What did you do for your Escape today.....

[PleinAirCedar]

Hi Guys,
What about using Murphy's oil soap for a basic washing of my Escape 17B. I have a bottle and getting something else involves ordering from Amazon & waiting a week or so, due to my remote living location. Any other just plain washing tips?
I use used dryer sheets to wash off dead bugs and that works good. I also use my floor mop dipped in a pail of soap (last time I used Mrs Meyers soap) to wash and then hose off with tap water to rinse. I go over it with a chamois to dry it. The local car wash is a 20 mile round trip and results in lots of new dead bugs on the drive home. lol!
Thanks for any tips!

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by PleinAirCedar

Hi Guys,
What about using Murphy's oil soap for a basic washing of my Escape 17B. I have a bottle and getting something else involves ordering from Amazon & waiting a week or so, due to my remote living location. Any other just plain washing tips?
I use used dryer sheets to wash off dead bugs and that works good. I also use my floor mop dipped in a pail of soap (last time I used Mrs Meyers soap) to wash and then hose off with tap water to rinse. I go over it with a chamois to dry it. The local car wash is a 20 mile round trip and results in lots of new dead bugs on the drive home. lol!
Thanks for any tips!

Maybe you have some of these home hand: baby shampoo, ivory soap, Woolite... anything that's not a detergent.. which will remove the wax.

[John in Santa Cruz]

i use car wash, like Meguiars, on the exterior, and very dilute simple green in a spray bottle on the interior.

once the exterior is clean, wax it with most any sort of car or marine wax, or for a really long lasting shine and protection, go over it with a swirl remover / polish, wipe that off after buffing it out, and then rub in a polymer sealant coating such as Meguiars #20 Polymer Sealant.

[gbaglo]

I buy a four litre container of Simonize Wash 'n' Wax about every couple years. It leave a light coat of wax with every wash. I still wax the trailer from time to time. If I had to wait a couple weeks for the product to arrive, I could cope.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by PleinAirCedar

Hi Guys,
What about using Murphy's oil soap for a basic washing of my Escape 17B. I have a bottle and getting something else involves ordering from Amazon & waiting a week or so, due to my remote living location. Any other just plain washing tips?
I use used dryer sheets to wash off dead bugs and that works good. I also use my floor mop dipped in a pail of soap (last time I used Mrs Meyers soap) to wash and then hose off with tap water to rinse. I go over it with a chamois to dry it. The local car wash is a 20 mile round trip and results in lots of new dead bugs on the drive home. lol!
Thanks for any tips!

Hi: PleinAirCedar... I use Blue Coral Wax/Wash. I get it at WalMart. They also sell wash/dust mops with a telescoping handle. Once you get used to the swivel they work IMHO. Blue Coral - Car Care Products between Spa treatments. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[tractors1]

Had enough fighting with the stock coupler; dropped off the 21 and a new Bulldog coupler at a trailer shop to get joined together........

[h2owmn]

I ordered a multi pocket organizer for the doorway wall but oddly , command hooks wouldn't hold even though there was nothing that heavy in the pockets. So I did what Ed did and just screwed it into the wall. He also had recommended the pockets in the first place. It's nice having a lightweight tote bag (for taking things to sit around the fire), hand sanitizer, extra masks, headlamp, sunhat, glasses strap, etc right there out of the way but handy.

Thanks, Ed, for another great idea.

[Donna D.]

Busy, busy for the past two days. De-winterized, changed propane detector... stupid short wires! Put on the stainless steel door hold back, changed the passive vent cover (slippery roof!!!! there's only seven screws and I dropped them 49 times) and just washed and scoured the awning. Tomorrow I make the bed and pack for Spring NOG.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Busy, busy for the past two days. De-winterized, changed propane detector... stupid short wires! Put on the stainless steel door hold back, changed the passive vent cover (slippery roof!!!! there's only seven screws and I dropped them 49 times) and just washed and scoured the awning. Tomorrow I make the bed and pack for Spring NOG.

Take plenty of pictures, Donna, we are about 2 weeks from our first outing.....

[Buckyver]

Been prepping the trailer for a long trip from Prescott AZ to Circle Hot Springs Alaska starting this coming week. I don't believe I missed anything at least I hope I didn't. Lubed the wheel baring's, sanitized the fresh water, lugs torqued to spec, replaced anode rod, used small compressor to blow out the cob webs in the furnace and fridge, and checked batteries. Tomorrow will wash and start waxing before hitting the road. Thanks for the tip on washing/waxing.

[PleinAirCedar]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: PleinAirCedar... I use Blue Coral Wax/Wash. I get it at WalMart. They also sell wash/dust mops with a telescoping handle. Once you get used to the swivel they work IMHO. Blue Coral - Car Care Products between Spa treatments. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I'll check out the Blue Coral plus the shampoo. I have some daily use shampoo that is pretty mild. I may just wash it with the shampoo to get the first layer of stuff off. Then dry and the next day use the Blue Coral wash wax.

thanks for the input, very helpful!

