Escape 21 ordered

That espresso maker is dandy--I just bought a bigger one--good strong coffee and easy to make and clean..


So, do you drink it straight, as espresso, or do you boil another pot of water to dilute it to Americano? I've got the small Moka, but I've only used it once or twice, diluting with Kahlua.
 
My husband swears by his cowboy coffee. A small coffee pot on the stove, he starts heating three cups of water, grinds beans and pours two scoops of ground coffee into the pot and leaves it on a low boil fo

We used to call that "Swedish Coffee" when we were tent camping.
I found that if you held your teeth just so, they'd act as a filter for the grounds that didn't settle out. :)



Other than air conditioning, everything in the trailer can be operated off 12v or propane or 120v if plugged in. Operating 120v items off batteries is a luxury that can easily be avoided.

In my last two trailers I've installed 1500 watt inverters. Certainly cost less than ETI's. With a new 21 on the way I'm not ordering an inverter or a microwave. Without the microwave I probably won't install an inverter. Or, at least, not a 1500 watt one. And small ones are inexpensive and can be added any time.

Ron
 
We drink it straight about half the time... sometimes add some boiled water to make an Americano...Sometimes heat up milk for a latte.
 
So, do you drink it straight, as espresso, or do you boil another pot of water to dilute it to Americano? I've got the small Moka, but I've only used it once or twice, diluting with Kahlua.
With an Italian coffee pot (moka pot or whatever, Bialetti being the best-known supplier), you can adjust ground coffee and water proportions to get your desired strength; you can do the Americano thing, too, but you don't have to. I first encountered these things at my father-in-law's house, and he always just brewed at desired end strength, which was similar to typical drip-filtered.
 
In my last two trailers I've installed 1500 watt inverters. Certainly cost less than ETI's.
Buying an inverter separately would no doubt be cheaper than the factory option. Even the inverter plus transfer switch would presumably be less than Escape's price. The appeal of the factory option is that it includes the other components (an extra breaker box with breakers, plus wiring) and installation. For capable people like Ron that's not a concern, but for the average buyer do-it-yourself installation would be daunting, and hiring an RV shop or electrician would be more expensive (and more likely to have problems) than having Escape do it during construction.

Fortunately, adding an inverter with transfer switch later is not a physical problem - there are no significant issues with access and no need to have any preparation done while the trailer is being built.
 
Buying an inverter separately would no doubt be cheaper than the factory option. Even the inverter plus transfer switch would presumably be less than Escape's price. The appeal of the factory option is that it includes the other components (an extra breaker box with breakers, plus wiring) and installation. For capable people like Ron that's not a concern, but for the average buyer do-it-yourself installation would be daunting, and hiring an RV shop or electrician would be more expensive (and more likely to have problems) than having Escape do it during construction.

Fortunately, adding an inverter with transfer switch later is not a physical problem - there are no significant issues with access and no need to have any preparation done while the trailer is being built.

Absolutely spot on. One size doesn't fit all. For some people never having the inverter would be ideal and for others ordering the factory option is perfect for their situation. For some such as Ron, yourself and myself, if we want the inverter and can save a few bucks why not install ourselves. Same thing for the EMS. The only thing I really regret not having is the additional inside insulation. Everything else if I need it I'll install it. Oh, I'm a one spoon of Maxwell House instant kind of guy. :)
 
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Yeah Ron.
I was brought up on that kind of coffee.My grandma used to pour it on to a saucer, blow on it and filter it trough a cube of sugar.In the fifthies the Swedes got on to the Melitta idea and never looked back.Personally I quit sugar in my coffee when I turned ten.Must have been OK since I have made it into my eighties.
 
A vote for the inverter

I enjoy our 1500 watt ETI installed inverter, but hey, my truck has a factory inverter in the dash, along with a heated steering wheel and self-leveling air suspension, so don’t go by me.
 
I enjoy our 1500 watt ETI installed inverter, but hey, my truck has a factory inverter in the dash, along with a heated steering wheel and self-leveling air suspension, so don’t go by me.
Hey Bill and Earline,
Would you mind telling me some of the items you commonly run through the inverter?
We are moving up from tents so all this is new to us.
Thanks for your reply
Buddy and Suzanne
 
We opted for the factory installed inverter and transfer switch, the full insulation package including the under foam, and the manual awning.

