100+ Modification & Upgrades to my Camper - Yes I'm CRAZY! Winnebago Micro Minnie

hey guys welcome back to the channel i'm mark and you're watching gas tax garage today we're gonna go over the 100 plus modifications i've done to my travel trailer so let's jump right into it if you're new to the channel thanks for stopping by if you're a longtime subscriber always good to have your back just a quick announcement i'm going to be giving away over 17 000 of prizes in the next eight months be sure you like and subscribe so you don't miss out when i announce that opportunity all right guys bear with me this video is going to be a bit longer than usual but it is going to have a lot of information now i understand a lot of you won't do a hundred plus modifications to your travel trailer but i'm sure you'll learn something and maybe one or two or ten of these upgrades you will enjoy so stick around watch the whole thing i'm gonna start on the front work my way around the trailer then we're gonna jump inside and i'll go over the inside so everything i mentioned in this video i will have a link down below where you can actually find these products if you want them they will be categorized as far as exterior interior and then i'm gonna make more videos in detail later on in the coming weeks about specific upgrades and how i did them but let's jump off with the first upgrade i bought this hitch lock it's a very beefy one make sure you spend your money on a hitch lock it's protecting your travel trailer moving on back i upgraded my chains to these cables because they coil up and they look a bit nicer when you go up to the tongue jack here i got this tongue jack cover firstly it keeps all the electronics nice and dry and it also gives you a place for your cable and your chains next up you'll see i have this different auxiliary wire here now this auxiliary wire i can plug into my actual suv or my truck and it charges my four lithium ion batteries if i'm traveling on a day where there's no sun so that's what that is if you look down at the tongue jack i have a quick jack tongue jack this just saves you about eight inches of holding the button it flops down and folds up it's a great accessory so you don't sit here all day holding this button for that tongue jack to come down moving on back i have upgraded the 20 pound propane tanks to 30 pound pro propane tanks i do a lot of winter camping that's actually when i camp i do not camp in the summer because i'm a boater so i upgraded these because you use a lot of propane on top of that i actually moved them forward about six inches and the reason for that is this is where i store my 2000 watt inverted generator great location for it so i absolutely love it coming over to this side you will see i have upgraded the trailer breakaway cable away as well this is a metal cable but it does coil up to keep things nice and tidy right behind there you will see there's a blue little box here this is my wireless tpms sensor tire pressure monitor if you travel a lot with your travel trailer you're going to want to monitor your tire pressure all the time when you're traveling so this one actually keeps the gives you the temperature of the tire and the psi and you can monitor it in your car you'll also see i have a weight distribution hitch mount i went with the equalizer weight distribution mount and so far all good let's jump over to the other side and show you something unique so here is my equalizer hitch but attached to the equalizer hitch is something called the shocker hitch now what i've done with this shocker hitch is well you can buy this it is an airbag suspension that keeps the bounce of the travel trailer and the suv that you know wave-like feeling away and it actually absorbs all of that bumping so i really recommend this but it is super expensive from there you can see i added another hitch mount right here hitches are the most commonly stolen things at campgrounds so i make sure i put this here use my hitch pin so when i do leave my camper at the campground i have it all nice and locked up and i don't have to leave it attached to the car one weird thing that it took me a while to figure out is the equalizer does make a lot of noise when you're turning there are these little plastic tabs that reduce the noise moving on up you can see there are two floodlights in the front and a camera i have a full surround camera system on all sides as well as floodlights but we can jump into those when i move inside the cab alright starting on this side i have added a mount over here this is a grill mount i use a different kind of grille not a regular rv grill i have a grille for my boat in the summer so i just use those back and forth i put a mount on this side and the other side in case the wind is blowing and will minimize my effectiveness on my grill moving down here i've also moved my propane outlet from below the frame to through the frame that way if i go off-roading it doesn't rip off the propane attachment looking down as well at the stabilizer feet i i bought an attachment that you connect to your stabilizer legs that actually help spread the weight of the stabilizer so if you are in soft ground like this dirt here it actually doesn't sink in the mud and it creates a nice stable platform that way you don't have to carry