rd trip (15 weeks cross-country last year, 5 weeks late winter, now another 3 month-er). Also just wife, me and our 2 lab mutts.

I also love this forum and have gotten many great ideas over the past 15 months. IMHO, you'll get lots of passionate advice so need to filter much of it. All is based on everyone's personal experience or research and you need to go with what fits.

For example, we lived with the analog thermostat until this trip and survived, and we don't like running the heat or air unless it's really necessary. The digital provides much better control so is a good mod.

We have a 3" memory foam topper and also simply fold up the pillows, bedspread and blankets. Easy! The topper tends to slide down so occasionally have to pull it back, and eventually will shift to a 10" or so foam mattress. We've used the mattress heat a couple times and it's ok but not worth it. I'm 5' 11" so length is fine but the idea of an extension is probably something you'll want to look at.

One of the best mods for me was a TriMetric TM-2030 battery monitoring system, which I installed on the road last year after some battery charging problems (which turned out to be a bad battery). I simply double-sticky taped it to the wall so I can double-check the load after shutting everything off at night. Other mods to provide control over vampire loads: disconnected the fridge door seal heater (good threads on this in the forum) and added a little switch above the a/v center to power off the radio. Some will cringe at this, but I added a similar switch above the CO/LP monitor as we've had problems with it going off very rarely when we using the gas (not electric) for DHW heater. It allows me to turn off the screech so the dogs aren't tortured while we de-bug. VERY unsafe, of course, if you forget to turn it back on or if there's a real problem. Doing the research, the detectors aren't perfect and since it's an intermittent problem (not every time we use gas DHW heat), tough to nail the cause.

Have recently decided to do the door window mod (Slim Shade is another brand I saw on a forum post) when we get home. A major mod I completed before this trip is adding a frosted window to the bathroom door to add light from the wonderful bathroom skylight into that dark corner in back. Wish I'd heard about the Slim Shade sooner as it would have been convenient to simply move the main door window to the bathroom door.

We use the cabinets to left and right of the bed as our primary clothes storage, with "dead" storage in plastic under-bed bins under the couch so still accessible from inside. I built simple, lightweight shelving in there that's worked great. Have matching fiber baskets (Container Store) on the "nightstands" and my wife uses hers for add'l clothes; mine has flashlights and misc stuff.

I also love the Command hooks and use them everywhere. Our dog leashes hang next to the door. We hang the sink cover on the bathroom door with two hooks (handy to reach when we use it, which is rarely), Thin plastic cutting boards hang next to the sink by a clear plastic spice rack I double-sticky taped to the same wall. Paper towel roll holder uses magnets attached to the right side of the range hood.

In the bathroom, I cut the FR-supplied towel rack a bit shorter and mounted it to the wall left of the sink. One of my better ideas was to mount the TP roll holder on the inside of the cabinet door.

We hardly use the TV so keep the toaster oven on the shelf in front of the TV, with a bean bag shoved in back to keep it from scratching the screen.

I bought a Tadi Brothers rear view camera which meant I had to build a mount in place of the standard Furrion mount. Fridge/freezer wireless temp sensor (cheap) to keep an eye on things even when driving (I transfer the magnet-backed display from TT to TV). Spring-loaded bars to keep things in place in the fridge when traveling. Bins and boxes everywhere.

Sorry for the long post - let me know if you want details on any of this. Lots of good ideas in the other posts. Enjoy!!!
__________________
Jack & April Connell
2017 Rockwood Mini Lite 2104S
Tow Vehicle: 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel
Blog for our trailer trips: www.jackandaprilblog.com
jackconn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2018, 07:45 PM   #14
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 4
Thank you to everyone for the great ideas.

Needless to say the amazon cart is pretty deep right now.

One more quick follow up questions.

Is the brochure stated length of 21.5 or so feet. Is that hitch to bumper length or box length?

Thanks
Shooting4life is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2018, 08:13 PM   #15
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 113
The box is 18' and the A frame for the hitch adds another 3.5'. In back the bumper and spare tire add another 16".
__________________
Jack & April Connell
2017 Rockwood Mini Lite 2104S
Tow Vehicle: 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel
Blog for our trailer trips: www.jackandaprilblog.com
jackconn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2018, 08:29 PM   #16
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 4
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackconn View Post
The box is 18' and the A frame for the hitch adds another 3.5'. In back the bumper and spare tire add another 16".
Thanks, that is actually good news. I’ll be able to park it in my driveway then. At least until the HOA finds out about it.
Shooting4life is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2018, 08:57 PM   #17
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 67
We have a 2017 2104s and one thing I did was remove the water filter that came mounted inside the trailer.Filter housing started leaking right after we started using the camper.
Malojeer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-28-2018, 11:58 AM   #18
Junior Member
 
TX_F2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 10
Welcome!

We also have a 2018 2104s and love it. Tons of helpful people here with great ideas. One of the first Mods I did was replace the analog thermostat with a digital Coleman one that was a super easy wire for wire swap with the old one.

We also hung fabric shelf organizers from the wardrobe clothes rod on either side of the Murphy bed. Underneath the fridge at floor level there are two doors but you’ll notice they are permanently closed with hinges. Facing the fridge, the door on the left provides access to the hot water tank and the door on the right provides access to the water filter. I removed the one hinge and made the doors open and close. This provides some extra storage space for small items and quick access if there is a leak.

Enjoy your new camper and don’t hesitate to ask questions here, everyone is very helpful.
__________________
2018 Rockwood Mini Lite 2104S
2018 Ram 2500 4X4 CC
TX_F2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-28-2018, 04:33 PM   #19
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 113
Like TX_F2, I also took those crazy hinge lock things off the two access panels. Not sure why they don't want people to have easy access but since some of the water valves are in there you kinda have to get there from time to time anyway. I put two Honeywell battery-operated water leak detectors on each side for early warning of any small leak...like from the filter holder (happened to us early on - getting rid of the inside filter is a common mod and on my list). Plus those two doors make a very convenient liquor cabinet.
__________________
Jack & April Connell
2017 Rockwood Mini Lite 2104S
Tow Vehicle: 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel
Blog for our trailer trips: www.jackandaprilblog.com
jackconn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-28-2018, 10:37 PM   #20
Member
 
Sparkz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 47
Quote:
Originally Posted by TX_F2 View Post
Welcome!

We also have a 2018 2104s and love it. Tons of helpful people here with great ideas. One of the first Mods I did was replace the analog thermostat with a digital Coleman one that was a super easy wire for wire swap with the old one.

Which model did you use? The Coleman Mach 8330-3362? There seem to be several different thermostats that people have used and I'd like to be sure that the one I get is a direct replacement.



Thanks
__________________
2018 Rockwood 2104S
2018 Dodge Ram 1500
Sparkz is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
210

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Forest River, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:30 AM.