New Members in Florida

[a602pmcc]

Hi All,
We (Paul & Denise, Tallahassee, FL) are new owners of a 2015 Escape 21, the “Who Dat Cruiser” formerly owned by Steve in Louisiana. Some of you may be familiar with it; it was apparently a popular tour at last year’s customer appreciation rally. It has lots of options, including some we wouldn’t have chosen, but as others have noted sometimes you discover that you like an item more than anticipated. For instance, the night we picked it up a couple of weeks ago we spent a hot rainy evening in southern Louisiana, and found the stereo that we would never have ordered to be a real treat. At any rate, we saved a little money, a lot of waiting time, and since I’m still working fitting in a pickup trip from Tallahassee to Chilliwack would have been really difficult.

So we’re happy new Escapists! But we do have a few questions for the group, and I’m sure others will emerge as we get more familiar with the new trailer.
We are previous tent campers, then a 17’ Casita, so we’re pretty familiar with the basics of camping and fiberglass rvs. Here are a couple of issues we’d like your thoughts on:

• Tailgate/power jack interference. We’re towing with a 2007 Toyota Tundra. It has a tall tailgate, which will not fully open when the trailer is hooked up due to hitting the top of the jack. On the Casita I used the Jack-E-Up to remove its manual jack while hooked up, and that worked great. Has anyone figured out a fix for this issue on the Escape? Can the Jack-E-Up be used with a power jack? Or, if I go back to the standard manual jack, will it clear?
• This trailer has a 160W solar panel and 1500W inverter. Is there a standard procedure for switching from shore power to solar power? Electrical stuff is my weakest area, so what switches should be in what positions? I’ve read all the manuals, but each just addresses itself, not interactions with other elements of the system. When I briefly unplugged from shore power as a test, I seemed to be losing battery amps too quickly for the current load. Any knowledgeable help would be appreciated.
• We have the U dinette with the slide-able table. It’s convenient, but we don’t like the amount of wiggle/wobble in the table. Has anyone found a way to make it more stable? (Short of the $300 hydraulic adjustable pedestal that some have installed?)

I’ve lurked on this site for a while, and have found it to be a friendly, welcoming, and very helpful place. Now we have reason to be much more frequent participants, and look forward to more active interaction with you guys.

Thanks,

Paul (& Denise), Tallahassee, FL

[float5]

Welcome to the Escape world, Paul and Denise. You were very lucky to get that one! Saved a lot of trouble and money.

Your solar is on and no switching necessary. Doesn't matter if you plug into a pedestal or turn off your master switch. The solar will still work, set up to bypass the switch. When unplugged, what were you running? Most change to propane for the refrigerator when not plugged in.

You have to turn on the inverter, if you did not, for items such as the microwave.

[rbryan4]

Congrats Paul and Denise! I remember the Who Dat Cruiser well. My responses in bold inline.

Originally Posted by a602pmcc

• Tailgate/power jack interference. We’re towing with a 2007 Toyota Tundra. It has a tall tailgate, which will not fully open when the trailer is hooked up due to hitting the top of the jack. On the Casita I used the Jack-E-Up to remove its manual jack while hooked up, and that worked great. Has anyone figured out a fix for this issue on the Escape? Can the Jack-E-Up be used with a power jack? Or, if I go back to the standard manual jack, will it clear?

The standard jack may clear better because it's shorter. But, you can use a Jack-e-up with a power jack. Just make sure to add some type of quick disconnect for the power cable so you can remove the jack.

• This trailer has a 160W solar panel and 1500W inverter. Is there a standard procedure for switching from shore power to solar power? Electrical stuff is my weakest area, so what switches should be in what positions? I’ve read all the manuals, but each just addresses itself, not interactions with other elements of the system. When I briefly unplugged from shore power as a test, I seemed to be losing battery amps too quickly for the current load. Any knowledgeable help would be appreciated.

Just make sure your battery disconnect is in the up position when camping. You don't actually "run" on solar power. You run on either shore power or battery power. The Solar just provides a means of charging the batteries without being connected to shore power. If you find the draw and depletion of the batteries is rapid, that means you are using power more rapidly than the solar panel can replace it. That's pretty normal. As long as you don't go below 50% battery you should be fine. In our case, with full sun on the panel, the batteries will recover nicely by 10 or 11 am the next day. Budgeting your power use when boondocking is just part of the deal.

• We have the U dinette with the slide-able table. It’s convenient, but we don’t like the amount of wiggle/wobble in the table. Has anyone found a way to make it more stable? (Short of the $300 hydraulic adjustable pedestal that some have installed?)

The wobble is normal with the pole/socket table legs. Don't know of a fix. That's part of the reason we went with the pneumatic pedestal.

[cpaharley2008]

Welcome Paul and Denise,
I had the pleasure of touring "Who Dat" at last years Osoyoos Rally and meeting the prior owners. Their site was close to ours. Nice couple, I believe she really enjoyed dancing. Anyway I remember the black caps around the countertop. I had a 2014 21- Escape- BlackJack which I sold this year and ordered a new 2017 Escape 19.
I used the E-Z-up on my 21' with the manual jack and someone here on the forum also uses one with a power jack with a quick disconnect set up.
Try to make the annual spawning at Osoyoos, it is really beautiful country there.

[seastar]

Hi Paul and Denise!
We are Floridians now and are based in Titusville. If you see an Escape 19' with grey 4 Runner tow, heading North on Sunday could be "Faraway". Kathy and Dan aboard.
Welcome to the forum. Can't answer your questions but will mention that when we travel if the sun is shining, we run the fridge with only solar for as many hours as the sun shines. Saves a lot, and we still have energy when we camp- mostly no hook ups used.
Hope to see you "out there"!

[a602pmcc]

Cathy, Robert & Jim for your helpful comments on my questions.

Kathy & Dan, you have to drive even farther than we do to approach some cooler weather. Good luck! Maybe we'll see you down the road.

Paul