Full review of the 2023 Rockwood Mini Lite 2205S with Power Package

Today’s RV review is of the 2023 Rockwood Mini Lite 2205S with the optional Power Package. While I try to be as unbiased as possible with my RVs, sometimes that’s difficult. You see, this is the RV that we bought for ourselves.

First, some back story. This is our third Rockwood trailer. The first we bought after a lot of research into how various travel trailers were built. It served us very well for five years until I hit a drainage ditch and split the frame in half.

After considering building a cargo trailer conversion (read about that here) we partnered with Rockwood and became brand ambassadors. As such we chose a 2022 2205S trailer rather than building our own. We did purchase that trailer, but at a significant discount in exchange for providing some content. We picked that trailer up in May of 2022.

And then, when sitting at a construction site, another driver rear-ended us and totaled that trailer. Yes. In the same year that we had totaled the previous one. This was August.

While a lot of people asked if we were going bigger or different, we like this floor plan. It’s large enough that we can hang out in here on rainy days but small enough to moochdock in a friend’s driveway.

Changes for 2023

RVs are produced in waves so I could want a 2205S all I wanted, but I would have to wait until that floor plan went into production. The combination of insurance payouts and production schedules meant that we got to brave Indiana in December (I’m no fan of winter) to pick up this new trailer. So off we went and did a quick turnaround to the Hoosier state for our third trailer of the year.

When you think of the market in 2022 the RV companies were selling everything they could build. From a logical standpoint I don’t see any reason to make changes but Rockwood has been listening to their customers and a lot of changes were made to these trailers. The majority of these changes are just detail changes, but little details can often make a big difference.

New cabinets over where the theater seats would be in a 2023 Rockwood Mini Lite 2205S. Note that we have no theater seats in our own trailer, instead we have office chairs and two portable desks. This is our corner office.

Taking control

To me one of the best changes is to the control panel. This is a new panel that encompasses the light switches, tank readouts and all of that. This panel also can integrate with the WeRV app so everything you can do at the touch of a button you can do with an app on the phone.

To prevent your pocket from opening awnings or slide rooms on the road, there is a lock-out of the phone control. Essentially you have to go inside and turn on a light and that enables the app to open slide rooms and awnings. It’s a simple but good solution.

The functionality of the app and control panel are really well done but something I really like about the physical control panel is that there is a motion sensor on it. When you walk by or wave your hands in front of it, the buttons and readings light up. Conversely when you’re trying to sleep, the panel is completely dark. Again, a really well thought through solution.

Kitchen

I liked the layout of the kitchen in this trailer already but they’ve stepped up their game in a number of ways.

The stove has been moved down to the end of the cabinet which translates into a larger continuous counter top. As usual, Rockwood is using the larger 22” oven and this model can be lighted without having to go find matches or a lighter. Instead, the built-in striker also lights the oven.

The larger 22" RV oven which is very usable. — The larger 22” RV oven in the Rockwood Mini Lite 2205S which we are using to bake a chicken broccoli casserole.

If you’ve never had to do the contortion of lighting an RV oven you may not realize just how terrific this is. Plus, we’ve already baked things in that larger oven. This 22” Magic Chef oven is a good unit and one of many examples of Rockwood choosing something that’s superior to what many RV companies choose.

Most companies, including ones that build toy haulers, choose the smaller almost worthless 17” ovens.

Another addition to the kitchen is a pop-up power outlet and this one incorporates both USB 2.0 and USB C power ports along with two household power outlets. In addition, the top is an induction charging port for smart phones and such.

You can pop the tower of power up and use the outlets or just use the top even when it’s down to charge your phone or whatever.

On the other side of the trailer the cabinets that are above where they normally put the theater seats have been revised. There are now three doors which flip up so access to this space is better.

Flushed with changes

There are a number of changes to the plumbing and bathroom as well.

The toilet has been replaced with a Thetford model which seems shallower and wider. It also sports a soft-close seat and lid. We’re getting fancy here!

Rockwood RVs have had built-in water filters for years now. Our first one had one and the one we got in May did as well, but this one does not. We run a Facebook group of Rockwood and Flagstaff enthusiasts on Facebook and a recent survey indicated that the vast majority of owners didn’t install the filter cartridge at all and many have simply cut the filtration system out of the plumbing altogether. Since this proved to have little value to owners, there was no point in putting them in any longer.

Honestly we never put a filter cartridge into either of the two previous trailers even though they were included with the trailers. Instead, we just use our Clear20 water filter system which is external to the trailer. Now an external filter comes with these trailers.

Since there’s no filter under the sink of this particular model, the layout under the sink has been reconfigured to provide more storage for stuff. We modified the under-sink compartment in the previous trailer, we didn’t have to in this one.

