Winnie Drop Modifications

[Rlacroix8]

Hi,

We have a Winnebago Winnie Drop 1780, pulled by a Jeep Cherokee with factory trailing package. Since we try to escape the New England winter, we tend to camp, now mostly in Florida, for the winter months. In order to make the camper as comfortable as possible for this extended use, we have made the following modifications to the basic design (the attached pictures are self explanatory):

- substituted Ikea provided room darkening shades for the original valances. Fortunately we were able to use the screw holes from the supports of the original valances for the supports of the new shades. To prevent the shades from opening while travelling we use a rubber band on each end.
- substituted the single propane bottle with a support, cover and regulator, all bought from Amazon, for the original single bottle.
- added Ikea provided mirrors, glued to the bathroom wall. They come in sets of four, each one measuring almost a foot square.
- added boxes, bought at "Dollar Tree", to the existing shelves on each interior end of the camper. Each box is one foot long, hence six boxes fit on each shelf. The color and texture of the boxes happen to match the interior of the camper perfectly.
- we eliminated the two blank panels on each side of the cabinet door above the stove/sink so as to have easy access to anything stored in that cabinet. While driving we close the openings with two pieces of cardboard.
- we disconnected the humming fan from the fridge, in order to have peace and quiet. An absorption refrigerator does not really need that fan and, so far, it is not missed.
- put a total of 12 Ikea supplied food containers in the open cabinet under the TV, a cabinet that is already equipped with a retaining net.
- in order to prevent one of us to have to climb over the other, at night, we rotated the sleeping mode 90 degrees. This required a 6 inch extension of the mattress platform and an equally sized extension of the mattress on what was its original side.
- substituted the original single step outside the entry door for a scissored two step, as used by, e.g. truck mounted campers.

Happy Camping!

[old_engineer]

Looks nice.



With side vented refrigerators the fan does make a difference in hot weather performance. In our previous trailer I replaced the factory fan with a better quality ball bearing fan that moved more air with a much lower Db rating. I also isolated it from the trailer frame with rubber grommets. Since you could still hear it at times you might not want to I installed an interior switch. For the switch I used an automotive rocker switch with an LED so I would know if it was on or off.