A Life Story. Oh and Some New Buyer Questions Too!!

[rbryan4]

The thing I love about the Escape Forum, inane comments and all, is that it's far friendlier, less confrontational and more helpful than some other forums like FGRV. That changes, I'm out.

Just sayin.

[Ruthe]

I'm trying to figure out how an Escape 19 would be a big improvement over the Casita space wise if you're taking two kids and two dogs. We're pretty happy with our Escape, but if we were still traveling with kids I'd want something bigger than an Escape. I know people do it and they seem fine about it, but everyone would get on my nerves pretty quick. Full disclosure: We are not dog people. We have the bigger frig and that eliminated two shelves that would have been really useful,, so while storage is adquate for the two of us, I wouldn't want to figure out where my kids would be putting their stuff.

Often, when it is late, Terry will be in bed and I'll be sitting at the table, and with two extra people in the trailer, that couldn't happen. PLus, I can't imagine sharing the bathroom with the kids.

We started out in a tent with two kids and then when we had four, we graduated to a 31' airstream and that had a separate bunk area for three of the kids -- the fourth one was a toddler and he slept with us up front and we spent most of our time outside anyay. The bathroom in that trailer was like a separate room, so I used to go in there and hide when I wanted to be alone and couldn't be outside.

Your kids are only going to get bigger, but the good news is that in a few years they either won't want to travel with you or they will prefer their own tents, so maybe the space thing won't matter.

[rbryan4]

I agree Ruthe. Our 19 is superb for the two of us. If we had intended to take the grandkids along, we would have went bigger.

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

I agree Ruthe. Our 19 is superb for the two of us. If we had intended to take the grandkids along, we would have went bigger.

In the "old days" we sailed on a 40' sailboat that had 4 sleeping areas. But when asked how many could sleep aboard, the standard answer was "it sleeps 2".



--
Alan

[santacruzer]

I once had a 25' sailboat that the manufacturer claimed could sleep six. The most I ever tried was four, and it was a good thing we were all friends and that it was only a week-end!

[Jim Bennett]

We have had two adults on our dinette as a bed a few times before, and a bunch of times had two of the grandkids sleep there too.

We camped hundreds of nights with our two kids in a tent trailer, them on one end and us at the other.

Countless nights in the backcountry we have slept with our kids with us in our 4 man tent, with room only to sleep four side-by-side, and nothing more. Gear stayed in packs in one of the vestibules.

No issue at all with any of these scenarios, you make due with what you have. I think the key for us is we use our "living room", the one just out the door, most of the time, and are inside for the rare meal, and sleeping.

Just mentioning these things to show that there is no problem with sleeping 4 in the Escape 19. If for some reason you all need to be inside during the day, say stupid ugly weather or something, just have at least two remained seated at the dinette, out of the way. We have lots of room for the two of us, and if we added the storage box up front, and put stuff in the tow, we would have lots of room for an additional 2 peoples gear.

These are some of the sacrifices you make to have kids. I would recommend the 19 over going with a big stick built trailer any day. I had a 24' bunk model, and we have every bit as much room as we do in the 19 because of the efficient layout. The only nice thing about the stickie was that we could curtain off the bunks, but that could be done with the dinette too.

We do only have one dog, but he is outside all the time pretty much, except for sleep time.

[Loren & Cathy]

Casita advertises that certain models of their 17 foot trailer can sleep 6. Now that would be cozy. Loren

[Ruthe]

I think it might depend on how long a trip you were taking and how much time you are in the trailer. i think you said that you don't use campground bathrooms? Ten or so years ago we took 3 teens to the southwest for five or 6 weeks and they each had their own tent and we had our own tent. Worked out fine. I say, keep them in the tents and get an Escape 19 or 21 for the times when you all need to be inside.

[rbryan4]

We still camp with the grandkids. We always slept in tents. Now, they still get the tents. Just our thing, but the trailer ain't for them. Cooking for the most part is done outdoors, etc. My comment about going bigger was IF we had intended to have more than the two of us in the trailer. We don't.

[nathanj04011]

Who knew they don't let you use a computer in the witness protection program? My time away did give me the chance to ponder all the information given here.

On a philosophical level, for us camping is a diversion, not necessity. Well, actually that might not be correct. I have a baseball cap that says "camping, cheaper than therapy", and maybe its right... So that being said, upturning the apple cart and incurring more debt by getting a bigger tow vehicle doesn't make sense (I know, I'm late to the party). So that has relieved a bit of the self-induced stress. That being settled in our mind, we now just have to choose between the 19' and the 21'. Ok, it sounded to me like a victory, but now typing it, I guess I'm back to my first post, minus the vehicle question.

