First Visit to ETI

[Fun&Sun]

My wife and I visited ETI today and met with Krista, we where impressed with the no pressure sales and friendly attitude. We spent an hour looking at the 21, checked out the 19 and went back to the 21. Krista was great at answering all our questions, at the end of the day we where convinced that this was the one for us and have a completion date of August 18, 2017.
We just went to look, not buy but when it's right !!!!

 

[stephen99]

My wife and I visited ETI today and met with Krista, we where impressed with the no pressure sales and friendly attitude. We spent an hour looking at the 21, checked out the 19 and went back to the 21. Krista was great at answering all our questions, at the end of the day we where convinced that this was the one for us and have a completion date of August 18, 2017.
We just went to look, not buy but when it's right !!!!

Congrats! Welcome to the club.

 

[Fun&Sun]

Congrats! Welcome to the club.

Thanks Stephen, look forward to the adventure.

 

[Steven M]

My wife and I visited ETI today and met with Krista, we where impressed with the no pressure sales and friendly attitude. We spent an hour looking at the 21, checked out the 19 and went back to the 21. Krista was great at answering all our questions, at the end of the day we where convinced that this was the one for us and have a completion date of August 18, 2017.
We just went to look, not buy but when it's right !!!!

Welcome to the Forum and the Escape family. My wife and I looked at stick builds and several fiberglass models for several years and then looked at an Escape 21 my wife and I were sold just like you we wait and joined the fray on the 1st of April to place an order due in February. Pick up will probably be in April or May, hopefully in time for the Escape Rally. Your build sheet is the next thing to work on and alot of fun and frustration to figure out. The forum will help with any questions you have. Enjoy the wait it goes by fast.

 

[Loren & Cathy]

Welcome to the forum. Whether you drive 20 miles or 2000 miles, by seeing the trailers side by side you are able to make the right choice of the one for you. We drove 2000 miles to Chilliwack 2 years ago thinking it was the 19. After comparing all trailers, we ordered the 21.

Although everyone has a different budget, if you are unsure of an option, my advice is to add it. We have probably 5 or 6 options on the trailer we haven't used yet but they are there if we want them. Good luck with the build sheet and that year is going to fly by. Loren

 

[Bobbito]

Congratulations, Chris. We waited 8 months for our 2015 Escape 21 and are so happy with our choice. On top of being far less likely to leak, we found that so much was superior in quality to the stick built we owned. Furnace (quieter, yet more powerful fan), hot water heater (doesn't blow out in windy conditions), range (light much easier), brakes (need little adjusting, if any, between trips; easier to get right).
And having visited the factory you know how accessible the designers/owners. You made a solid choice for a trailer that has long lasting value. Enjoy the build sheet process. It's a bit like Christmas, only you are ordering your own present!
Bob K

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gocamp-ESC]

It's Gonna be a nice summer for you. Thanks for keeping us posted:eggrv:

 

[escape artist]

My wife and I visited ETI today and met with Krista, we where impressed with the no pressure sales and friendly attitude. We spent an hour looking at the 21, checked out the 19 and went back to the 21. Krista was great at answering all our questions, at the end of the day we where convinced that this was the one for us and have a completion date of August 18, 2017.
We just went to look, not buy but when it's right !!!!

Hi: Fun&Sun... Congrats!!! You, who live in the ETI area, are really lucky!!! You can visit the "Nest" anytime you like. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

 

[LarryandLiz]

Although everyone has a different budget, if you are unsure of an option, my advice is to add it. We have probably 5 or 6 options on the trailer we haven't used yet but they are there if we want them. Good luck with the build sheet and that year is going to fly by. Loren

I sort of agree with this advice and kinda disagree. In my view it would depend on the option in question. It seems to me that having expensive unused options on the trailer may not be be the best thing for the option. For example ... We last used our airconditioner July 2015 and won't be using it anytime soon - maybe in a year or two if we head south of the border (but that will depend on the exchange rate and their next election . so before our last trip when we were hooked up to shore power at home I ran the Air just to make sure that it still worked.

We didn't instal the ETI inverter and although I know very little about electronics I am glad I don't have expensive equipment sitting in the trailer getting old (plus technology seems to change all the time).

My advice for anyone ordering options would be to try to envision the type of RV travel you anticipate and let that guide your choices. That being said I agree with Loren it is great fun ordering options. Enjoy!

Larry

 

[GregandTeresa]

When we were selecting options, we did have a budget in mind. So we first selected the options that we KNEW that we wanted for our camping. Once we had all of those priced out, we added other "nice to have" options. Once we reached our limit, we stopped adding options.

