Our Minnie Winnie FLX 2108 comes with a host of accessories and extras. Pretty well everything you need to travel and camp cross-country is included with the trailer, so all you have to do is to load your pots & pans and personal things and you’re all set to go!
Supplementary Solar Power
The trailer comes from the factory with 400 watts of roof-mounted solar panels but we wanted to go overboard to make sure we didn’t every have to worry about running the battery down. We bought an additional 200 watt solar panel from Renology (a major solar supplier) and put it next to the trailer in a rack I built with adjustable panel angle (to compensate for the changing height of the sun in the sky as the seasons change.Solar power systems need what’s called a charge controller to managing the energy available from the solar panels to the charging needs of the battery. The charge controller which was factory-installed with the roof-top solar panels was large enough to handle the extra power coming from the additional panel we bought. However, for technical reasons, panel efficiency is sacrificed if one controller is used to manage panels from two different manufacturers. In the interest of getting the most out of the panels, I installed another Victron charge controller (shown above) which is strictly dedicated to the new panel we bought.
Tow Gear
A Reese Class 3 hitch for a 2″ square receiver goes with the trailer together with the required hitch ball. The hitch is adjustable up and down to accommodate tow vehicles of different heights.The anti-sway bar has a friction adjustment which can be changed, if necessary, for different loads, speeds, winds, etc.Low tire pressure is an important risk when towing. If the pressure’s too low, it can lead to premature tire wear and, even more importantly, actual tire failure. The wireless tire pressure monitor allows you to view the pressure on all four tires from the driver’s seat.When traveling long distances cross country, it’s important to check the tightness of the wheel lug nuts regularly. (When we traveled coast-to-coast in our previous RV, we checked the lug nut tightness every day before departing.) The trailer include a torque wrench and lug nut socket.
Outdoor Living
The two comfy folding chair fit in the pass-through storage locker access from the outside. Although it’s not clear in the picture, each chair also includes a beverage holder 😉The trailer includes a stainless BBQ for grilling outdoors. This BBQ does not require a propane bottle. Instead, it is designed to connect directly to the external propane outlet on the trailer.In addition to the propane BBQ, a two-burner propane cooktop is included for cooking outdoors.
Shore Power
In our previous RV, we camped from Nova Scotia to BC and found that a 30-foot shore power cord was long enough almost everywhere except in Ontario provincial parks. For some reason, in our Ontario parks, the power pedestals can be located a long was from the camping sites. Three 30-amp shore power cables are included with the trailer so you won’t get stuck without shore power.Most provincial parks and private campground provide shore power which takes a 30-amp plug, but not all of them do. Several different power adapters are included so you can plug in to most of the other common types of plugs.A shore power surge protector is included with the trailer. The trailer has a lot of expensive electronics which could be wrecked by problems with shore power, so when we were plugged in, we always used a surge protector so that lightning strikes near our campground would not damage our electronics.
Water
The plastic drinking water tanks on almost all boats and RV’s impart a slight chemical taste to the water which my wife finds particularly off-putting. I therefore installed a drinking water system on the trailer which is completely separate from the fresh water tanking in the trailer. The system uses 5-gallon refillable purified water tanks like you can buy throughout Ontario together with a separate water pump and tap.When staying in a campsite (as opposed to boondocking), there are occasions when the nearest water faucet is quite far away making it hard to fill the fresh water tank if you run out. The trailer includes 100 ft of collapsible water hose.If you’re planning on drinking the water in campsites, these filters are a good idea to remove odours and sediment.
Waste Water
Getting rid of sewage means using a flexible plastic hose to connect the outlet valve on the trailer to a hole in the ground which leads to the waste storage tank at the dump station. When the dump valve at the trailer is opened, 25 gallons of sewage rushes out very quickly so it’s not the place for a flimsy hose. Rhino-branded hoses are probably the best in the business.When dumping sewage into a small hole in the ground, the last thing you want is for the hose to get loose and thrash around spewing waste everywhere. This Rhino attachment connects to the end of the sewage hose and the other end has an adapter to firmly connect to different dump hole sizes.When pumping out, it’s important to rinse the waste tanks and waste water hose but it’s vital that you don’t use your drink water hose when dealing with septic waste. The “safety orange” colour of this waste clean-up hose makes it hard to mix up with the drinking water hose.If you’re going to be boondocking for a while, you will need to do something with your black water (septic) water and grey (washing) water. The included Barker 22-gallon wheeled tank allows you to take your black and grey water to a pumpout station without moving the trailer. (A separately-purchased macerator pump is needed to move the waste water.)
Safety
Most new RV’s come with budget tires which contribute to the many stories about flats and blowouts when towing cross country (especially when it’s hot). Our previous RV came with some of these budget specials, so when we were planning our travels from Cape Breton to Vancouver, we did a lot of research to determine the highest quality RV tires and found that Goodyear Wranglers were widely recognized as among the best. Because we wanted to have peace of mind towing across Canada, we installed a set of Wranglers (even thought they cost over $1,500.) Fortunate, our Winnebago Micro Minnie FLX 2108 came from the factory equipped with Wranglers.The trailer has dual axles which are a big plus from a safety standpoint. Even with top-notch tires like the Wranglers, it’s still possible to have a flat. Fortunately, with dual axles there’s no need to jack up the trailer to change the tire – just drive the good wheel up onto the tire ramp shown above and set the brake, and the other tire will be safely lifted off the ground.The trailer includes plastic chocks which are wedged behind the wheels to prevent the trailer from moving on the camp site when disconnected from the tow vehicle. In addition, there is also an X-chock (shown) which can be put between the wheels and screwed to expanding, adding more security.For the rare maintenance where the trailer (or the tow vehicle) needs to be jacked up, the 6-tonne jack stands included will be more than enough to safety support the trailer (which ways closer to 2 tonnes).
Maintenance
The trailer comes with a cover for the air conditioner (though to be honest, we never even opened the box).