those plastic pads around keeping on the theme of below i have actually added two more fresh water tanks i've added a 40 gallon tank right here another 40 gallon tank and then there's the the stock 36 gallon tank right behind me i'm gonna make detailed videos of those later so be sure you subscribe now let's jump into the basement as you can see with the basement i have my general tools here i have a little axe for cutting up some firewood then i have my big axe in case there's a bigger thing i need to cut down and below there's a hand saw that i've attached when you go inside you'll actually see my four lithium bat lithium ion batteries for my solar system my 3 000 watt inverter generator and on top of that inside this compartment here there's the solar charge controller it's in a weird spot but it is blue too so i can access it from my phone and then i've also installed a gauge system here where i can monitor the two fresh tanks i've added another thing i've done is i've always carry a big fire extinguishers i have one on this side and the other side just in case you never know these things are a big bonfire waiting to happen and you want to be safe so i made sure i upgraded the fire extinguishers moving towards the back now i upgraded the lock to a keypad lock i hate carrying keys so this really is nice just the locking and unlocking even when i'm not using the camper and i want to get something out of the camper while i'm at home it's great not to shuffle around looking for the keys up top is a removable uh thermometer i have a nice screen inside that gives me four areas i can monitor the temperature i remove this when i'm traveling but i keep it inside but when i get to my spot i just put it here it's always nice to see the temperature outside moving towards the back since this camper is going to be sitting all summer and the water heater and furnace aren't going to be using i made sure i got the insect guard so nothing actually nests itself inside the water tank and the furnace definitely a must moving back here i have a shotgun rack i do plan on going ski shooting or hunting boondocking as well where there could be bears i just like having the safety of my shotgun where i am obviously stick with your local laws if you're allowed to do that looking down below i upgraded the tires to the wild peak at-3s these are tires i actually use on all my cars as well so i just wanted something that had a better brand recognition than the the ones that came with the tires i never had with the camber i never had any problems with those i just wanted a bigger name looking down below if you guys have micro minis our axles are close together and it's hard to find it a wheel chalk that actually fits in between them but this x chalk works out perfectly now if you look on up you will see i have a flood light in the front and the rear and then i also have the camera but that wraps up this side let's move on to the back now guys if you're new to the channel i just put out a five part video series of me going around lake michigan in extreme cold i have built this for winter camping so if you want to see me actually use the camper and the extreme temperatures i did be sure you check those videos out another thing on the bottom that i forgot to mention is i increased the insulation normally there's about an eighth inch of coral plast i went up to a half inch of foam core board and so far it works out great so now on the back let's start from the top and work our way down i have two cameras up top and a flood light camera on the top top is for if i'm going to be traveling in convoy i can see all the way back and see uh if i'm losing anyone in my convoy the camera down below is actually for parking backing up it makes life so much easier then i've got my floodlight obviously for night time up top here i have my uh traction pads i do go off-roading in this trailer and if i get stuck these will just help me put some pads under the tires to get more traction to get out of my sticky situation down below i have eight gallons of extra gas the gas is for my generator as well as my suv i tow with a 20-20 ford expedition and depending on how i'm driving i get about six to seven gallons a mile so extra gas is a must especially when you're going off the beaten path now down below something very unique is i have installed the actual hitch a frame mounted hitch a lot of controversy out here but i removed the rear bumper and went into the frame and installed a frame mounted hitch the reason for that is twofold one i have a winch on the rear in case i do get stuck going forwards i need something to help me pull myself out and if i'm not using the winch i actually put a 200cc motorcycle on the back my goal is never to be stuck my goal is always to be prepared so i have a motorcycle if i know i'm going to do off-roading i will take the motorcycle off scout the trail come back load the motorcycle up and then go find that perfect boondocking or over landing spot without the risk of getting stuck but then again i also have this winch it's a ten thousand pound worn winch that can help pull me out if i get stuck let's jump on to the other side now guys i am moving pretty fast so keep in mind i'm going to do detailed videos by category in the following weeks so stick around for those i'm just