Really Escape?

[YakRV]

Originally Posted by splitting_lanes

I don’t know about the video, but it seems escape is having sourcing problems with both kinds of awnings. For their sake, I hope both versions don’t show up on the same day!

Alright then. Good to know the power awnings could be an issue too.

Edit: The mention of supply issues with the manual awning arms was part of Escape’s March 2022 Q&A video.

[TTMartin]

Winnebago’s $4.3 Billion Backlog of RVs Just Keeps Ballooning

Buyers, however, may be disappointed that their dream camping vehicle (maybe even an amphibious one) may not arrive for quite a while. Competitor Thor Industries (shoutout to my hometown of Elkhart, Indiana, where Thor is based) reported earlier in March that its backlog for the second fiscal quarter of 2022 increased by more than 60% for a total of $17.73 billion. Prices are going up as well, but neither delays or price hikes seem to be damping enthusiasm for the RV market. Not even rising fuel costs are slowing it down so far.

"The industry does not expect current prices at the pump to curb business anytime soon," RV Industry Association spokesperson James Boyle told Reuters. "Many RVs are used for short trips and tailgating, rather than long road trips."

Labor shortages, supply chain issues, chip shortages (sigh), and parts delays are all in play here and affecting RV companies’ ability to fill the demand quickly. In December, Thor recognized that inventory was low and announced that its dealers may not be fully restocked until 2023.

[brain]

Thor Industries seems to be doing quite well with the "supply chain issues" and seems to be far from "poverty":


THOR Industries Reports Record Fiscal 2021 Results as Net Sales Top $12.3 Billion with Earnings Per Share of $11.85


https://ir.thorindustries.com/invest...5/default.aspx

[MyronL]

If it happened to me I would not change my travel plans, would make sure they understand I am taking possession without the awning soon as I get there and they can plan accordingly.

[Marty]

Wow. I am really sorry that happened to you, and especially the news about your dog. We are heading up to AK with our 5.0 in May and I would have offered to bring that awning up for you if we could figure out how to carry it.

Funny/not funny slightly related story: When we picked our trailer up in December, I pulled into a parking lot about 60 miles into our return trip to Portland to tighten lug nuts. Was watching my wheels to make sure we didn't clip the curb. What I DIDNT realize was there was a tree branch jutting out into our path and I clipped it and it pulled the awning right off the trailer. Took us a moment to figure out what had happened. We heard this THUNK sound. My husband thought I hit the curb but I knew I hadn't since I had been watching my wheels. Then a guy walks up and says he watched it happen and there was our awning across the lot. Happened to him the week before and he was going to go home and get a chainsaw and take care of that limb. Of course it turned out to not only be the awning. Somehow in the process some piece whipped around the corner and hit the right back window of our brand new shiny trailer and shattered it. GAH!!!! MORTIFICATION! Fortunately we were just one exit away from a Home Depot and the rain wouldn't start for another 1.5 hours. So we went and bought plastic sheeting and some super repair tape, and taped up the window. We couldn't just leave the awning in the parking lot, and tried to figure out how to carry it. Too long for the bed of the truck with the trailer on. Too long to get it in through the door of the trailer. So I had the idea of putting it into the trailer through the broken window. Now we have the awning in the trailer and the window taped up. We got home and needed to get the awning back out otherwise we couldn't use the trailer. No way were we undoing the cover we put over the window, not in the kind of rain we were having back in December and January. So we took the SawzAll and cut it in half to get it out. (Insert eye roll here). We filed an insurance claim, no problem - they sent the check right away. And now we have been waiting since then for a window and an awning to come in. And of course, they ordered them and have no idea when they will show up. We are selling out house and leaving mid May for our Grand Adventure of traveling the country for a couple of years. Don't know if we will have either window or awning by then We have to be back in Oregon by mid July so if they don't arrive before we leave, maybe they will be in by then.

[Great Eggstrications]

I know that this will sound like it's coming from way out in left field, and maybe it is. I'm truly not being facetious. Just something to maybe consider if the associated down-sides* aren't too big of a deal to you.

