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Marty_3000

Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2019
Posts
19
Location
Victoria
Hi, I'm Martin and I am currently the owner of a 1992 Viking Tent Trailer. This was the first year I have got out camping since my young two kids aged 2 & 4 were born. I would very much like to continue making family memories like this each year and am thinking of buying a travel trailer in another couple few years if we can afford one. An escape would be my first choice, however, one may prove to be to cost prohibitive realistically. Also I have thought about trying to buy a vacation property as it would be more of an investment going forward. While fiberglass trailers hold their value well they are still a depreciating asset. I feel that the freedom a travel trailer offers may outweigh the fact that you are tied down to one place at a vacation property. Regardless none of this is either here nor there because I don't actually own either.....LOL... So AT this point I am just introducing myself:)
 
Welcome, Marty!

How about starting with a pre-owned Escape? Start making memories with those kids now! They'll be out of the house before you know it!
 
sallemann said:
Welcome, Marty!

How about starting with a pre-owned Escape? Start making memories with those kids now! They'll be out of the house before you know it!
Click to expand...


I know I have been monitoring the classified section on here and fiberglassclassifieds.com There was a 21' that came up for sale here on my island the price tag is still a lot. not that it is not justified I am simply having a hard time seeling the idea to my better half at this stage of our lives:angel:
 
cpaharley2008 said:
Welcome Marty,
At least Escape is located within your province....welcome.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I know I am very lucky such a good product is made here in my province. There are actually a number of good fiberglass trailers and campers made here as you are most likely aware. I am hoping next time I'm off the island and on the mainland to go to the escape factory.;D
 
Hi there, Jonathan here. I'm in kind of the same boat as Marty - my wife and I are just beginning to look for a small travel trailer (we are in our 70s). We actually rented a tiny 13' Scamp just to get the feel, and have also walked around inside a 17' Casita. Both were about 10 years old, and kind of funky, but potentially adequate. A good friend has a 15' Escape and loves it. What's a good way to research the various brand? We hope to find something small (16' or less) so we can park it on our small lot in town. And light weight so we can pull it with our Honda Ridgeline (5000 # max towing). Thanks in advance for any advice! Haven't decided yet if we want a toilet.
 
jkheen, I'm in Placerville, so not that far for you. I have a 2018 17A (no bathroom). I'm also going to the Lake Casitas rally. The overall length (including tanks, etc in front is 17'8". The ridgeline would handle a 17 just fine, I believe the tow capacity is at least 5000.
 
Marty_3000 said:
Hi, I'm Martin and I am currently the owner of a 1992 Viking Tent Trailer. This was the first year I have got out camping since my young two kids aged 2 & 4 were born. I would very much like to continue making family memories like this each year and am thinking of buying a travel trailer in another couple few years if we can afford one. An escape would be my first choice, however, one may prove to be to cost prohibitive realistically. Also I have thought about trying to buy a vacation property as it would be more of an investment going forward. While fiberglass trailers hold their value well they are still a depreciating asset. I feel that the freedom a travel trailer offers may outweigh the fact that you are tied down to one place at a vacation property. Regardless none of this is either here nor there because I don't actually own either.....LOL... So AT this point I am just introducing myself:)
Click to expand...

Welcome Martin, We have many happy, family, camping memories from our previous tent trailers....and proudly called ourselves 'Pop-up people' for 20 years! A great way to camp with kids...but totally understand the lure of a well built 'solid state' Escape! It would be a little tight for the way we camped with kids - but I've seen various threads here that post pics with their kids/grand kids here so could very well work for you....but might be good to look at several beforehand, just to be sure.

Vacation properties are nice, too, but so stationary and boring...:laugh: With some sort of RV, you get a mobile vacation property on wheels! Perhaps we are bit biased towards camping, but in our books, as long as you are creating happy camping memories, whether in a tent or tent-trailer or trailer...you are doing good. Teaching kids how to enjoy the great outdoors, without WIFI is huge! Again, welcome! -Bea
 
jkeehn said:
Hi there, Jonathan here. I'm in kind of the same boat as Marty - my wife and I are just beginning to look for a small travel trailer (we are in our 70s). We actually rented a tiny 13' Scamp just to get the feel, and have also walked around inside a 17' Casita. Both were about 10 years old, and kind of funky, but potentially adequate. A good friend has a 15' Escape and loves it. What's a good way to research the various brand? We hope to find something small (16' or less) so we can park it on our small lot in town. And light weight so we can pull it with our Honda Ridgeline (5000 # max towing). Thanks in advance for any advice! Haven't decided yet if we want a toilet.
Click to expand...

Escape made 13' and 15' trailers for a short period of time but production of both those sizes has been discontinued for a number of years. If you are shopping for new, the smallest trailer current manufactured by Escape is their 17' model. If you are ok with used, a 13' ft Escapes may come up for sale very very infrequently or a 15' ft Escape just slightly more frequently (but still rare). You have to watch the classified here and on https://www.fiberglass-rv-4sale.com/forums/fiberglass-rv-ads-ca, as well as watching on Craigslist and Kijiji. If you see something you like, you often have to act and decide quickly or someone else will beat you to it.
 
We had a vacation home (now our permanent and only home) for 8 years. We also owned our Escape 17 at that time. Here's what we found... we rarely used the trailer during that time because we had many chores to do at one or the other of the homes. The "vacation" home doubled the chores for us. Now, having moved permanently to the vacation home and sold our previous home, we have been able to enjoy both our home and spending significant time exploring the USA in our Escape(s).
 
Yes. With a trailer, I have a house at the beach, a house in the mountains, a house at the lake, a house in the desert.

