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View Poll Results: What did you have before you Escaped? Curious how we all got here...
Bigfoot 2 2.47%
Boler 5 6.17%
Burro 0 0%
Casita 12 14.81%
Oliver 0 0%
Scamp 11 13.58%
Trillium 4 4.94%
Other glass trailer 5 6.17%
Stick-built trailer 19 23.46%
No prior trailer - just did it right the first time! 32 39.51%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 81. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 04-03-2015, 12:14 AM   #1
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Fiberglass Devotees?

Curious which paths others have traveled that let them to purchase an Escape.

Had to redo the poll as it was accidentally deleted..........oops.
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Old 04-03-2015, 08:05 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tractors1 View Post
Curious which paths others have traveled that let them to purchase an Escape.

Had to redo the poll as it was accidentally deleted..........oops.
Hi: tractors1... We'er already on our second Escape 5.0... but we don't suffer from "toofootitis"!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
Hunting Island St. Pk. S.C. for now
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Old 04-03-2015, 08:22 AM   #3
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I purchased my Scamp before ETI started manufacturing. Zero regrets from owning a prior all molded towable. Any molded trailer is better than no molded trailer (IMHO). But now I have the perfect trailer for me.
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Old 04-03-2015, 08:36 AM   #4
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My wife and I checked out the Casita at the factory, but it wasn't the one for us. Then, we checked out Scamp and Egg on line. Interesting, but..... then we found the Escape and the forum. After reading the raving fans of Escape, it was just a matter of actually seeing one and we were sold! 10 Days later, we had the tow vehicle in our driveway and then another 5 days and we had our deposit down. Rest is history. Looking forward to the Townsend Rally where we saw our first Escape!
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Old 04-03-2015, 09:02 AM   #5
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We have had two old Trilliums and an 04 Trillium Outback , four stickies , 1tent trailer ....but that is over 47 yrs .
First one was a stickie bought in Vancouver 1969 ..... For $500. , would have liked to buy a very new Boler however at that time they were $800. , the$300. difference was just too much ....
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Old 04-03-2015, 10:43 AM   #6
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Went from a backpack and tarp to a 5x10 teardrop, 16' Scamp, Escape 17b and finally our Escape 21 (I think ).
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Old 04-03-2015, 10:44 AM   #7
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From tents and Westies to an Escape

We had a series of VW Westies, followed by a VW Eurovan with a Winnebago conversion all the time the kids were growing up. Had lots of fun on family vacations, even if things were a bit tight sometimes. My preferred mode of camping was on a bicycle with a tent. As we neared retirement Lindy and I started thinking about a small travel trailer. I really got the bug when I saw a Casita being towed by a minivan in Seaside, OR.

We rented a 20 year old Scamp for a long weekend. Returned home and said "That is not for us!". Probably the 50 mph headwinds for 500 miles had something to do with that. And the fact that the trailer's brakes didn't work and we we didn't have a WDH.

In spite of that, we kept gazing at Fiberglass trailers on the internet. Looked at a Casita and liked it a lot. Then Eric and Mary showed us Blue, and we knew we wanted an Escape, but were torn because we had never had a "Real" RV before. Finally decided that our regrets (which are few) had more to do with things that we didn't do than things we actually did. And that if it didn't work out we could just sell the trailer. So we ordered our 17b in January 2012, picked it up in June, and had the time of our lives bringing it back home. Got our 21 last Sept.

We just returned from 5 weeks on the road, and hardly a day went by where one of us didn't remark on how much fun we were having and how much we like our Escape trailer. Lindy wanted to stay out longer, but I felt the need to come back and be a responsible adult for a while before we head out to the rally in May.
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Old 04-03-2015, 11:44 AM   #8
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tractors1:
I indicated "other fiberglass" as my previous trailer (it's a 2005 Tab T2 which is not molded fiberglass, but is made of fiberglass--I guess it could be considered a "stick-built". However, it does not have the frequent seams of other "stick-built" trailers. We've had it since 2007 (third owners) and really enjoyed it. Coming from a backpacking background, we've been almost embarrassed by the level of luxury. We're getting an Escape (17B in mid-Aug.) primarily to have a frig rather than an icebox and to have a shower--hope the frig will reliably cool in summer temperatures!
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Old 04-03-2015, 12:06 PM   #9
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Another former T@B owner. It wasn't exactly stick built and wasn't exactly fiberglass, more like an aluminum, styrofoam, fiberglass sandwich.

