Dry Bathroom

[Cypherian]

Hello All ,

I am new to the forum and to the idea of a fully fiberglass camper, I have been doing research for a long while and pretty much had settled on an Airstream.. Don't shoot me yet I decided that based on never having owned an RV and the only camping experience I have is with Uncle Sam who as those who have been there well lol it leaves a lot to be desired. Moreover, the locales pretty well umm resembled the south end of a north bound mule. The airstream resale values looked like I might not loose to much of my investment and no I was not buying a new one. If I decided I didn't like the life. The handling behind a tow vehicle tests looked a lot better then a lot of the other manufacturers. Furthermore, I also looked at it as something I would almost not need a repair shop for since I retired after 23 years as an Air Craft Structural Repair tech so fixing most things made out of metal, fiberglass, composite etc is a snap.

That all being said towing with a 2011 Tacoma Double cab I felt I wanted to stay under the max weight by 20% ( I have towed a lot before just never an RV and never with a small truck) the 19 foot Bambi seemed like the ticket. I liked it as it comes with a Dry Bath and a lot of the other manufacturers use wet bath like the escape. I would really like a Dry Bath so the obvious question is does escape offer one ?

Cypherian

[cpaharley2008]

None of the Escapes have a dry bath, they all have a marine bath-shower/toilet combo with fiberglass walls/floor drain.. That said, Escape does offer a dry bath bath option- toilet only, no shower in some models.
As far as Escape vs Airstream, I'm glad you have some metal skills, with over 3000 rivets you may need some. There are no rivets in an Escape. In addition Airstream will not custom build anything nor change any option whereas Escape will make the interior just the way you want it and build it exactly the way you want it.

[Cypherian]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

None of the Escapes have a dry bath, they all have a marine bath-shower/toilet combo with fiberglass walls/floor drain.. That said, Escape does offer a dry bath bath option- toilet only, no shower in some models.
As far as Escape vs Airstream, I'm glad you have some metal skills, with over 3000 rivets you may need some. There are no rivets in an Escape. In addition Airstream will not custom build anything nor change any option whereas Escape will make the interior just the way you want it and build it exactly the way you want it.

Hey ,

Thanks for the info dry bath but no shower :{ , yeah I have my equip to do metal work and don't need much but resin, cloth, chopped fiber and some other stuff to do glass work so it is really mox nix on the structure of each. The ability to modify the way I want it is the other reason why the escape appeals to me not that I want big mods mostly lol just the options I like perhaps a few small mods. I would like to visit their factory and see a few things too not sure I can work that out but might send a friend out of a base up there to do so. Going to see the Air Stream factory the end of the month. The other reason I like the escape is the price new is only about 8 more then I would pay for a used AS and the weight is far less.

I plan on sending a list of questions to Escape and see if I can get them answered , they are not answered here as unless you know about glass work and molds etc etc you wouldn't even thing of them. It is kind of a PITA to look at things and wonder ok new it is good now if I have to repair it what are we looking at especially since I am on the East Coast a fair bit from the factory. I see they sell them all over however, I don't see a service shop list anywhere or did I miss that too?


Cypherian

[gbaglo]

Jeff Zajaz, former owner of this Escape forum had a Bambi. I say had, because he moved on to a class C ( I think ). He was glad he lived near the factory for all the rivet replacements he required. Sure was a pretty trailer though. He may comment if he's still checking in, or you could PM him.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Jeff Zajaz, former owner of this Escape forum had a Bambi. I say had, because he moved on to a class C ( I think ). He was glad he lived near the factory for all the rivet replacements he required. Sure was a pretty trailer though. He may comment if he's still checking in, or you could PM him.

Hi: gbaglo... I talked to JeffZ at length over the damage to his Bambi from a blown tire. "thank G*d for Geico" he said!!!
We're going on our 6th. year and haven't had the need for a good glass shop yet. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Ruthe]

I can understand the allure of Airstream because we had one that was 20 years old when we bought it and it towed well and worked out well for us. There were never any leaks. The previous owner had not winterized it properly so that meant a lot of work for my husband, but he didn't mind because the price was right. After that we never had a problem, although I think that with a used Airstream it could depend on the year -- some years there were problems with the skin.

When we started the trailer search we assumed we would buy another airstream, but we wanted something small and to get a queen bed with airstream it has to be a minimum of 23' -- and even then I don't think the bed is as large. I'm pretty sure we're going to get an Escape 19 -- I think it will be easier to deal with a small trailer and from what I've read on the Forum there should be fewer potential issues.

It all depends what is the most important. I wouldn't have thought I'd like the wet bath, but last summer we had a bedroom setup on a cross country train trip and the wet bath worked out fine, so that is no longer an issue for us.

[cpaharley2008]

Any boat or marine facility can do most fiberglass repairs, I have not seen the need of such for anyone here on the forum since I have been here. Corvettes and other fiberglass cars have been around for a long time as well as fiberglass boats. Just a coat of wax now and then and they are happy.
As far as fiberglass specifics, you may wish to join our sister forum, http://www.fiberglassrv.com/index.html
here there are owners of not only Escapes but maybe 20 other fiberglass models. There are several pages of threads on fiberglass repairs.