When we ordered our E19 back in 2015, there was no power awning option, and we were happy to get the old manual version, figuring it was part of the package and sure, sounds good. Since then, we've found that we really don't use it very much at all. The vast majority of the time, our days are spent away from the trailer either "boot-hiking" or "car-hiking" or driving around taking pics or shopping or whatever. On our "days off" when we do hang around at the campsite, except for mid-day, we can always stay out of the sun by maybe finding a tree or something to provide shade, or sitting in the shade alongside the trailer, and mid-day we can pop the tailgate open and use the it as an awning. If we had it all to do over again, in retrospect I really do believe that we would forgo the awning altogether: Less stuff to cause problems, a nice sleek clean look, better aerodynamics and MPG (yeah, right), can't unfurl while driving if it's not even there, yada, yada, yada. (Gotta admit that when we see that our elderly awing is starting to split and crack, especially where it's anchored to the trailer, and has yet another winter of "Seattle Green" moss/algae/mildew crud on it, that is perhaps skewing our perspective.)

Like the idea it or not, it does speak to the current awning availability issue.

Think on these things... or not.


* E.g.: Obviously too small for more than 2 people and/or big dogs; can't do it with a pickup; only for SUV's with swing-up tailgates; not so good in the rain; diminished resale attractiveness and value; etc; etc, etc. Regarding resale, early on in the process, we had decided that it would be our final trailer and it was for us, but the idea of an "awning delete" didn't even occur to us.

[Iowa Dave]

Here is an option. There are several awnings like this available. Noting like a little shade on a hot day. Even if you’re not around the trailer this is a way to provide shade or rain protection.
YMMV
https://springbar.com/products/autofly-synthetic

Or

https://scoutmastercg.com/philmont-d...y-infographic/
Iowa Dave

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by Great Eggstrications

I know that this will sound like it's coming from way out in left field, and maybe it is. .... If we had it all to do over again, in retrospect I really do believe that we would forgo the awning altogether: ...

We use our awning primarily for protection against rain and secondarily for shade. Many times I have been outside the trailer cooking something on the bbq and staying dry while it was raining. My choice would be to keep the awning.

[Jack!]

Originally Posted by chesaka

It's not that I expect perfection. It's the frustration and disappointment. It's the many months of waiting for the trailer. It's the hours of planning for this event, right down to finding out yesterday my dear 6-year-old dog has liver cancer and is dying, and begging the vet to find time to euthanize him before I leave. It's just everything, and now an overlooked awning is the reason it's not happening as planned. Maybe Escape will have some ideas on Monday.

So sorry about your dog. It's sad being their lives go by so fast in any case.
Our dog is 8 yrs old and has been sick the past couple of weeks. We think she ate a catapillar. We got hit with a very heavy catapillar bloom this year. Nasty things that can sting you if they land on you. One is not necessarily poisionous but very caustic creatures that will reek havoc with digestive systems.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Jack!

So sorry about your dog. It's sad being their lives go by so fast in any case.
Our dog is 8 yrs old and has been sick the past couple of weeks. We think she ate a catapillar. We got hit with a very heavy catapillar bloom this year. Nasty things that can sting you if they land on you. One is not necessarily poisionous but very caustic creatures that will reek havoc with digestive systems.

But they turn into beautiful and lovely butterflies......

[alanerickson]

Makes you wonder if they "borrowed" the awning off of yours since it was just sitting in the yard and they assumed that the replacement would be in before yours needed to be shipped, but then awning deliveries slipped.

[Jack!]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

But they turn into beautiful and lovely butterflies......

Perhaps at Disney but nothing beautiful happening in this caterpillar case. We are talking locust level volumes of capterpliers. They cover the entire sides of our home and garage. The cover every tree or bush eating it clean of anything green and growing. They drop onto things, and us, when simply walking by. That and, they sting and irritate the skin. It's a plague of caterpillars who build cotton-like cocoons on everything and later emerge as big ugly moths, who also eat every green thing in sight.

We are clearing our remaining wet lands out to the lake this year which will help with nasty critters. A couple of years it will be grassy and a lot more tame here. Saw lots of moccasins while clearing and the gators took off. An 8 ft gator took an adult deer on our shoreline a few weeks ago.

[Deva]

Originally Posted by Deva

A couple of years it will be grassy and a lot more tame here. Saw lots of moccasins while clearing and the gators took off. An 8 ft gator took an adult deer on our shoreline a few weeks ago.

I lived in Florida for almost 40 years. No body of water is safe from gators. I had a friend whose son-in-law was working with some others to clear out a small lake of water hyacinth in their subdivision. There was a group of men, which were splint into two men teams in waders with a large canoe between them to load up with pulled plant life and when it was full, take to the shore for pickup and disposal. My friends son-in-law was at the front and went around a bend out of site and was never seen again. They had dive teams called in, no luck. Finally ended up dragging the lake and all they found was his foot still in his boot. Be careful out there.

[Jack!]

