Our 21' Escape Trailer purchase issues

[Rossue]

That was a good idea to send in a list of known issues others have had. If one were really concerned they could hire someone to do an inspection. Would ETI allow this? At pickup there isn't really a lot of time to go through things as they are on a schedule to deliver over the border for U.S. customers so any in-depth inspections would have to be done a day or two before.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Chama

I feel particularly bad for the person who cancelled an Escape order based on what was read in this thread on this forum.

Don't feel bad. In post #155 they appear to have reevaluated that decision.

[gbaglo]

To allay fears about the change I ownership, I know from conversation with Tammy and Reace that they followed the experience of the Northern Lite owners, who sold a year before and stayed on at NL.

The NL owners were also a small company with high standards and hard-earned reputation. Those owners were happy with the transition, which convinced Tammy and Reace that ETI would thrive under the new majority owners and enjoy greater purchasing power and a management structure that would allow Tammy and Reace to concentrate on the areas they love.


BTW, I've only owned one Escape. It's all I've needed.

[huskersteffy]

Reading this thread reminded me of our trip from Nebraska to Chilliwack and back in June of 2016 to pick up our 21 "Classic". We were TOTAL and complete camping/RV/travel trailer newbies but damn the torpedo's, full steam ahead.

As others have said, orientation was overwhelming. We must have lucked out because orientation was conducted by Reace himself. I seem to remember a few eye roll's with some of our newbie questions but he was very patient and professional.

First night was KOA in Lynden, WA. Should have grabbed a pull thru on hard pavement but silly me, I wanted our first night to be backed up to their little pond on the grass. Big mistake. It had rained and the ground was really saturated. It started raining again as we lugged stuff from the pickup to the camper. Tracked in a bunch of grass / mud and we were just flat exhausted. Worst part was even though I had the chocks set, the trailer jumped (twice!) due to the wet ground as we went in and out. The second time it jumped off two side-by-side 4x4's I had under placed under the jack and one of the safety chains was buried in the mud underneath the jack stand…..OY!. My wife and I were able to retrieve the chain out of the mud by some mighty pulling and swearing in the pouring rain. I remember going to bed that night and thinking: OMG what have we gotten ourselves into? We left the very next day to Deception Point and points south and east.

Since then we are much more experienced campers. No issues with anything over the last 3+ years other than:
- Our dog ran thru the screen door which got ripped and we replaced.
- Water pumped failed due to my stupidity. Left it on with no water in tank…… doh!!! Replaced with identical model.

We still love the trailer and think we made the right choice for us and how we want to travel in retirement. If you choose to travel via any RV / trailers, it helps to have a positive attitude and some problem solving ability.

We are also very thankful for this forum. You all gave us the knowledge and confidence to make decisions on options and are a continual source of great advice and information.

[gbaglo]

Listening to a stories about the moon-landing fifty years ago. Apparently, the astronauts were ready to leave the moon and broke a switch that needed to be turned on. Neil Armstrong used a felt-tip pen to accomplish the task.
So, even NASA can buy a bad switch.

[stephen99]

Might as well throw in our experience also. We were camping newbies when we drove to Chilliwack to pick up our 2017 21. This was July 10, 2017. We spent 2 nights at the Lynden KOA to familiarize ourselves with the trailer and to move everything in. A few days later while we were still in Washington state and only a couple hours from ETI we had a leak develop with the outside shower. Drove back to Chilliwack and they fixed it in less than an hour and we were back on our way.

Since than we have spent almost every night in the trailer since we are full timing. So lots of usage of all the components. The only failures that I can recall in all that time have been the LED light in the bathroom had to be replaced due to strobing, the control board in the Maxxfan burned out and the water pump died after about 18 months. The water pump problem may have been partially caused by a kinked intake hose. That's it as far as I can remember.

I know this doesn't help anybody who is trying to solve problems but it may reassure people still on the fence about whether to buy an Escape or not.

[MikeS]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I keep thinking about Reace and his travels across the United States to repair ONE split waterline in the bathrooms of the new 21' trailers in 2017. Something he didn't have to do. It would have been dollars cheaper to cover under the warranty. Instead he fixed the waterlines himself and used the repair to talk to owners. Tell me ONE other owner, of any trailer company that would have done the same... just one.

