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Old 01-21-2015, 05:34 PM   #1
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19 or 21 ft, pls provide your input

Hello, I am having a hard time deciding between purchasing a 19 or 21 ft Escape. My tow vehicle is rated for 5k lbs. We have no former experience RV'ing, just tent camping. Have towing experience with many different boats. Most camping will be long weekends including boondocking with my wife and I in National Forests. We both work, no long excursions for now. We are fine with the bed size of both, cost difference is irrelevant.
My general assessment is I would prefer the space and options of the 21 IF towing is not more difficult. Hope to place an order this week, please provide your input/feedback you believe may be helpful in making this decision.

Thanks, Craig
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Old 01-21-2015, 05:41 PM   #2
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Welcome to the forum. What is your planned tow vehicle?
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Old 01-21-2015, 05:50 PM   #3
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We went up to the 19 from a 17. Might have considered a 21, but we preferred the centered front window of the 19, and just aren't wild about the 21's bed configuration, although others certainly like it. For two adults and a medium sized dog, the 19 seems perfect. I can tow it with either my Tacoma or Tundra, but we use the Tundra.
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Old 01-21-2015, 06:02 PM   #4
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I had an Escape 19 for about 9 months and towed maybe 5k miles with both a Dodge Ram and a Toyota FJ cruiser which was rated 5000/500 lbs. The 19' Escape loaded was about 3500 lbs with a max of 4,000, so it was okay with the FJ. I upgraded to a 21' Escape and it is about 3800 lbs with a max of 4500lbs. I never tried with the FJ as I traded it in but the Ram tows it great for last 10,000 miles. Both trailers towed fine with the Andersen hitch setup.
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Old 01-21-2015, 07:31 PM   #5
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We thought we were going to order a 19 but wanted to be sure, so we took a nice little drive of 2100 miles to Chilliwack and made our decision there. With a 19 and a 21 parked side by side, we ran back and forth comparing features. We felt the 21 would work best for us but had to be sure as this is the first and more likely the last trailer that we will ever buy. Seeing and being in the trailers shows you things that no brochure can do justice to. Cpaharley could tell you about some rally out east where you could compare Escape trailers. Good luck in your search and have fun. Loren
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Old 01-21-2015, 07:43 PM   #6
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Having owned both trailers I think you cannot go wrong with either. Good comments so far about bed arrangement. My personal choice was not having one or the other having to crawl over the other to exit the bed. The 21 wins that hands down, we never missed the 10 inches less of mattress. The 21 is roomier, as one might expect. More room to pass, larger bathroom makes showering an easier task. I like the bed where it is on the 21 as it becomes a convenient place for a brief sit down.

Storage, outside access, backing up, feeling under tow, ceiling height, are all equal. The counter space is nearly doubled in the 21 with the night stand, that is nice. The cubbies are great to keep things off those counters.

Like Jim, we upgraded our tow vehicle from a 4Runner to a Sequoia. After driving 5,000 miles I am not sure I had to do that. With a WDH hitch the 4Runner and its V8 would have done fine.
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Old 01-21-2015, 08:15 PM   #7
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We upgraded from a 17 foot Casita. It got too small for us. We looked at a 19 and my wife did not feel we were seeing enough extra to make the change. then we looked at a 21 and knew right off it was right for us. We love the extra width. I think the extra width will be the most important element for us now and for the years to come. On the other hand if you really value better gas mileage and the ease of driving something like a Tacoma or 4Runner, then the 19 would be better and it really is a very practical camper. It has all the stuff you need but not a lot of extra.

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Old 01-21-2015, 08:19 PM   #8
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fudge brownie, It is always good to get a confirmation on something that you have also chosen. The great thing about this forum is all of the help that we get with making decisions on options and add ons. I think Cap4hire should take a little more time and research things out. It is cheaper to marry the right person the first time than get a divorce. Loren
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Old 01-21-2015, 08:42 PM   #9
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Another consideration is storage location. For us, because we definitely wanted our Escape stored on our property, we had a length limit.
Just another factor in the process.
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Old 01-21-2015, 08:52 PM   #10
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We chose the 21 for the no-crawl-over bed after having had a Casita 17. We prefer the view out the rear window while at the dinette and don't want a front window. Spent a long time shopping/configuring as this IS the last trailer we intend to buy; has enough room for 2-3 young grandkids AND 3 smallish dogs!

Tow behavior is much better than the Casita behind our Taco v6 4x4 (6400 lb rating) and we've never had an issue in the mountains.
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Old 01-21-2015, 09:08 PM   #11
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Right on the money!

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Originally Posted by tractors1 View Post
We chose the 21 for the no-crawl-over bed after having had a Casita 17. We prefer the view out the rear window while at the dinette and don't want a front window. Spent a long time shopping/configuring as this IS the last trailer we intend to buy; has enough room for 2-3 young grandkids AND 3 smallish dogs!