The 1000 watts of GoPower Solar panels on the roof of our 2023 Rockwood Mini Lite with Power Package

The Power Package

Our previous trailer was actually a prototype unit so Rockwood could work with ABC Upfitters and Mastervolt to dial-in the Power Package option. The Power Package is a very capable solar and battery system that quite literally is able to operate the air conditioner.

How you can run an RV air conditioner on battery and solar power.

The system in this model has been significantly upgraded. The 2022 Power Package upgrade features five 200 watt GoPower! solar panels on the roof of the trailer. These still provide power to a Mastervolt 60 amp charge controller system which feeds a 400 amp-hour lithium battery. There’s a 3,000 watt inverter that’s also part of the system so you can quite literally run everything in the RV on battery power.

How long? That depends! Variables like the amount of sun you’re getting, what systems are running and for how long absolutely affect the performance of this system. This is no different Than your propane system. What you have operating and for how long affects how long a tank of propane lasts.

I will tell you that, in the previous trailer, I could get the air conditioner to run for 4-8 hours depending on the heat, what else was running, the amount of sun and what setting I had on the air conditioner.

Rockwood features

I had mentioned buying three Rockwood trailers, this being our third. I also indicated that we had made the purchase decision after a lot of research. So what drove us in this direction?

Rockwood does a lot of things that show that the company favors the better components when making decisions. The larger 22” oven is an example of that.

But they also do their own lamination of the wall builds and set their own windshields in a climate controlled space, rather than relying on someone else to do that.

The wall lamination is done with vacuum lamination systems in-house at Rockwood. This is the better way to do things. In addition they use Azdel substrate in the wall build on both interior and exterior walls.

Even the roofs on these are vacuum laminated which is almost never done in the RV industry.

Check out our article on RV construction types and why it matters.

There are also frameless windows which require less maintenance. Since these do have less air flow, there are high-performance vent fans built in and you can order a second one if you choose to. We did.

I like the Dexter torsion axle suspension systems as well. They provide a better ride and smoother towing. A smoother ride means your trailer and the things in it will get less jarred and shaken on the surfaces we call roads.

There are a lot of areas where Rockwood really stands out, in a good way. Like any product made by humans they’re not perfect, but I feel owning one is more StressLess than some RVs out there.

Covid RVs

We see almost daily posts about avoiding campers built within certain periods of time or after a certain year. I call malarkey. In many cases.

Companies that specialized in very affordable products or whose quality control systems weren’t really good did produce a lot of second-rate RVs during Covid. Further, some companies went crazy with cranking production numbers up to satisfy the demand.

Rockwood did not hire a bunch of amateurs or crank up demand. They maintained things the way they have done for years. As such, our 2022 Mini Lite was a solid, trouble-free camper and this one has been as well. I see no signs of a change in quality between this trailer, the previous one or the 2016 that we had.

Well, that’s not totally true. I do see improvements in components and features. Rockwood isn’t the only brand that has maintained or improved quality, so the universal lie that campers made during Covid are bad is just that. Not true.

I have watched these trailers being built and the attention to detail along with eagle-eyed quality assurance team members is really impressive. Quality team members have color-coded tape they adhere to trailers as they are inspected along the lines to indicate where something didn’t meet their standards.

I’ve had them show me what they see and, quite frankly, I would have never caught this. These people have something one step below x-ray vision. Further, a leader is responsible for correcting these errors so if something seems like it happens with any frequency, you can bet it’ll be corrected so it just stops happening.

What I would change

There are a couple of items I would change about this camper but they’re truly minor.

The first is that there is a USB outlet right by the bed on the road side. This has both USB 2.0 and USB C outlets on it, which is nice. But there’s a very bright green LED on this and it’s right by the bed. I’ve seen a lot of 2023 RVs with this same device.

Have I mentioned that the green LED is bright? It’s bright.

Second, the quick disconnect for the outside griddle is mounted to the chassis way, way under the skirting around the RV. That means getting to the quick disconnect, which requires two hands to operate, is a contortionist’s job. We’re not contortionists and we do like the flat-top griddle that comes with the trailer.

Conclusions

One of the things I get asked is what the difference is between Rockwood and Flagstaff trailers. Frankly, the only difference are the stickers. They’re built by the same people using the same processes on the same assembly line. So if you don’t have a Rockwood dealer near by but do have a good Flagstaff dealer, the Flagstaff equivalent is the Flagstaff 22FBS.

These trailers are well made and I think the attention to detail really does result in a better camping experience. We continue to be happy with the choice we made and it has served us well already. I see no reason why this trailer won’t continue to do so over time.

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