StanLewis
Senior Member
We started looking at travel trailers about a year before our planned retirements, with the idea that we would be on the road 3-6 months of each year, changing locations on a regular basis. So for me, the most important selection criterion was the ability of the trailer structure to withstand that sort of use over several years. What became immediately obvious, at least to my engineer's eye, was that the methods and materials used in the typical "stick built" trailer, of whatever brand, pretty much guaranteed structural problems after not too many thousands of towing miles. A conclusion that was amply confirmed when we looked at used trailers.
That led us to look at fiberglass egg type trailers, and after considering all of the then available brands (and after a factory visit to Escape), we chose the E21 as the best combination of price, quality, and suitability for our use case. After eight years we've of course had some issues with components (and one issue related to poor workmanship by ETI), but there have not been any structural issues and no external water leaks. Plus our trailer is still worth what we paid for it. So we're happy with our choice.
MichelleRT is correct that there are a fair number of fanboys on this forum, me included, but I doubt that many of them are seeking the financial rewards of the ambassador program. $500 doesn't seem likely to be a powerful motivator for people who are willing and able to indulge in a $50,000 toy. As for us, we gleaned a lot of useful information from the forum, mostly around completing our build sheet, but nothing here contributed to our decision to buy an Escape. We actually joined the forum just four days before we ordered our trailer.
That led us to look at fiberglass egg type trailers, and after considering all of the then available brands (and after a factory visit to Escape), we chose the E21 as the best combination of price, quality, and suitability for our use case. After eight years we've of course had some issues with components (and one issue related to poor workmanship by ETI), but there have not been any structural issues and no external water leaks. Plus our trailer is still worth what we paid for it. So we're happy with our choice.
MichelleRT is correct that there are a fair number of fanboys on this forum, me included, but I doubt that many of them are seeking the financial rewards of the ambassador program. $500 doesn't seem likely to be a powerful motivator for people who are willing and able to indulge in a $50,000 toy. As for us, we gleaned a lot of useful information from the forum, mostly around completing our build sheet, but nothing here contributed to our decision to buy an Escape. We actually joined the forum just four days before we ordered our trailer.