At last!

Bobbito · 05-17-2015, 08:47 PM

Queue up the song “At Last” with Etta James and that’s how we felt this past Thursday as we set up our Escape 21 for the first time. We picked it up the day before (May 13th) and frantically threw things together, then took it to Golden Ears Park the next morning, about 45 minutes from our home in Surrey. After setting up camp, we put the camera on a tripod for this picture while all is still new and shiny.
Later, as we were walking around the campsite a fellow camper asked us if he and his wife could look at our trailer. I mentioned the leaks that destroyed our previous trailer and how it sent us to looking at fiberglass trailers. He was emphatic that his wife needed to hear this, a reason to not go with stick trailers (THE DARK SIDE!). They came by and we gave them a look-see. They have a small 1982 Bigfoot and are considering an upgrade. The tour served to give them a look at a very attractive option for their future and gave us a chance to share our enthusiasm for our new purchase.

Here are some impressions from our first camping experience in it:

We find the bed very comfortable and easy to get on and off. We are glad we didn’t get the front window, as we don’t miss extra light and the shelf over our heads is very handy.

The furnace is much quieter than our previous trailer, yet blows stronger. Awesome!

The trailer seems so spacious, especially in the kitchen area, allowing a person to pass by without interfering with the cooking.

Our 13 and 11 year old granddaughters joined us for two nights and said the dinette bed was very comfortable. The space was sufficient for them to sleep in opposite directions.

I bought a wireless thermometer to monitor the fridge and freezer. Initially the results weren’t as good as I expected, but my wife pointed out that the freezer was overloaded. Food was pressed up against the fins. Once that was remedied, the temperatures were what I believe they should have been (4-6 deg C; 10-12 deg C). This is not in hot weather, so the true test will come this July in Summerland B.C. Our granddaughters loved the fridge’s blue light, believing aliens might come marching out of it at any moment.

The table is large enough for us to seat 6 people around it for eating or games. I can see that the knob tightening the table to secure it from sliding is digging into the wood on the underside of the table. I intend to secure a long piece of metal here or maybe add a clamp like I saw elsewhere on this forum.

The LED lighting in the trailer was nice and bright, and available where we needed it, except for under the bed. I’m thinking we should have put a DC outlet there, but I will try putting battery operated LED puck lights there ASAP.

I had complained that there wasn’t as much easily accessed storage in the Escape 21 as in our previous trailer, because the ceiling cupboards are too high for my wife to see to the back. We didn’t want to have to use a step stool (getting under foot), but we caved in and got a small folding one, making the upper compartments more accessible. We are grateful to Reace for reworking the Escape 21’s new furnace installation (in Feb.) to keep the drawer loss down to only one.

The Andersen hitch is a real improvement over the equalizer bars we had on the previous trailer. No regrets here. The previous trailer wasn’t much heavier than the Escape 21, so the towing should be roughly comparable. No grease! Quiet! Even less sway! Backing up without removing hardware!

The bottom line is we love our new trailer!

Bob and Margie K

**rbryan4** · 05-17-2015, 08:58 PM

Congrats! Time to change your description Bob. You are no longer "awaiting a 21"!

ksitte · 05-17-2015, 09:09 PM

Bob and Margie ,

Great report. What a great way to introduce the grandkids to camping.

Klaus

Rossue · 05-17-2015, 09:29 PM

Hi Bob & Margie- you guys sure look at home there in your camp-a-loungers- and ready for the long haul looking at that wood pile

Bobbito · 05-18-2015, 01:12 AM

Thanks Robert, Klaus and Paul. I've learned that sometimes you have to wait for things in life, but the wait and anticipation help you appreciate them all the more. This forum may have heightened the anticipation, but also helped us so much in preparing our build sheet.

NW Cat Owner · 05-18-2015, 01:43 AM

Congrats! Enjoy. I hope the aliens don't invade when you least expect it.

We're not even close to deciding which trailer we want, even after viewing the 19', 21' and 5.0TA this weekend.

I'm wondering what you're using as your tow vehicle. Looks like it's a Toyota Tacoma. Which year/version? We need to replace our 2000 Tacoma fairly soon.

Thanks!

Seef · 05-18-2015, 08:58 AM

CONGRATS with your new trailer. May it serve you on many vacations for many, many years!

BCnomad · 05-18-2015, 01:23 PM

Very nice Bob.

Hope to tour it at the rally.

Bobbito · 05-18-2015, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW Cat Owner

Congrats! Enjoy. I hope the aliens don't invade when you least expect it.

We're not even close to deciding which trailer we want, even after viewing the 19', 21' and 5.0TA this weekend.

I'm wondering what you're using as your tow vehicle. Looks like it's a Toyota Tacoma. Which year/version? We need to replace our 2000 Tacoma fairly soon.

Thanks!

Ours is a 2005 Tundra, with 285 hp and towing capability of 7000 lb. With our fishing gear, motors and boat aboard the combined weight of vehicle and trailer will be between 10 and 11,000 lbs, pretty well the maximum for our TV. It has less than 100,000 km on it and we hope to keep it running for years to come.