[Iowa Dave]

Our 19 and our 21 have had excellent exterior finish care and appearance both before we got them and while we have owned them. I take no credit for this. Rita is the manager and executionist of exterior (and interior) appearance and care.

This has been our process
1.) If your camper is not clean and you do not know the history of the waxes used or even if you do and want to start new, get a product called X-treme clean by Corrosion Technologies. Wash your Escape or other fiberglass trailer with this product. It will take all of the old product off.
2.) Then you may notice oxidation, blemishes and small scratches.
Get Meguairs fine scratch, and oxidation remover X-20 It comes in a black bottle about 8 ounces or so. Rub it in with a circular motion and rub off according to directions.
Now you are ready to polish the camper
3.) Use Rejex it is a protective polymer sealant and finish. It will leave your camper so shiny and slick you will need sunglasses. It is for cars, campers, boats and airplanes. We get ours in a True value hardware store. But you can get it on line too. Comes out of Texas and is made in the USA. You can use it on glass but don’t use it on the pebbly windows, it’s hell to polish off.
4.) It will last the season and if you wash the camper during the season use Meguairs Gold car wash soap It will not remove the polish.

Before you go on a trip where there’s a lot of bugs, apply an additional coat of Rejex to the front of the trailer. Then you can easily remove the bugs with a bucket of water and a mitt.

If you’re in a campground where this is not allowed, get a road guard and post them where observation and communication are both possible.

A few years ago our we sold our 19 in eleven hours. The buyer had a Casita to sell that had not been polished since it was new (about 10 years). He asked how the Escape was so shiny and we told him. He had the Rejex overnighted to his home, polished his Casita and sold it very rapidly, The new buyers marveled how new it looked.

My sales days are over but if I wanted to make a buck today, I’d pursue a dealership of Rejex and Meguairs products. These products sell themselves and it’s easy to sell things you believe in, use yourself and are willing to unconditionally stand behind. (Except for manure spreaders, nobody stands behind those)
Iowa Dave

[h2owmn]

bwaahahaha

[Chris R]

Since I have all this time on my hands these days, I pulled the fridge (RMD8555) and will all some insulation, fix the back of the recess to fit fridge manufacture's install specs and hopefully increase the fridge performance.

[Bobbie54]

I decided that for now and probably forever the front bench is going to be a place to sit- for company and for me putting on shoes- and turned it into one. (Storage under the table part of the bench.) Now I need to figure out a way to make it more comfortable. (Some kind of back support?)

I also made an appointment to have my awning installed-finally! Gave up on getting into Canada and Escape shipped it to an RV place not too horribly far away. I'll have it for Maryhill, which was my goal.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Chris R

Since I have all this time on my hands these days, I pulled the fridge (RMD8555) and will all some insulation, fix the back of the recess to fit fridge manufacture's install specs and hopefully increase the fridge performance.

Definitely will help Chris . The installation never followed the manufacture instructions including substantial insulation . Have been a lot happier for years now with these improvements . Pat

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Definitely will help Chris . The installation never followed the manufacture instructions including substantial insulation . Have been a lot happier for years now with these improvements . Pat

Agree 100%. Even though we have a different fridge it had a huge gap all the way around. This allowed warm air to not only surround the fridge it also disrupted the convective airflow pattern across the fins to allow for the best cooling. This may be even more critical on the early trailers like ours with the sidewall top vent.

[thunderworks]

Today I got a Coleman Mach 10 AC installed on my 19 by a local service center. Relatively quiet on “low” fan speed.

I also weighed my trailer on a CAT scale. If I understand the numbers correctly, it has a fairly high tongue weight . . . 560lbs. Full propane, dual 6 volt batteries, hoses, chocks etc. in the front storage box.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by thunderworks

Today I got a Coleman Mach 10 AC installed on my 19 by a local service center. Relatively quiet on “low” fan speed.

I also weighed my trailer on a CAT scale. If I understand the numbers correctly, it has a fairly high tongue weight . . . 560lbs. Full propane, dual 6 volt batteries, hoses, chocks etc. in the front storage box.

Do not forget what you have stored under the front dinette seats, it will impact your tongue weight also....

[thunderworks]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Do not forget what you have stored under the front dinette seats, it will impact your tongue weight also....

The front storage area was essentially empty, and I had a full load of water which I presume lightens the tongue somewhat. I was surprised by the tongue weight, but it still comes in a little less than 14% of the total which was 4040 lbs. we didn’t have the fridge loaded, nor our personal clothes, so the numbers will change with a more functional loading.

This was the first time I used a 3 platform CAT scale and hope I calculated every correctly.