1995 Minnie Winnie Build Quality

[Riley]

Hey folks,

Was hoping someone could share their experience with the mid 90s Minnie Winnie 300. We've never owned a camper, trailer, or motorhome so this is exciting times for my family. We are planning to pick one up on Sunday and there isn't much I've found online that discusses the build quality or any general reviews of the Motorhome. The one we are purchasing is single owner, maintenance records that date back to purchase, everything works, and it still looks like it did off the showroom floor. It has the 460 engine with 60k miles.

What are your experiences with these?


Also, if someone has the old brochure for this RV that would be great if you could share.

Thanks in advance! Y'all be good.

[Morich]

Good Rv. Good strong motor that has a long good history! Part of the reason you see so many old Winnebago on the road is that they give us lots of inside info on how to fix them! Good enough quality but everything needs attention, so we need lots more info.
Winnebago home site:
https://www.winnebago.com/
Under the "owners" tab is normal for me.
Choose the RV and go to "owners manual" to get here:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...nnieWinnie.pdf

Then when you need more indepth than the manual? They tend to give some basics but sometimes they tell you to open a drain and not WHERE that drain is found???
Guides and diagrams will get you a tub full; of different type drawings and info. Plumbing diagrams will often show WHERE those drains are hiding!
Tons of electrical in different type drawings. Schematics for wire by wire type stuff or Installation drawings if you need to first know where!

Hint for future questions as the books often are about as clear as mud?
Look for the tag next to the driver that gives lots of details and part of that is the exact model of RV and what type chassis it rides on, Ford Chevy, etc. When posting, it will speed the response if you can tell us upfront exactly which year, model and floorplan you have.
To look at drawings, we need to go year, model and floorplan to drag it up, so if you give that on first post, it can save days of back and forth!

Lots of folks here that are glad to help but it helps us help you !
Welcome to the group!

[Riley]

Solid Intel. Thank you Morich!

[Morich]

always glad to help when we can!
One of the tough things about moving into motorized RV, is how to avoid getting caught sleeping on a couple important items!

One is the way we need to watch the two sets of batteries much closer than on our cars, etc. When we drive a car every day, the batteries get charged every day and only run down if we have a real problem, so we get into not watching them.
But an RV tends to set for much longer at a time and has sneaky little "parasitic drains" on both the starting and coach batteries. Some of those drains are still left connected, even when we turn the battery disconnect to "OFF"!
Safety items like CO and propane detectors, are often on the coach side and on the start battery there are things like radio presets, auto locks and steps that we don't notice over a day or so but will definitely kill the battery if we leave it a couple months!

Watch close until you get a better idea of what they are doing over time or make a setup to keep them charged occasionally!

Second thing for newish users is the leaks that build up over time if we are not alert!
Take a good look at the caul or sealers all around and especially around the roof.
They can begin to get leaks and the way they are built, it doesn't necessarily show up inside right away. It can set up there in the roof an find things to rot or ruin before one day we look up and see a funny looking spot on the ceiling!

Heads up on checking the RV if new to you!

Enjoy but better if we can head off some trouble!

[ACB]

Originally Posted by Riley

Hey folks,

Was hoping someone could share their experience with the mid 90s Minnie Winnie 300. We've never owned a camper, trailer, or motorhome so this is exciting times for my family. We are planning to pick one up on Sunday and there isn't much I've found online that discusses the build quality or any general reviews of the Motorhome. The one we are purchasing is single owner, maintenance records that date back to purchase, everything works, and it still looks like it did off the showroom floor. It has the 460 engine with 60k miles.

What are your experiences with these?


Also, if someone has the old brochure for this RV that would be great if you could share.

Thanks in advance! Y'all be good.

We owned a mini Winnebago Spirit brand new in 1996. It was just under 26’ long bumper to bumper, with the 460 engine. No slide! We owned it 10 years , only about 30,000 miles and LOVED it.
We’ve owned 8 motorhomes over 35+ years and this was the best built rig we ever had. One or two screw replacements, drawer latches and had to replace the ONAN carburetor and THAT was it.

But remember this is older technology so even though the original owner has maintained it, there may be things you need to put money into or upgrade.

Having said this, I would buy one again!

[Morich]

Looking back, one of the best experience we have had in RV was a 1997 Brave 31 RQ.
When I think of why we enjoyed it so much, there are lots of small points that may not fit others.
It was the first real RV we had when I retired and it gave us tons of options to go and do things while staying longer term. It was much less complex to move and setup as it was before TV became such a nuisance as we let it become now!
Throw out a power cord and fresh water hose and call it good for a couple days. We watched what little TV we wanted if we got stations on the crank up antenna. There was no programming things nor fighting the dish to get it aimed the right direction. We never had to call the provider and spend an hour getting back into their system after they cut us off when we didn't use it for a few weeks!
We had a great time and I only remember one big issue on keeping things running.
Ground squirrels decided the big round air vent on the engine air filter was the the door to their pantry and filled it full of acorns! That took a bit to figure why it ran so bad and didn't seem to want to rev up very much! But those were the nice old days when you could jump out and actually know what was going on under the hood!

But we sold the best RV we ever had as it cost too much to drive when the gas shot up to around $1.54 a gallon! What a dummy!

[ACB]

Originally Posted by Morich

Looking back, one of the best experience we have had in RV was a 1997 Brave 31 RQ.
When I think of why we enjoyed it so much, there are lots of small points that may not fit others.
It was the first real RV we had when I retired and it gave us tons of options to go and do things while staying longer term. It was much less complex to move and setup as it was before TV became such a nuisance as we let it become now!
Throw out a power cord and fresh water hose and call it good for a couple days. We watched what little TV we wanted if we got stations on the crank up antenna. There was no programming things nor fighting the dish to get it aimed the right direction. We never had to call the provider and spend an hour getting back into their system after they cut us off when we didn't use it for a few weeks!
We had a great time and I only remember one big issue on keeping things running.
Ground squirrels decided the big round air vent on the engine air filter was the the door to their pantry and filled it full of acorns! That took a bit to figure why it ran so bad and didn't seem to want to rev up very much! But those were the nice old days when you could jump out and actually know what was going on under the hood!

But we sold the best RV we ever had as it cost too much to drive when the gas shot up to around $1.54 a gallon! What a dummy!

You are so right! Those older coaches were so nice and easy to travel and camp with. Less to break as well. Solidly built, basic on/off switches, no slide, no spider panels, just simple and well built.

Now our coach has an outside kitchen, solar, lithium, three TV’s, soundbar, XM radio, cell booster, WIFI, and more and more….
We carry air fryers, Keurig machines, water filter systems. I was discussing downsizing to a more basic class C again but got voted down!

[Bo Walker]

Riley, I don't know much about the Minnie Winnie. But we owned a 34 foot1996 Winnebago Adventurer with a 454 cu in engine. We enjoyed this one so much that Jan still hasn't accepted the present diesel pusher as a favorite. I learned a lot by small repairs etc. Once the engine got a little too hot on the mountains and blew an exhaust gasket. I had the gasket replaced after returning home. The biggest thing I didn't like was the autopark. If the autopark went down, the rig would not move without manually disconnecting it. Without the autopark working properly, there is no park position or emergency brake. Make sure the autopark is working properly. Old Used Bear isn't with us anymore. He was the expert on the entire system. He opened a shop for rebuilding them. Once he assisted us by phone to help us when we were stranded on the road. I hope they don't use that system anymore.
Learn as you travel and enjoy the ride.