Tow behavior is much better than the Casita behind our Taco v6 4x4 (6400 lb rating) and we've never had an issue in the mountains.
I agree with Charley for same reasons. We had a Casita too. We stopped to see Cpaharley's 21'. Five minutes and I was sold.
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Old 01-21-2015, 09:09 PM   #12
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For the two of us, we feel like the 19 hits a real sweet spot. It's large enough to store everything we need in the camper rather than having to run to the car for things the way we did with our Casita. It tows easily behind our Highlander, and I can still make the occasional U-turn with it. When we park in grocery store lots, the car and Escape fit perfectly in two spaces. No doubt the 21 is a wonderful model and has several advantages over the 19 to some. Like Charlie, we intend for this to the last trailer WE intend to buy, it's just that our needs are slightly more modest.
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Old 01-21-2015, 09:27 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by Parker View Post
For the two of us, we feel like the 19 hits a real sweet spot. It's large enough to store everything we need in the camper rather than having to run to the car for things the way we did with our Casita. It tows easily behind our Highlander, and I can still make the occasional U-turn with it. When we park in grocery store lots, the car and Escape fit perfectly in two spaces. No doubt the 21 is a wonderful model and has several advantages over the 19 to some. Like Charlie, we intend for this to the last trailer WE intend to buy, it's just that our needs are slightly more modest.
I would agree with this wholeheartedly. We were absolutely certain we wanted a 17, mainly because we had been going back and forth on a Casita SD17 and what was clearly a better built unit, the Escape. The smallness and ease of towing have made the tinier fiberglass trailers hugely popular in South Texas. Our needs were not great, but a little extra comfort is always appealing. Having seen Steve and Cynthia's 19 here in the San Antonio area, we realized that it was still compact, still easily towable with a v6, and had everything we wanted and one thing more -- a queen bed. That was it.
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Old 01-21-2015, 09:45 PM   #14
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Oh just give it up and buy a 5.0TA, you get everything from the other builds and more
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Old 01-21-2015, 09:58 PM   #15
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Get the one that has the storage that you need. I have a 19' on order and never stepped into a 21'. Plan to tow with a V6 4Runner, roughly 5,000lbs. Interior height is probably the only reason I didn't order a 17'.
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Old 01-21-2015, 10:06 PM   #16
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We went with the 21. We liked the bed set up better, and the little bit of extra space is nice with the dogs on the floor. We towed it home 4400 miles from Chilliwack with a Ridgeline with a 5000 lb tow limit without any difficulty. I was surprised how well it towed. We also have an Andersen hitch, which I think was well worth the money.
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Old 01-21-2015, 10:51 PM   #17
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Have you asked escape industries what they think? I am planning on towing with a Nissan pathfinder with a 5000 tow rating.
When we were viewing the 19 vs. 21, the guy who does the hitch up gave me the impression that the 21 was too big for me.
I know what you are going through, I have zero tow experience and don't want to make any expensive mistakes.
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Old 01-21-2015, 11:32 PM   #18
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Have you asked escape industries what they think? I am planning on towing with a Nissan pathfinder with a 5000 tow rating.
When we were viewing the 19 vs. 21, the guy who does the hitch up gave me the impression that the 21 was too big for me.
I know what you are going through, I have zero tow experience and don't want to make any expensive mistakes.
My only caveat to this would be to make sure your choice is based primarily on the trailer and to a lesser extent the tow vehicle. Its easier to upgrade your tow than upsize your trailer. I will probably go through several tow vehicles during the time I own my Escape.
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Old 01-21-2015, 11:41 PM   #19
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My tow vehicle is rated for 5k lbs.
Good start... but how much towing capacity is available when the tow vehicle is loaded with passengers and cargo the way it will be when you're towing the Escape? Depending on the vehicle that might still be 5000 pounds, but if only 3500 pounds of capacity are left for the trailer then an Escape 21' will be too much.

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My general assessment is I would prefer the space and options of the 21 IF towing is not more difficult.
The 21' is 4" wider than the 19' (which everything a little more difficult) and of course a couple feet longer (which only matters in tight places... like some campsites). Fortunately, both are not very large compared to most travel trailers. How big are the boats you've towed, Craig?

Once you're on the highway, the width won't matter much (as long as you have wide enough mirrors to see around it), and the length doesn't matter at all.
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Old 01-21-2015, 11:51 PM   #20
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My only caveat to this would be to make sure your choice is based primarily on the trailer and to a lesser extent the tow vehicle. Its easier to upgrade your tow than upsize your trailer. I will probably go through several tow vehicles during the time I own my Escape.
I'm 100% with Robert on this one. You may only have ONE custom built trailer, but you may have multiple tow rigs. I've found myself in this situation... Tugs may come and they may go... but the perfect towable only happens once. YMMV
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