In response to the size considerations of the trailer, as I mentioned, we do mostly local weekend camping in Maine or New Hampshire, and so we aren't using it as our home for long periods of time. Hopefully one day we will, if Walmart allows their greeters to take long vacations! We usually do a longer 2 week vacation in the summer, usually to Arkansas or Prince Edward Island. (Now those are polar opposites!) And when we camp, unless it gets real hot, and doesn't cool off at night, the kids stay in a tent. Just that when the elements aren't to their liking, or if we are doing a multi-day trip, its nice to have a place for them to sleep inside without us styling the pig-pile.

The difference between the Casita and the 19' is technically only 2 feet, but with the 4 person front dinette and all the extra storage space (the humongous area under the bed for example) and I'm thinking that in bad or hot weather, we can eat inside without having to take turns sitting at a small dinette table, or the kids can watch movies on their iPads with either the dinette made up or made into a bed which we haven't had the luxury of doing with Casita. We just need that itsy-bitsy bit more space. Oh, and we have a custom made mattress in the Casita so the rear dinette can't be used at all during in inclimate weather.

Also, Ruthe, you are right. The kids will get the point where they will have summer jobs or be off at college, so even though the trailer might seem tight right now, in a few years, it will resize itself to suit 3, then just the two of us. That's part of our dilemma, as we hope to have the trailer for many years, and don't want to buy a big trailer, only to not need it big in a few years. Oh sure, we could sell the 21' and drop back to a 19' or 5.0TA at that point, but as it now stands, if we order a 19' now we will have to wait a year to get it. That's one less year of camping before I die...

Another hard part is deciding which trailer has the most pros and the least cons for what we want. That's a toughy, because the pros and cons of each trailer are so different, and we will lose out big on some things with the trailer we didn't get...oh well, back to browsing the forum...

[lorrie]

Hi Nathan, welcome back I would definitely go for the 19. It sounds perfect for you. Due to our 3500 lb tow rating we have a 17B and while we love our little trailer, would definitely go to a 19 if we could. Why? Mostly for the queen bed and the larger 2nd dinette than the 17B. That little bit of extra room would be SOOO nice. The bed in a 21 is smaller than a queen, and personally I'm not crazy for the layout, but that's just me, others love their 21. One option we have in our 17B is the gaucho option (basically a bunk bed), but not sure if it's available in the 19. Whatever you end up choosing, you will love it

[gbaglo]

Ditto.
And, for all the same reasons.

[Dave Walter]

We have the bunk option in our 19'. Our youngest two kids were 17 and 12 when we bought our trailer, one slept on the bunk and the other on the front dinette bed. Worked out fine but was a little cozy. We were down to a single kid for our summer trip last year, and she still wanted to sleep on the bunk rather than the dinette bed. When daughter no longer comes with us in several years, the 19' will have grown to the perfect size for the two of us.

[nathanj04011]

Dave, with the bunk, did you raise the dinette seats? I think I might want the cot option installed, but my wife is fairly convinced ("over my dead body!" is rather harsh) that she is not going to spend her life looking over out the bottom 2" of the window. Yet, if the benches are raised, it might not give one or the other kid enough room to sleep? That's my fear anyway. We also don't want the floor raised as it is just one more thing for clumsy me to bang into... Sigh...I know, there has to be some concessions...can't have everything...

[cpaharley2008]

I had the bunk in my 19 but in lieu of raising the bench 2" which will reduce room for the lower berth, I had the cushions made 2" thicker as a compromise. That way they will compress and allow use of the lower bunk, but also allow some increase in height.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by nathanj04011

Dave, with the bunk, did you raise the dinette seats? I think I might want the cot option installed, but my wife is fairly convinced ("over my dead body!" is rather harsh) that she is not going to spend her life looking over out the bottom 2" of the window. Yet, if the benches are raised, it might not give one or the other kid enough room to sleep? That's my fear anyway. We also don't want the floor raised as it is just one more thing for clumsy me to bang into... Sigh...I know, there has to be some concessions...can't have everything...

We didn't raise the floor or thicken the cushions, and yet we have never had any issues at all seeing out the windows while seated in the front dinette. I am not sure how short you have to be to have your site lines obscured, but obviously we are not affected.

[Ruthe]

Now I understand-- if the teens aren't sleeping in the trailer every night and if their stuff isn't in it alll lthe time the extra two feet could be a good thibng. The under bed storage is a great feature, but accessing it requires a little finesse -- as in, I don't want Terry standing nearby. i store overflow things there -- things I don't need every day. BTW, I had been wishing that the blinds were white, but now I'm really glad they are brown. It keeps out more light when we need to do that. At the time there was no option for white -- I don't kknow if that has changed.

[nathanj04011]

As to the blinds, if the tannish-brown are the only ones offered, we will grow accustomed to them. We just thought that having something blend into the background (walls) would be nice. However, that being said, I'm sure the tan blinds hide dust a little better until the can be cleaned. Especially when camping in the dust of the deserts, which we probably never will be able to experience...