Originally Posted by Deva

A couple of years it will be grassy and a lot more tame here. Saw lots of moccasins while clearing and the gators took off. An 8 ft gator took an adult deer on our shoreline a few weeks ago.
I lived in Florida for almost 40 years. No body of water is safe from gators.

Thanks! We, also, are not FL rookies. The Gators can't take our Deere in this case. Crazy to get in the water to clear anything as it's very rural & wild here. Things were so thick we were shocked to find we had a previously unseen "island", connected by a 40ft wide land-bridge out on the lakeside. Bridge is just wide enough to get the heavy equipment & our truck on the island. We had thought it was solid ground all the way out to the lake shoreline. We are delighted, as it's a very unique structure on this lake chain.

[Deva]

Originally Posted by Jack!

I lived in Florida for almost 40 years. No body of water is safe from gators.

Thanks! We, also, are not FL rookies. The Gators can't take our Deere in this case. Crazy to get in the water to clear anything as it's very rural & wild here. Things were so thick we were shocked to find we had a previously unseen "island", connected by a 40ft wide land-bridge out on the lakeside. Bridge is just wide enough to get the heavy equipment & our truck on the island. We had thought it was solid ground all the way out to the lake shoreline. We are delighted, as it's a very unique structure on this lake chain.

Ha! Yeah, gators will not win against that Deere! Color me relieved. I always worry people don’t give gators enough respect. Here’s to happy and safe clearing!!

[Jack!]

Originally Posted by Deva

There a big difference between these two issues: #1 Supply chain: Outside of Escape’s control and #2 Communication

Might be a third consideration here.
We signed off our build sheet 6 months in advance of the completion date. ETI announced in a video at that time that a 6 month leadtime was required to order materials for the trailer builds due to "shortages". However, on our 2nd week on the prod line we learned they ran short of refrigs and had a delay. We had delivery arranged rather close by so it wasn't an issue for us. However, we wondered at the time that perhaps ETI should move the build sheet signoff to 8 months in advance. Seems a 6 month lead time is still not enough time to acquire all the required parts.

[LBaranyai]

When we ordered our 17B Escape in 2011, the manual awning was the standard. We have never actually used it. We have a great pop-up canopy that’s easy to put up and take down and allows you coverage wherever you want it. My husband likes to place it over a park picnic table and set up his cooking station. No worries about the smells or grease staining the awning - the canopy’s a lot easier to clean or replace. But his main reason for not using it is he usually camps by a lake for fishing and the winds can be suddenly get quite strong. He’d have to retract it several times a day to fish just to make sure it and/or the trailer wouldn’t get damaged. The canopy is easy to anchor down and despite getting caught in the boat when the winds kick up, the canopy has held it’s ground. But if you like to spend time relaxing by your trailer, I’m sure it’s well worth having. Supply chains are definitely an issue for many businesses. I’m amazed when I drive by our local car dealerships and see very empty lots!

[kavm]

Lorri - Now that you have mentioned it, we have yet to open our awning going into the second year. We are going on a camping trip this week but doubt if we will bother to open it. We are mostly not at the campground during the day. And, sitting under the awning is not on the agenda during mornings and evenings. I am sure we will try it sometime but it will mostly be a hood (side?) ornament until our camping style changes.

If it were me, I’d have asked Escape to credit me and gone without the awning… But, I know mine is not a widely shared opinion on this topic.

[Rossue]

Not widely shared at all! We were just in Moab at our favorite site: Big Bend #3. Beautiful site away from the main campground and looking out the back window at the river. In the afternoon it really helped to not only deploy the awning- but to also greatly shift the angle downward to the setting sun.

Can only do that with a manual awning . Also helpful to shift the angle during rain in some instances. Just ask some B.C. Canadians who camp with tents...they are very creative with tarps making the rain less of a problem!

[Ron in BC]

Well, different folks...........

In AZ and Baja etc. it keeps the sun off one side of the trailer and gives some sometimes much needed shade.

We have a KUMA shelter for bugs and outdoor eating.

But our major use of the awning is to keep the area in front of the door dry and be able to hang up soaking wet jackets etc. and let them drip dry outside. Once in a while it's kind of enjoyable to sit under it in a torrential downpour and watch the water waterfall off it. Simple pleasures for a simple mind I guess.

Generally speaking, our awning goes out when we arrive and stays out until we leave. Once in awhile we've taken it in under very windy conditions.

I have to say that I've never been out fishing and ever worried about my awning, it's never crossed my mind.

But lot's of variations in who and how they're used. Sure works for me.

Ron