giving you the general overview so this upgrade i'm going to talk about next is probably the best upgrade if you're going to be winter camping and boondocking if you look down below i have removed all of my gravity fed dump stations now you're going to say i got a composting toilet no i still have a black tank and a gray tank and they are black and gray tanks the reason i have removed that is because i have installed a macerating pump system what that is is a garbage disposal if you will like in your kitchen sink except for your black and your gray it reduces your pipe size from that three four inch pipe to a garden hose and it also gives it pressure so let's say i'm camping in the the winter and there's no dump stations open but i do find a porta potty or i find a long drop if you will toilet at a state park i can hook up my garden hose pipe and it actually can pump uphill and into the toilet so i can dump out now i'm going to quickly show you how i operate that with a couple switches inside so let's jump in so right inside here i've installed three separate switches one switch is a main switch to power the actual pumps and then the next two switches are the actual pumps let me just turn on the gray as you can hear um that's the pump turning on the reason for the master switch is i want to be conscious enough to know that i'm hitting these pumps on i don't want my feet to be covered in all of my fertilizer so that's why i did that another upgrade while i'm in here is i added this access panel firstly for the drains they are right below and secondly just because all the wires are back here so i'd like to access the wire in case something happens another good upgrade is a paper towel holder right here it is a messy job doing the dump if you will so be sure you add that so now moving up to the top you will notice i actually have my spare tire on the roof i don't have them on the back i actually have two spare tires i put them both on the top of my camper now guys i have over 400 hours building this camper out i also have 8 000 miles on this camper off-road highway all types of different scenarios people are gonna say that's not safe that doesn't work it's all tried and tested i've had no issues with any upgrade i've done and i've used this camper quite a bit another thing on the roof you'll see i have this antenna that is the wii boost obviously i do youtube i love watching youtube i need some service when i'm out there this just helps in case there is weak signal around i can get some service let's move on to the front all right guys same theme continues i have the flood lights on this side and then i have a camera on the slide i also installed a slide topper slide toppers are a must if you are fall camping or camping where the snow is or just in general i would recommend one but it keeps all the leaves and the dirt debris off the top of your slide if they go in and out next up you can also see i have solar panels on the roof i have 570 watts of solar 400 amp hours of lithium batteries this baby is completely off the grid i haven't had it plugged into my house in a month and it's still fully functional inside we'll show you that when i get inside but let's jump into this side of the basement here is the grill mount i mentioned earlier then again i got some bolt cutters every now and then people tend to chain up public roads so i have that i have my pry bar for my equalizer hitch and then right up here i have an actual snow shovel slash dutch shovel again with safety in mind i make sure i have a extra fire extinguisher the reason for both sides is if i do see an accident on the highway obviously i'm driving i want something easy accessible for me so i put one on both sides well guys that wraps up the exterior let's jump onto the interior so you can see what i've done there well guys i guess i forgot to mention what travel trailer actually have i have a micro mini 2306 bhs absolutely love this floor plan it has a full-size bed and two bunk beds in the back the cool thing about the the micro mini is it is a narrow trailer and that's why i chose it but definitely i wanted the slide but let's jump into the interior upgrades firstly i have a murphy bed setup so let me show you that so right here with the murphy bed as you know uh mattresses in rvs are terrible i was actually in the mattress industry for eight years so the first thing i did was upgrade my mattress if you're looking for a great bargain mattress the linen spa used to be a competitor of mine when i was in the industry so i hated them at the time but i love them now because they are good value now let's start at the top i installed a better fan the stock fans are terrible this is a max fan great for getting air through here also removing humidity with winter camping moving on to the storage here i have added a shelf i do not hang anything as far as clothes when i'm camping i'm camping it's not meant to be my house that's how i use it so everything is folded and shoved in there if you look up here this is the levelmate pro now if you move your camper a lot like daily i would highly recommend this this is an app based system that helps you tell you if your trailer is level left and right and front to back you turn it on and then you can actually see it from your phone that way there's no yelling