While Reace and Tammy are no longer majority owners in ETI, Reace is the Director of Operations and I would bet he's still very much concerned about owners liking their trailers and the reputation of ETI that he and Tammy worked so very hard to build.

For others that are unaware, here's a synopsis of that trip: Where’s [Waldo] Reace? | RVwest

Wally Byam
(You didn't specify a current owner. )

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by MikeS

Wally Byam
(You didn't specify a current owner. )

yeah, you got me there.

[CADreamin]

Well, if we want to talk about dumb mistakes, how about:
1) Forgetting to put up the struts when raising the jack (lucked out on that one) and then driving off, leaving your jack support behind
2) Weed whacking close to the trailer so that you end up with a shattered window AND a 'ding' in the fiberglass
3) Forgetting to close the external hatch on your 19' and awaking in the middle of the night to find that the raccoons are having a party under your bed!

In our case, the majority (and severity) of issues with our two trailers have been caused by the owners. ;-)

(Oh, forgot to mention #4 ... merging and assuming that big rig driver is going to see you and give way. Nice swipe of blue paint on the side of the rig for that mistake.)

[Dee08802]

First post by us.

We have been reading the forum since first thinking about the move up from a Scamp. The Scamp was our indoctrination to RV life. Like your first house a real learning experience. If we knew then what we know now we would have made different choices. After returning from our cross country Escape pick up trip I realized this is the first time we got home without a list of things that needed fixing. With the Scamp we were always resecuring things that shook loose.

We purchased our Escape in Oct with a Dec build so we were a little pressed to finish the build sheet. Escape worked well with us getting it done but could not offer a lot of advice on the best choice of options for us. For that we relied heavily on the information in this forum, which we thank you all for. The best tip we received was that Escape will sometimes provide a custom modification if requested. The one thing we did not like was the standard plugging of the future AC access hole with a second fan when not purchasing an AC unit. When we asked to have the fan deleted the first response was they didn't want to do it because in the past the production workers mistakenly cut the hole when asked not to. When we responded we would accept the trailer if the hole was mistakenly cut on ours, they agreed to our request. As you can see they went out of their way to make it happen.

We arrived in March, a quiet time for pick ups, for our orientation. Everyone we came across greeted us nicely and took the time to answer all our questions. When we asked something that they didn't have an answer for they got someone from the production line to come and explain it. I didn't expect that and felt sorry for interrupting their normal work but appreciated the extra effort.

As far as issues we had a few minor ones. The sail switch on the furnace left us chilly the third night but a quick scan of the Forum showed us the fix which only took 5 minutes. The others we found later. The holes for the screen door and bath door were not drilled to allow for adjustment of the latch. A little redrilling and filing of the latch holes fixed these. The last was the propane tank holder. Like others have noted the hold down bolts sheared from installing too tight. Also the anchor nuts for the propane gauge were missing so when you took off the tanks the gauge set would fall. New nuts and bolts fixed these.

I suspect that issues like these are part of their growing pains as they expand production. I'm sure Escape is reading these posts and will likely make an effort to rectify repeated reported issues a time goes by.

All in all we are happy campers and do not miss our old Scamp though it did give us lots of awesome memories and a great learning experience.

[Rossue]

Good to see Nigel is still there; he was great to work with when we went up for warranty work.

So that's why my propane gauge drops- will have to put a retaining nut on.

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by MikeS

Wally Byam

(You didn't specify a current owner. )

That was also back in the days when a team of young lads hustled out of a service station when a car rolled in, and jumped on window washing, tire inflation and checking the oil, no?

How things have changed. For most companies. That’s why Reace’s efforts stand out.

[Red Dog]

Originally Posted by Olddog

Seems to be a lot of positives and negatives about the Escape Trailers. Being a potential purchaser of an E21 I would like to know current Escape owners overall opinion of their trailers.

Great to hear of your interest! I sent you a PM.

Regards,

Fred M.

[emers382]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Good to see Nigel is still there; he was great to work with when we went up for warranty work.

So that's why my propane gauge drops- will have to put a retaining nut on.