One more thing...I ordered my 17A with two dinettes, with the front table cut 32 and 22. The 32 is always made up as a single bed, and it's easy to convert to a double with the extra piece. I have a porta potty under that bed. the biggest advantage is that there is more floor space and two single seats, one on each side in the front. It doesn't sound like much but I think it makes a big difference, especially if 4 people are moving around inside.
 
jkeehn said:
Hi there, Jonathan here. I'm in kind of the same boat as Marty - my wife and I are just beginning to look for a small travel trailer (we are in our 70s). We actually rented a tiny 13' Scamp just to get the feel, and have also walked around inside a 17' Casita. Both were about 10 years old, and kind of funky, but potentially adequate. A good friend has a 15' Escape and loves it. What's a good way to research the various brand? We hope to find something small (16' or less) so we can park it on our small lot in town. And light weight so we can pull it with our Honda Ridgeline (5000 # max towing). Thanks in advance for any advice! Haven't decided yet if we want a toilet.
Click to expand...

During your search just bear in mind that traditionally the molded fiberglass manufacturers name their models based on overall tip-to-tail length (or close) unlike stick built trailers. So a 13' Scamp is really a 10' shell, an Escape 17 is really 17'-8" overall with a 13'-8" shell, etc. In contrast a Jayco WhiteHawk 24MBH is 29'-2" overall length. Just be sure to look carefully at trailer specifications.
 
Bea said:
Welcome Martin, We have many happy, family, camping memories from our previous tent trailers....and proudly called ourselves 'Pop-up people' for 20 years! A great way to camp with kids...but totally understand the lure of a well built 'solid state' Escape! It would be a little tight for the way we camped with kids - but I've seen various threads here that post pics with their kids/grand kids here so could very well work for you....but might be good to look at several beforehand, just to be sure.

Vacation properties are nice, too, but so stationary and boring...:laugh: With some sort of RV, you get a mobile vacation property on wheels! Perhaps we are bit biased towards camping, but in our books, as long as you are creating happy camping memories, whether in a tent or tent-trailer or trailer...you are doing good. Teaching kids how to enjoy the great outdoors, without WIFI is huge! Again, welcome! -Bea
Click to expand...

how do you feel the size of your 21 would be for a family of four? I am thinking the 21 would be better then the 19' however, I like the 19' because it would be easier to fit into smaller campsites and go boondocking with.
 
sallemann said:
We had a vacation home (now our permanent and only home) for 8 years. We also owned our Escape 17 at that time. Here's what we found... we rarely used the trailer during that time because we had many chores to do at one or the other of the homes. The "vacation" home doubled the chores for us. Now, having moved permanently to the vacation home and sold our previous home, we have been able to enjoy both our home and spending significant time exploring the USA in our Escape(s).
Click to expand...

At this stage of life it is one or the other and unfortunately not both lol... I am acutely aware of how much work maintaining another property would be. It sounds all nice to have a vacation home but the grass is always greener on the other side. Realistically we can't afford the vacation home in the near future anyways. Probably end up buying a good quality used trailer and make some memories in it:thumb:
 
rubicon327 said:
During your search just bear in mind that traditionally the molded fiberglass manufacturers name their models based on overall tip-to-tail length (or close) unlike stick built trailers. So a 13' Scamp is really a 10' shell, an Escape 17 is really 17'-8" overall with a 13'-8" shell, etc. In contrast a Jayco WhiteHawk 24MBH is 29'-2" overall length. Just be sure to look carefully at trailer specifications.
Click to expand...

Thank you for mentioning that these are good points to consider. Before I would buy anything I would literally take the whole family with me and see how we fit inside together haha...:laugh:
 
Marty_3000 said:
how do you feel the size of your 21 would be for a family of four? I am thinking the 21 would be better then the 19' however, I like the 19' because it would be easier to fit into smaller campsites and go boondocking with.
Click to expand...

Hi Martin, Good question. Happy to give you my opinion, but you know your needs and camping style best and hopefully others who actually travel or have traveled with small children in an Escape will chime in and give you first hand experience...

If you think you will spend considerable time inside the trailer (and with small kids, you might) then the 21 would give you more room for moving around, bigger dinette bed for the kids and a bigger bathroom. We camped a lot and spent most of the day time doing outdoor activities like hiking but the evenings were split between camp fires outside or games inside our tent trailer after dinner....so we were indoors about half the time. Also, when it rained, we ended up staying indoors, drinking hot chocolate and playing games all day. For that reason, I think I would prefer the extra space a 21 gives you with the kids. As long as you don't mind putting the table up and down every morning and night for them. That would've been hard for me but if I were to go down that path, I would definitely go with a Marine Springfield- type table mount to make that daily chore easier.

But like you said, there are also clear advantages to a 19, as well. Not only a bigger bed for mom and dad, but I think you can also get a cot over the dinette for one child, which would've been a 'must-have' item for us. We had to create a big mound between our boys at night....and the smaller dinette would've been hard for them, but with the cot, could've worked?? Fitting into smaller campsites, is also a plus...and if you spend most of your time outside during the day and evenings then maybe a 19 would work well for you? As the kids get older, eventually they could also pitch a tent - kids love tents!

Now that our boys are grown and in college, they still love to camp and joined us twice this summer - one time they pitched a tent next to us, and the other time INSIDE our 21 with us! One slept on the dinette bed and one one the floor with 2 camping pads under him (with his feet under the table). There was still room for Dad to get around him at night. Felt like our old back-packing days - cozy, but a bit cramped. Works for 1 or 2 nights, but if longer, they (and we) prefer the tent option. They now say, its time for them to earn their way back into a trailer someday! :)

Good luck on your trailer quest and camping journey! -Bea
 
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