back and forth between you and your partner what is level and what's not moving up top here is one of my antennas for my wii boost cell phone booster uh you have to have two antennas inside so one's further in the back and one is up front if you look down below there is my gps mount charger so that tracks me uh when i'm traveling as well as it acts as an emergency cell phone if i'm camping without any service i can text or call emergency help with that as well as when my camper is not in use i leave it in here then if it does get stolen i can track it with that down below is my actual camera mount system let me turn that on so this is my camera monitor i can move back and forth from my car to the camper when i'm driving i leave this sitting next to me in the car so i can see all the cameras around and when i'm in the camper i leave it next to me so i can see everything that's happening down below to keep all of that charging i installed some outlets to keep everything charged they do turn off because i am off the grid all the time i am very conscious about energy so everything has to have a master kill switch not necessarily a battery shut off but a master kill switch that i can control inside another great purchase that i forgot to mention when i'm talking about this fan is this for winter camping it is great for installation but it is also great because this is a skylight and if you don't want to wake up early it blocks out the sun i would highly recommend one of these now if you know winter winter means a lot of clothes so i've installed hooks everywhere these hooks are perfect they're very heavy duty they're all over the camper i recommend the hooks moving on down you'll see my shotgun mount it's actually a lock mount so it is secured to the wall i just found this is the best place to put it because it's too long to go in the actual closet now let's jump on to the entry area alrighty so this is my control panel that i have installed normally you only have a light switch right here for this light and the awning and the slide outs i installed a bunch of different switches firstly i've got my key uh keychain holder right here this first row are all the floodlights on the exterior so this would be a master switch and this is a front left back right and then i also have spotlights on the underneath of the camper i just wanted that in case i get a flat tire at night or in case i'm boondocking and there's animals under there turn that on so now the reason for the master switch is they're all on and i can kill it or if i just want the the patio lights on now it's just the patio lights on so that's why the master switch is there moving on up these are tank heaters since i went to camp i installed five tank heaters tank heaters automatically turn on when the temperature is below 45 i don't want that because i use everything on battery here so there's again a master switch and then fresh tank fresh tank fresh tank gray tank black tank that's how i treat everything obviously there's no reason to keep my fresh tanks that are empty warm so that's why i have these all these switches separately moving on up this is my awning light this is my main camera light so the cameras again draw energy even if you don't have amusing so i just wanted to have a main kill switch these two are extra extra ones in case i install extra accessories later since i used a lot of propane i installed this wireless propane monitor absolutely love it it is a great investment also it comes with a smartphone app so you don't have to use these gauges the rest of the controls are standard i did change this one light to dimmable because we have kids they go to bed early we like to keep some light in here but not the full effect of light keeping on the door here i installed this push handle here on the screen it also helps grab and close the screen door really like that for some extra security since we always camp at off-season i installed some household bear spray if you will right by the door in case we need it and then a paper towel holder which everyone needs some paper towels so let's jump into the kitchen all right now that we're in the kitchen let's just go over my solar power setup here as i mentioned earlier i have 570 watts of solar 400 amp hours of lithium batteries up top here is a victron battery monitor right now i have 84 i've had the inverter on um for the last two weeks and you know today is a cloudy day but i still have 100 power in here at 84 battery this is my inverter controller charger so i can turn the inverter off uh i probably should leave it off and then up here batteries don't like working in the cold so again this is another battery uh heater master switch and then the heating pad here is the weather gauge or the temperature monitor that i talked about earlier i have a bunch of these uh monitors that i keep in the basement or wherever i want them that way i can monitor the temperature whenever i need to coming down to the sink area uh this is a great little addition mine didn't come with this i saw some campers did i just had to cut these poles down with a pipe cutter so it fits perfectly on my sink great way to dry your dishes since we do not know the quality of our water all the time i filter our water at least four times before drinking it a filter at the