I could be accused of being a pom pom waver as Jim put it for Escape as our experience after buying two second hand has generally been great. For example we took our 2007 in for some minor work and dealt with Nigel who was great even showing me on pickup that he had installed no charge a fuse on the positive battery cable as they now do it (in 2017) but didn't in 2007. Our first trip with the first 5.0 we got to our destination to find spare tire and mount gone, Between the previous owner who happened to be visiting Escape and Reace they sent new tire and mount to me right away.

But I have had issues as well. On current 5.0 one counter extension fell off and found it was secured at one end by rivets. First thing they said was must not have been installed at factory but it was. Reace said it should have been screwed into the stud beside fridge but I found the stud not in proper position therefore they used rivets which failed with a little extra weight on it. I found a solution.

Light over sink failed it was one of the non-replaceable type and Dave sent us info for the new two light fixture which we ordered and I installed.

On waxing roof first time I found scratch where appears a screwdriver scraped when mounting the vent over bed. I had a reply from Reace but no apology. Also had many drips of pro flex on roof whereas the 2007 was clean on top but realized Reace likely did the roof on that one.

A few other minor issues have caused us to realize that yes the quality issue is not quite what it was with our first. This 2016 trailer should be our forever trailer but I would not hesitate to buy a new one should we want to upgrade at some point.

[Fox hunt]

I was told about the fan issue so i did not order the fan. I'm sorry you were not told.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Fox hunt

I was told about the fan issue so i did not order the fan. I'm sorry you were not told.

I guess it could depend on the model of fridge?

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by CADreamin

Just looked at our 'blank' build sheet vs. our final and it seems the fan is not indicated on the original. I remember asking about it and then it was added on ($175). On our old 19', we never turned off the fan and never had a problem; however, this time, we were aware of the requirement so keep it turned off unless necessary and we are stopped. Last month we arrived in Redding, CA, when it was 107º outside and the refrigerator was creeping up to the 'red' on our thermometer. I remembered the refrigerator fan and immediately turned it on. Within a short time, the internal refrigerator temperature dropped to a 'safe' level (the freezer was always fine). Happy we added it.

I have been thinking why my fridge has no problems with high temps and yours needed the fan at 107º - now I remember! (sign of getting older)

I reinsulated the fridge cavity! Amazing what a few extra R values will do.

[Fox hunt]

could be a different fridge mine was put in 2017 they called me and told me about the fan issue i decided to leave it off the order sheet.

[Fox hunt]

I am another one with two Escapes. Who knows might buy the new 23 footer when it comes out- but i am very happy with my trailer.

[John in Santa Cruz]

We bought a barely-used 2014 in 2017 (owner had upgraded from a casita, took one trip, then her elderly husband died, and RV camping was just too much for the wife alone so it sat).

we're overall very happy with it. only real problems to date, after 5-6000 miles of trips...

1) batteries were DOA when we got it, had been sitting too long off a charger with the batteries disconnected, so they wouldn't hold a very good charge, so slapped a pair of the cheap costco Interstate GC2's in there when we got home, good to go.

2) propane alarm kept going off. replaced with new identical alarm, no issue since

3) sparker on one of the 3 stove burners stopped working, got a replacement sparker wire, installed, no problem since.

4) furnace sail switch issues. took apart, cleaned some poly lint fibers out , worked for a while, now its occasionally failing again, so middle of cold night, I have to get up, flip thermostat off, then on again, and the heater works for a few more cycles, I've not had to do that more than once a night.

5) sometimes when its been quite wet out, the outside GFI trips, killing AC outlets in the kitchen area, which has caused our portable electric heater to not work the few times we've been on shore power. once the outside outlet dries out, the GFI reset works fine.

6) maxxfan deluxe hood raising gearbox stripped during our June trip, I got the replacement part and fixed it myself once we got home. rest of that trip, I had to take the screen off, and use a plastic ladle handle to lift the lid, then turning the knob would hold it open, replace the screen, turn on fan. annoying but not end of world.

had no wiring issues other than said GFI. overall quite happy with the trailer

none of those things bug me, but I'm handy with tools and electrics. they certainly beat the horror stories my sticky-owning friends have related, with seam leaks requiring roof replacement, etc.