I'm sure there are many options that we did not get that would be important to some one else if we ever decided to sell, but our main concern was to build the camper that we wanted. Based upon past history, I still feel certain that we would have no trouble finding a buyer should we ever want to sell.

 

[OldstersOutside]

Welcome Fun&Sun. We are fairly new as well. This is a great community and forum. I'm sure will find a lot of useful information and help here as we have. I'm sure the next year will fly by for both of us!!

Oldsters

 

[Mary F]

Based on the advice of others (who know who they are) we had some wiring run for options we didn't get, just in case we want to add things in future. Stereo speakers and solar panel are two examples, plus we are t.v. ready, even though we didn't have a t.v. mount/bracket installed (nor the Jack antenna). The idea is it'll make upgrades easier (for us or the next owners) if wiring it already run, but these things were all things we weren't (aren't) sure we want/need. So far, so good. We got a Bluetooth speaker for our sound system (we have iPods and a satellite radio); we use the television so rarely that we're okay with setting it up on one of the tables when/if we bring it along; and we're still not sure we want our solar panel installed on the roof. YMMV. That's just us and our camping style.

BTW, we love our Escape and I'm betting you will also love yours!

 

[Fun&Sun]

Thank you everyone for your good wishes and comments. My wife and I have had 2 dry runs through the option list and also some suggestions from Krista to make the trailer more sellable down the road. It is a fun and exciting process but I have a question that might make a thread of its own. When you are long term camping what is the one option you could not do with out and if you where dry camping what is the one option you could not do with out.

 

[jxoco]

When you are long term camping what is the one option you could not do with out and if you where dry camping what is the one option you could not do with out.

For both types of camping, Solar and 6 volt batteries, roof fan, tinted windows and awning are the things I couldn't do without.
The solar keeps the trailer ready to go any time and the ability to run the fan all the time to keep the trailer smelling fresh and the moisture out. The tinted glass and the awning help control the heat.

 

[LarryandLiz]

Dry camping. Option is the solar and batteries
Also, and u may know this is you've been around RVing, the cap on the sewer which has another hole through which to discharge your grey. This extends the amount of time you can be out without looking for a Sani dump. You need a bucket or a DYI container for the grey

Larry

 

[Fun&Sun]

Good replies, thanks. We do plan on a solar set up with the dual 6 volt batteries,

 

[curru]

I too am waiting for my 19' egg to hatch next April (would hate to be that chicken!), so am not yet familiar with the various systems. Larry, could you elaborate on the sewage pipe comment above? I anticipate boondocking for extended periods, so any info relating to this would be welcome!

 

[Iowa Dave]

There are various definition of dry camping in play here. One thing I know people do is to use a pit toilet on site if available and use the black tank for extra grey water storage by pulling off some buckets of grey water and dumping them down the toilet to be stored until the whole system is dumped. Other places, water is available nearby but not in the campground as well as a nearby grey water dump so you can keep up with water supply and grey water elimination indefinitely. Lots of variation in campground setups and in camping styles and in local rules.
Dave

 

[LarryandLiz]

I too am waiting for my 19' egg to hatch next April (would hate to be that chicken!), so am not yet familiar with the various systems. Larry, could you elaborate on the sewage pipe comment above? I anticipate boondocking for extended periods, so any info relating to this would be welcome!

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f9/dyi-portable-tote-tanks-grey-water-7161.html

The sewer cap is Veresta (I think). The thread has a very helpful picture of one (posted by another member). When boon docking We were restricted by the size of the grey tank. The portable tote system remedies that issue. The sewer cap is the trick. A bucket under the little hole works also and although this is frowned upon and may attract "critters" I've dumped the bucket away from the campsite. The grey has food bits. Soooo. Best practice would be to use the tote.

In terms of boon docking I wish we had thought about getting ETI to raise the frame which would help when u get onto dirt tracks and pasture. Therin lies a problem when u are buying a trailer as a newbie as we were. We started towing (and backing up) for the first time Sept 2014. We started wanting full hookups etc. now we are onto BC Recreational Sites which are more stripped down version. I forget what you-all down south call yours. But they look interesting

Have fun. Larry.


When we started this journey. Doing this wasn't even a dream. Now we did it last month

 

[rbryan4]

Looking good Larry. Now that's my kind of camping.

By the way, anyone who wants a sewer cap with the small hose connection on the cover, they sell them at Walmart. Had to pick one up on our trip to BC because "someone" forgot to secure the factory cap and it was lost.