In any case, I found my way here.
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Old 04-03-2015, 12:17 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by sturski View Post
Another former T@B owner. It wasn't exactly stick built and wasn't exactly fiberglass, more like an aluminum, styrofoam, fiberglass sandwich.

In any case, I found my way here.
My T@da was made with alumifiber, sheets that were vacuum formed. However as T@b and T@da owners realize, the seams could leak and you have delamination of the exterior panels, so they were just as bad as the stickies. When you think about, the older aluminum siding models did not delaminate, but you still had leaks. thank god for molded fiberglass units.
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Old 04-03-2015, 12:23 PM   #11
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Had a tent trailer for probably 20 years.
I bought it from a co-worker. His wife wouldn't camp any more after a family of five was murdered, camping in Well's Grey Park.
He had had it stored in a garage for ten years when I asked him how much?
He countered with what do you think?
I said $1,000. He countered with $900.

After 20 years, I sold it for $650.
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Old 04-03-2015, 12:48 PM   #12
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I started camping with my parents first in a tent then in a new at the time 1958 Tour-a-home stick built. Our family of 6 toured the country from Maine to San Diego and we loved it. My wife came from a tent camping family. We started together in her old army surplus wall tent then in a newer tent. When our kids were early teens, we decided we wanted to show them the country so we got a popup tent trailer to make it faster to travel, and it worked. We used it for about 15 years. We went back to a tent for a while but our old bones wouldn't take it anymore and we started looking again. We rented a stick built and decided it was not for us. We looked at many alternatives then bought a vintage stick built which we restored and used for several years. We took a longer trip and decided we needed something with a bathroom and that wouldn't take so much maintenance. We almost remodeled it to install a bathroom but realized it would take more time to keep it up than we would spend camping. We looked at Casita but they felt small inside and funny with the carpeted walls and almost gave up on small trailers. We looked at a variety of other trailers. We happened upon the Escape and visited owners of 17b and 19 models and settled on the 19. We chose it because it was towable by our TV, a Jeep Grand Cherokee V6, and provided all the features we needed and some we wanted. Our trailer will be delivered in late May.
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Old 04-03-2015, 12:56 PM   #13
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The pole is jaded and does not address all of the alternatives. We switched from an Aliner. The move was somewhat upward.
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Old 04-03-2015, 12:56 PM   #14
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Our first camper, after being tent campers for years, was a Casita. Love the Casita and had no complaints, other than lack of room. Almost crossed over to the dark side and bought a non-fgrv. Just couldn't accept the rubber roof. So excited for our 5.0TA, 34 days to orientation!
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Old 04-03-2015, 01:17 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sturski View Post
Another former T@B owner. It wasn't exactly stick built and wasn't exactly fiberglass, more like an aluminum, styrofoam, fiberglass sandwich.

In any case, I found my way here.
These days there are not many stick trailers still made with wood framing. My Starcraft had fiberglass and Styrofoam sandwiched on an aluminum frame. There may have been some wood in the roof but I never saw it, just aluminum. I probably had as much wood in the Starcraft as there is in the Escape. I consider any conventional box trailer a stick built.
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Old 04-03-2015, 01:38 PM   #16
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Did tent camping as a youngster and then moved to a cabover camper in "my other life". Once I remarried, we tried tent camping but it just wasn't for me any longer. Researched trailers for about two years before finding Escape. Once we viewed SantaCruzer's 17', we were hooked and ordered our 19' the next week.
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Old 04-03-2015, 03:14 PM   #17
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We had a HiLo. It raised up and down hydraulically. It was heavy but pulled well with a 160 HP Astrovan. It had a steel frame with fiberglass skin, but paneling on the inside and under the fiberglass. The dreaded seams eventually leaked, paneling delaminated, and lost 80% of its value in one year.

Because of this experience we first had a Casita, suffered from claustrophobia and are now in the 21'.
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Old 04-03-2015, 04:14 PM   #18
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Most of this background has been told before, at least in bits and pieces. But, I am getting older, so have an excuse for repeating myself.

Like most, I started out in a tent. All my camping from early teens to late twenties, was backcountry travel, hiking, skiing and paddling. Was very committed to this lifestyle. We still do at least a couple trips a year where we sleep in tents in the backcountry.

