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jfkmk's avatar
jfkmk
Explorer
Sep 18, 2016

Rock wood campers?

We currently have a small (17') camper and are looking for something just slightly bigger. We saw a Rockwood 21' Micro Lite that looked interesting at the Hershey RV show. It had things were looking for, such as a couch to sit on instead of just the dinette, it ha one slide that made the floor plan big and open. This particular one had the Murphy Bed.

We currently tow with a mid-sized SUV which I know I'll have to replace, but I really don't want a monster truck. In fact, I'd prefer a Suburban or similar over a pu, so something this size would work.

Any input on the Rockwood campers? They seem pretty solid, but they all do at the show.

Thanks!
  • SoundGuy wrote:
    jfkmk wrote:
    This particular one had the Murphy Bed.


    Regardless of brand you'd want to carefully consider whether you can live with the lack of storage caused by that Murphy Bed design. Compare that to any trailer with a front walk around queen bed that includes a pass through front storage compartment plus storage under the bed itself and the limitations of that Murphy Bed should be obvious. An example what you'll be missing ...



    SoundGuy,
    Good point, and we did notice the pass through storage was very small, even compared to our little 17'er.
  • Plus storage under the queen walk around bed ...



    And this is just a 19' trailer that measures a whopping 22'6" coupler to bumper. :B
  • jfkmk wrote:
    This particular one had the Murphy Bed.


    Regardless of brand you'd want to carefully consider whether you can live with the lack of storage caused by that Murphy Bed design. Compare that to any trailer with a front walk around queen bed that includes a pass through front storage compartment plus storage under the bed itself and the limitations of that Murphy Bed should be obvious. An example what you'll be missing ...

  • I saw that one and even set the bed up to see how it was to do, it seemed like a lot of work and also noticed a couple of pinch points for your fingers in the process. Over all it was a neat idea but also a bit of work, good luck on your search.
  • I saw that one and even set the bed up to see how it was to do, it seemed like a lot of work and also noticed a couple of pinch points for your fingers in the process. Over all it was a neat idea but also a bit of work, good luck on your search.
  • Community Alumni's avatar
    Community Alumni
    We owned a Micro Lite 21 DS for over two years and it was a fairly decent trailer. Like someone mentioned in another post, the quality is about average and you'll find some minor issues.

    I pulled my Micro Lite with a 2014 Grand Cherokee V6 with no problems. I think the gross weight of the 21DS is just under 5,000 pounds and the Jeep can tow 6,200.
  • We just bought our second Rockwood in June. Our 1st one was 36ft. We had it 13 years and never had to carry it back for any reason. We decided to down size this time and bought a 28ft. This one has 3 slides with a weight of 6400lbs. I do have a big truck (F350 diesel dually). We love the Rockwoods.
  • The Rockwood Mini-Lites and Micro-Lites are just that - lightweight - meaning the materials used are not as solid as with bigger, heavier campers. Workmanship I would say is probably average; you're bound to find a few faults with fit & finish, but most times nothing major. I think you might struggle to pull that 21' with that midsize SUV, and if you don't have at least an 8-cylinder engine and a "tow package" (larger radiator/transmission cooler/built-in wiring and classIII hitch or better), I would discourage it. However, since you're used to towing the 17' with it, you probably won't find it all that much different to tow, since one of the biggest factors is wind resistance.