New owner of 17B and first time RVer

[pllaz]

Hello, new owner of 17B here. We are a family of three. Brought a used 17B two weeks ago and are slowly getting things ready for our first RV trip. We did some modifications, including backsplash, Elfa drawers and wireless rear view camera. We did some parking practice in our local mall parking lot the past weekend. The next item on our to-do-list is a weight distribution hitch. The first trip will be in the Thanksgiving weekend. We reserved at a state park camping ground 1 hour away.

Just want to share our excitement with everyone!

 

[occer]

Welcome to the club. Sounds like a good start.

 

[Ron in BC]

Welcome to the forum and doing some practice stuff before hitting the road.

A one hour maiden trip sounds perfect and my guess is that by the time you arrive you'll be relieved to have seen that towing is pretty easy.

Ron

 

[iamunique127]

Welcome to the forum and to Escape ownership.
It sounds like you are doing everything right to have a smooth maiden voyage.

 

[HABBERDABBER]

Congratulations on your Escape acquisition.
It's smart to start out small and local. My only advice is to go SLOW with all your actions and think through the towing and set-up moves. With time, things will become practiced and automatic, but I made a few initial missteps, of no consequence, and lived and learned to not repeat or be in a rush.
Think!

 

[Thane-ESC]

We gave the kids the upper cabinet, just forward of the bathroom as their toy box. They seemed to like their own space. They’re grown and gone so we now use it for our games and such.

 

[jack sparrow]

Welcome to the family here and congratulations on the new member of the family. You're going to love being together with your Escape. Enjoy the adventures, these will be treasures that you, your wife, and children will remember for the rest of your lives, may there be many..........

Again Welcome........

Cheers to ya........ and Happy Trails.......... Jack

 

[Lanark Camper]

Welcome ! You will love your 17B as we do. Nice to have another 17B in the forum.
Well planned first outing. Enjoy the family time, safe travels, Bob

 

[penwia]

Hello, new owner of 17B here. We are a family of three. Brought a used 17B two weeks ago and are slowly getting things ready for our first RV trip. We did some modifications, including backsplash, Elfa drawers and wireless rear view camera. We did some parking practice in our local mall parking lot the past weekend. The next item on our to-do-list is a weight distribution hitch. The first trip will be in the Thanksgiving weekend. We reserved at a state park camping ground 1 hour away.

Just want to share our excitement with everyone!

Would love to see what you did? I just put a downpayment on an inventory 17b.

 

[pllaz]

I just stared a thread on our modifications.

Modifications of new-to-us 17B

We brought a new-to-us 17B a month ago. I have been working on some modification to make it our tiny home on wheels. Here are modifications we did so far before our first trip: 1. Beddings: mattress cover, fitted sheets, cushion covers etc. 2. Back splash/knife wall 3. Microwave cabinet door 4...

www.escapeforum.org

 

[penwia]

I just stared a thread on our modifications.

Modifications of new-to-us 17B

We brought a new-to-us 17B a month ago. I have been working on some modification to make it our tiny home on wheels. Here are modifications we did so far before our first trip: 1. Beddings: mattress cover, fitted sheets, cushion covers etc. 2. Back splash/knife wall 3. Microwave cabinet door 4...

www.escapeforum.org

Thank you!! These are amazing. I love all the details you included. The Velcro bed sheets is pure Genius.

 

[penwia]

Hello, new owner of 17B here. We are a family of three. Brought a used 17B two weeks ago and are slowly getting things ready for our first RV trip. We did some modifications, including backsplash, Elfa drawers and wireless rear view camera. We did some parking practice in our local mall parking lot the past weekend. The next item on our to-do-list is a weight distribution hitch. The first trip will be in the Thanksgiving weekend. We reserved at a state park camping ground 1 hour away.

Just want to share our excitement with everyone!

I am new as well. Have not gotten our trailer yet, but my wife has already been shopping and getting things like dishes, towels, pots and pans. It has been fun getting ready, but Like you, I will practice backing in and out and just driving. We have a junior college down the street that has a big empty parking lot on weekends. I plan to go there and practice driving around and backing up. Can't wait to hear how the Thanksgiving trip goes.