The plug into a 12V socket inverters can provide up to 300 watts. Our 1500 watt inverter runs a vacuum cleaner, not the 10 minute run time chargeable, but the cord powered vacuum, 600 watts at full power. We use a 3 qt instant pot, 900 watts. The instant pot is a great addition to camping. We also have, but rarely use an instant kettle, 1200 watts. The instant kettle heats water in half to 1/3 the time of the tiny burner heads on the propane cooktop. If we are in steady sun, the instant kettle is used. We do pour over melita coffee.

We only have owned our Escape for 7 months, 12,000 miles, and over 140 days camping. We never plug in, except 2 afternoons in FL when we ran the A.C. for a couple hours both days. We always boondock, even in developed campgrounds. We have all the comforts of home, plenty of power for conveniences, and so far have been toasty warm at 20°F. Awning? We tend to be travelers rather than campers. In Mexico, when staying in a spot for a week it was manually deployed. In the PacNW this week, are you kidding it is raining buckets!
 
We use the inverter for the microwave to heat water for tea and coffee, and then sometimes re-heat. We also use the microwave for various lunch food at rest stops or campsites. Just tonight used it to heat my maple syrup for the French toast, and earlier today to refresh some aging sour-dough bread. That’s 700 watts, so no problem. A hair flat iron —70 watts. The Samsung 24 inch “normal “ TV, it’s about 50 watts, I think.

We charge the I-phones and I-pad direct from the 12 volt socket, but used to use the 120 volt.

We could obviously get by with a small hand-held inverter that would plug in to the 12 volt socket and would handle the two low power items I mentioned, and we have used the small one, on the theory that it uses less electricity than the built in one, but that could be bad logic.

Do we have to have the bigger inverter? No, but we also didn’t need 5 shiny wheels.
 
We opted for the factory installed inverter and transfer switch, the full insulation package including the under foam, and the manual awning.

The plug into a 12V socket inverters can provide up to 300 watts. Our 1500 watt inverter runs a vacuum cleaner, not the 10 minute run time chargeable, but the cord powered vacuum, 600 watts at full power. We use a 3 qt instant pot, 900 watts. The instant pot is a great addition to camping. We also have, but rarely use an instant kettle, 1200 watts. The instant kettle heats water in half to 1/3 the time of the tiny burner heads on the propane cooktop. If we are in steady sun, the instant kettle is used. We do pour over melita coffee.

We only have owned our Escape for 7 months, 12,000 miles, and over 140 days camping. We never plug in, except 2 afternoons in FL when we ran the A.C. for a couple hours both days. We always boondock, even in developed campgrounds. We have all the comforts of home, plenty of power for conveniences, and so far have been toasty warm at 20°F. Awning? We tend to be travelers rather than campers. In Mexico, when staying in a spot for a week it was manually deployed. In the PacNW this week, are you kidding it is raining buckets!
Myrl and Gary,
Thanks for the reply. That helps us to think through our potential uses of the inverter.
Your sentence, ""We have all the comforts of home, plenty of power for conveniences, and so far have been toasty warm at 20°F"", sounds like what we want and hope for our of our Escape. We have happily tent camped for 35 years together and now we are wanting to move up to a little more convenience and comfort.
Thanks again
Buddy and Suzanne
 
Thanks to everyone for all their thoughts, ideas, opinions, and interesting stories. As novice RV'ers we have really leaned on this forum, and the people we visited to tour their Escapes for the info we needed to purchase an Escape and make the build sheet decisions. We have tent camped for 35 years except for one great three weeks when we rented a Dodge Caravan took out the 2nd and 3rd row seats, put in an air mattress, and camped across California visiting all their beautiful national parks and many state parks. We thought that was luxurious camping! We are at the point now that we can take more and longer trips and know that our Escape 21 is going to give us a level of comfort and convenience that we didn't think was possible camping. It is going to be hard to wait until August!!
Hope to meet many of you on the road! :)
Thanks again
Buddy & Suzanne Belflower
 
I wonder if this type of awning with the crankout feature is available from ETI on a new build, either as standard or an option? Should not cost much to change to a different model from Carefree for factory installation.

Wouldn't hurt to ask Escape. I would request to speak with Reace about it.
 
I guess with the crank setup you don’t have to worry about it becoming unraveled while traveling where as the pull down awning one does have to worry about it unraveling unless you’ve installed devices to keep it secure
 

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