actual faucet then i have a triple filter system right here and our drinking water comes right here it's great system it removes even the irony taste from water when you in the bushes i guess so i highly recommend installing that let's jump into the pantry right now firstly we love cooking uh so we have all our spices up top then we also have all of our actual uh storage for our pantry these things are great our pantry uh doesn't move around that much these are the things we just don't take in and out of the camper when we're not using it love this setup so when you enter in the the bottom of the sink all my triple filtration is in the back there and then i install this quick little protein spar snack tray here love this little thing it doesn't take up any space but you gain extra room all righty back here is our tv station what i have done is this is the main power switch for the wii boost system and then just an additional uh switch in case i add anything inside here is where i keep the separate modem the tv is standard with my camper but behind the tv there's some storage so that's where i keep my walkie-talkies in case we go hiking or in case i need to talk to my wife while traveling down a trail she can help me out there as i mentioned uh with fire extinguishers i increased the size of the fire extinguisher at the door and i added one in the rear since my kids are sleeping separate from me i need to be able to access a fire extinguisher wherever i am i know it's a small space i'm just a nut for safety so down below i installed another fire extinguisher again here are some more hooks some key chain hooks some hooks for my kids stuff but let's go closer to the back where i'm gonna actually remove you guys from the tripod because it's very tight back here so moving on back to the bunk house if you guys have a winnebago uh with the bunk house you'll know this is a problem they put the thermostat right where every child knocks it and knocks the screen off or even changes the temperature so i put one of these boxes here just to prevent that up top i put another carbon monoxide sensor there is one already with the camper but i just installed another one in the rear just because in each one of my kids beds i installed this little vanity if you will so they can have their knickknacks when they are traveling i installed a little usb fan for them as well and then back here we have a whiteboard to keep them busy when they wake up at 5am and i don't want to wake up i didn't feel like putting a ladder here for my daughter to climb up so i just got one of these rock climbing mounts screwed that to the wall that really helps her climb in now in the bathroom i upgraded the toilet to a porcelain dometic 320 i had to cut out the back there i still need to figure out how to clean that up but this is a must those other toilets sound like they're going to explode whenever you look at them and also the elongated bowl makes it feel like you're at home back here i installed as well an oxygen x body spa shower head to save on water consumption a soap dispenser and then a toilet uh roll holder other than that everything else is stuck in the back now one thing i didn't show you is down below i have the three water tanks that i mentioned but they are all separate in case one gets contaminated or in case i need to just drain the front one first and work my way back and so on um this is not a tidy system right now but it is a working system so i want to show you what it looks like so this is how i control it there's three separate intakes front middle rear tank that way i can choose which tank to drain from i normally drain from the front tank first moving uh the weights to the back of the camper as far as the hitch weight i did install a bigger pump because these are self-priming pumps uh it and these are far away tanks i needed a bigger pump for that and then i've also kept all the winter rising hoses well guys those are all the upgrades i've done to my travel trailer hopefully some of these are giving you ideas of what you want to do to your camper but if you have any questions be sure to leave them in the comments below and i'll answer all of them and if you're looking for any of these products specifically again there's a link down below that will take you to all these products to help you figure out what you want to buy now until next time guys be sure to like and subscribe i will be doing detailed videos on all the installs and how i installed them but if you leave comments down below as far as what you would like to see first or next let me know and i'll prioritize them that way but thanks a lot for stopping by and until next time i'll see you then you

Channel: Gas Tachs

Views: 143,439

Keywords: diy rv mods, diy rv upgrades, micro minnie, micro minnie winnebago, rv, rv accessories, rv essential accessories, rv essential items, rv essentials, rv modifications, rv modifications ideas, rv mods, rv mods modifications upgrades, rv upgrade ideas, rv upgrades, rv upgrades modifications, small rv, travel trailer tips and tricks, travel trailer upgrades, winnebago 2306bhs, winnebago micro minnie, rv living full-time off-grid, rv lifestyle, rv tour full time, rv life

Id: jcxh9qGvlu0

Length: 26min 53sec (1613 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 20 2021