Having children, and wanting to take them camping prompted the purchase of a Coleman tent trailer in my early 30's. We had that for about 10 years, and it saw lots of use.

Having to purchase a larger truck for my startup renovation business 20 years ago, saw a trade to a 24' bunk model Terry Trailer. At this time my brothers and I bought some rec property, and our trailer stayed parked there most of the time as a cabin, with a few holiday trips thrown in with the kids. Camping at our rec land became our most popular destination for weekend trips. No hassles with finding a spot, make all the noise we want, and we built a 20x32 cookhouse to lounge in in bad weather, and even slept in during the cold of winter.

Staring 7 years ago, our kids started coming with us less, and when they did, never slept in the trailer, opting instead for their own space in tents. As we never used the full bathroom at all, and did not spend much time inside, we decided to buy a bit smaller, more layout efficient trailer.

This search led me to a decision that it would be a fibreglass trailer, for the reasons we all know well. I first looked for used, and like the four season capability of a Bigfoot. I did not like the layouts though, and thought I could just rebuild one to suit. My wife slapped me upside the head, and said I had enough projects to do, and we either buy used that needs very little work, or buy new. She only had two requests, that was a permanent bed, and a toilet.

So off searching I went. I was already a member at FGRV, one of the resources that prompted the decision for a FG trailer. There I searched for new, and it came down to a Scamp, Casita, and Escape, all 16-17 models. I quickly ruled out the Scamp, and eventually the Casita, and was thinking it would be an Escape 17. It was not perfect in my mind, but we could make due.

Well, lo and behold, if Reace did not come onto FGRV and announce he was going to build a 19' model, and was looking for input. I was all over this like a dirty shirt. He offered a real decent introductory offer to get some deposits, and get it going. Well, he did not really have to do that, as all the 10 promo spots were scooped up very fast. It was also at this time that Jeff started this site, and I was signed up the first day.

Originally with the 19, the galley was beside the bath, where the fridge and closet are, with the fridge on the door side. He had done that to provide full height cabinets on both sides for roof support. I suggested to him to keep all the full height bulky components to one side, which would leave it more open along the other side. At first he balked because of the support issue, but then came up with the full height gable idea to support the roof. They then offered this as a 'Plan B', which Tammy jokingly referred to as the 'Plan Bennett'. Well, everyone but I think one person opted for this plan, prompting Reace to drop the other layout, and just go with this one.

We picked up our 19 just about 6 years ago in May. I think ours was number 6. Jenny and Ian can confirm if they know which one their was, as ours rolled out 1 day later. When they picked up their trailer, ours had a ton of work to be done yet, windows, awning, decals, and lots of other stuff still needed. They busted butt getting it done, and I even helped a bit cleaning it up, so I could head to the rally in Fort Langley that night, where we shared a site with Jenny and Ian. I was already well versed in using an RV and pulling trailers, so did not need to take time for an orientation.

We have been extremely pleased with our decision to buy the Escape 19, and have enjoyed many a trip in it. It serves us well. Since then Escape has come out with the 21, a great trailer with a layout that just wouldn't work as good as our 19 for our style of use. They then came out the the new 5.0 TA, which we just love. It would work great for us, but my truck has a large toolshed on it for work, so we could not do a fifth wheel as long as I am working. Who knows though, maybe when I retire. BUT, I will have to think seriously about that, as the 19 still serves us wonderfully right now. It has everything we need, lots of room, big bed, toilet, and lots of storage (and this is without a tongue box).
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Old 04-03-2015, 04:28 PM   #19
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I started looking for a trailer in '07, a year before I retired. A friend had bought an A-frame pop-up stickie, but reading the forums for them was disheartening -- how to upgrade this, how to fix that, how to kluge up one of those. They seemed low-grade, and broke a lot. Then I heard of fiberglass eggs, and saw a Casita. I next saw Jeff's 17, and was thinking about buying it... until he mentioned that Escape was coming out with a 19. We put down our deposit in January of '09, and picked it up in July. One of the best purchases I've ever made. Morro Bay last week, Yosemite in two weeks. Life is good.

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Old 04-03-2015, 05:13 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jubal View Post
The pole is jaded and does not address all of the alternatives. We switched from an Aliner. The move was somewhat upward.
This poll is not jaded; the site software allows only 10 choices to be listed for the poll, so that's why there are limited choices.

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