 

[pllaz]

I am new as well. Have not gotten our trailer yet, but my wife has already been shopping and getting things like dishes, towels, pots and pans. It has been fun getting ready, but Like you, I will practice backing in and out and just driving. We have a junior college down the street that has a big empty parking lot on weekends. I plan to go there and practice driving around and backing up. Can't wait to hear how the Thanksgiving trip goes.

I strongly recommend using four traffic cones to mark four conners of the parking space. Amazon sells collapsible ones. We also added a wireless camera with solar charge and a monitor. Ours has a magnetic base and stays on the rear bumper firmly. The solar charge is not doing much as the spare tire is right above the camera, but the camera can be charged through USB and the battery lasts a long time after each charge.

 

[penwia]

I strongly recommend using four traffic cones to mark four conners of the parking space. Amazon sells collapsible ones. We also added a wireless camera with solar charge and a monitor. Ours has a magnetic base and stays on the rear bumper firmly. The solar charge is not doing much as the spare tire is right above the camera, but the camera can be charged through USB and the battery lasts a long time after each charge.

Great Idea. Yes, I added the factory installed Back up Camera. I figured it would come very handy.

 

[Iowa Dave]

Here’s what I did years ago
Iowa Dave

 

[Iowa Dave]

I gave all three of my kids driving lessons on a dead end, gated,
county road that runs adjacent to the sout side of our farm ground. Then when they were ready for maneuverability practice we laid out a course in a picked and frozen soybean field with two liter pop bottles. They are in their forties now and still talk about those “lessons” with the old man.
Iowa

 

[pllaz]

We came back from our first trip. It was an over all success. The only hiccup was we filled up the gray tank way quicker than we thought. We should use the campsite wash station more.

The other thing we learned is, as we expected, our tow vehicle is marginal for our 17B. We have a 2018 Mazda CX-9base model FWD. Used a scan gauge to monitor the TV. Without the trailer, the transmission temperature stays between 200-210 F. We live at 3000ft elevation, so the car probably has to run a little harder. With the trailer, transmission temperature stayed around 210 F in flat highway and generally used one gear lower than without towing. When going up a slight uphill for several miles at 65MPH it went up to 230F. We weighted the whole setup on our way back. With a half tank of gas, full water heater, empty fresh water tank, gears for a weekend trip, Anderson WDH and three adults, we were right around the 8000lb GCWR limit with front axle 2400lb, rear axle 2640lb, trailer 2940lb. The drive actually was quite stable. Did not feel like we are at the towing limit. The transmission temperature could be improved with a cooler, but we feel we need some margin in the towing rating, especially when we go to higher elevations. Probably will change our TV early next year before our summer trips.

 

[Ron in BC]

We came back from our first trip. It was an over all success. The only hiccup was we filled up the gray tank way quicker than we thought. We should use the campsite wash station more.

Glad your first trip was a success. In time water saving will become second nature and you will see that the interval before needing to dump gets longer.

Ron

 

[Lanark Camper]

Great report, glad it went so well. Smart to keep an eye on the trans temp. Our truck displays that right on the dash, gives peace of mind.

If you can get a vehicle with a towing package it may be worth the extra cost. Nice having a tow mode, the brake controller integrated into the vehicles ABS, enhanced charging system, vehicle stability system etc.

Bob

 

[pllaz]

Update! We brought a Ford Ranger today!

We were searching for a new TV to replace our Mazda CX-9, which is at its towing limit with 17B. I was debating on whether to get a SUV with more towing capacity or get a midsize truck. I was mostly worrying about the back seat of a midsize truck because our son is going to sit there, but my husband was barely interested in any SUV we test drove. He kept saying that he liked the CX9 better than those new SUVs.

Today it finally clicked for me that he wants a truck! So we went to test the Ford Ranger, which according to review has the best back seat. He fell in love with it. I found the back seat was pretty acceptable. He wanted the velocity blue! It’s the first time he picked a color for anything! We found a velocity blue in another dealership. Went to there. 30 minutes later we were signing all the paperwork.

We are both very happy! He got the truck and I got room to upgrade our trailer in the future!