The BIG decision

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

I did it!

I’ve been thinking about how to present this to you.  I’ve decided that it makes more sense to admit what I’ve done and then tell you why I did it (in that order), rather than lead you through the thought process first but not tell you what I did until the end.  So that’s what I’ll do … I’ll tell you what I did right up front and then I’ll tell you why.

This is really exciting!

I have ordered a brand new, 2018, semi-custom, 21-foot RV travel trailer from Escape Trailer Industries (ETI) in Chilliwack, BC, Canada.  And I’ve put the 20-foot Rockwood MiniLite trailer up for sale.

After MUCH thought and lots of research (including two trips so far to ETI in Canada with a friend of mine), I made this decision based on the fact that I have loved RV-ing this past year (the five camping trips in 2017 described in this blog) and I want more!

My 70th birthday is coming up, so it’s time to get out there and experience this world while I can and do it in a rig with comfort and safety and style (my style).  I decided to spend the money and get as much of what I want in a trailer as I can.  Of course, every person has different wants and needs in an RV, but this Escape trailer will be darned close to perfect for me.

The photo below is the manufacturer’s website photo of the model I have ordered.  My trailer will be a smidgen different on the outside … aluminum wheels and darker graphic decals.  Most of the “custom” stuff will be inside the trailer.

There is a twinge of sadness about selling the Rockwood, but a new owner will love her and appreciate her.  I have learned a lot with that trailer.

And “learning” was exactly why I bought the 5-year-old Rockwood in the first place.  I knew it might be mine for many years, but I was also aware I might sell her and buy a different trailer or even a completely different type of RV.  I also knew I might discover that RV-ing wasn’t for me after all.  With all that in mind, I limited my initial financial outlay by purchasing a used trailer.  That plan worked very well.  During the past year with the Rockwood, I gained a wealth of information about what I want in my ideal travel trailer.

Why did I chose Escape Trailer Industries?

Well, I’ll tell you.  There were many reasons:

a.  The standard layout of their 21-footer was very close to my ideal trailer.
b.  People who already own an Escape trailer rate them exceptionally highly.
c.  Escape offers customization of many things about the trailer.
d.  Chilliwack, BC, is about a 3-hour drive from my home so I can easily go there and see things and learn things and make educated choices.
e.  Unlike almost all other travel trailer builders, Escape sells directly to the customer (no dealers get their hands into your pocketbook).
f.  The employees at Escape have, from day one, proven to be knowledgable, professional, excellent communicators, and fun to work with.
g.  I was delighted to be given a tour of a number of Escape trailers here in the USA, by the current owners and users of those trailers, at people’s homes or at campgrounds where I was camped.  The attention to detail and the quality of construction in every one of those trailers was exceptional.
h.  The Canadian/USA exchange rate is seriously appealing.

Big white truck in front of Escape Trailer Industries in Chilliwack, BC, Canada.

The Escape Trailer Industries (ETI) complex covers at least a full city block.  The entire compound is about 800 feet long and 200 feet wide and includes six large buildings and another four small buildings or sheds.

They do not mass-produce trailers.  They build trailers only after someone orders a trailer.  They complete, on average, two trailers a day.  If you were to order an Escape trailer today, it would be completed in about five months.

Their showroom contains one of each model of their trailers.  The photo above shows a 21-foot demo unit in the showroom.

ETI builds four sizes of trailers:  17-foot, 19-foot, 21-foot, and a 21-foot fifth-wheeler.  I wanted to use the bed of the truck for storage, so I opted for the 21-foot regular trailer that I will tow behind the truck.

Speaking of the layout, here is the standard layout for the 21-footer.  Mine will have a few relatively minor changes in the layout, and will have significant changes regarding the finishes inside.

While I was thinking about this and doing research, of course I made lists.  I love lists.

What the Escape trailer offers me that does not exist in the Rockwood:

1.  Dinette is the full back width with windows on all three sides.  The Rockwood had the bathroom across the full back width of the trailer.
2.  Dual axles for more stability and for safety if one tire blows out.
3.  The bed is “down” permanently (it’s not a Murphy bed) so there is tons of storage underneath this bed.
4.  The bathroom is smaller so more room is allocated to other things in the trailer.
5.  The dinette seats four adults very nicely.  The Rockwood would seat only 2 adults comfortably.
6.  The dinette has an excellent view of the doorway for safety when the door is open for air circulation.  A wall blocked the dinette’s view of the door in the Rockwood.
7.  Much more storage … drawers, shelves, cupboards, more (and taller) hanging lockers.
8.  A power tongue jack, no more hand-cranking the tongue of the trailer up and down.
9.  2-way hot water tank (120V and propane).  The Rockwood had only propane.
10.  Dual 6v batteries for 225 amps of power.  The Rockwood had only 100 amps.
11.  Built-in surge protector for the entire 110/120v system.
12.  160 Watt roof solar panel and ability to hook up my 100 Watt remote solar suitcase.
13.  Backup camera on the back of the trailer.
14.  Thermal windows and more insulation in walls … noise suppression and heat/cooling.
15.  One exterior light on each of the four sides of trailer for safety, and for parking the trailer at night.
16.  Large, lockable storage box on the front of the trailer.
17.  Custom flooring, custom counter top, custom sink, custom faucet, custom upholstery.
18.  Extra outlets (120v, 12v, and USB) anywhere I want them.
19.  LOTS of reading lights over the dinette seats and reading lights over the bed.  The Rockwood had none … none!
20.  The body of the ETI trailer is fiberglass and has rounded edges with no seams to leak so much less chance of mildew/mold inside the walls.
21.  The wheel wells are molded-in fiberglass with no seams so they won’t rot or de-laminate and water penetration into the trailer will be non-existent.  The Rockwood had wooden wheel wells with lots of seams.
22.  The ETI trailer is a full 12″ shorter in height than the Rockwood (partly because the air conditioning unit is more compact), but with the same ground clearance underneath both trailers.  I don’t even notice the difference in interior headroom between the two trailers.  The shorter height will make towing easier because of more clearance under buildings and trees and power lines, better fuel mileage with reduced wind resistance, and more stability with the weight of the trailer lower, closer to the ground.

There are MANY other things I like about this trailer, but these were the most important items.

On the other hand, what will I miss about the Rockwood?

What things did I enjoy about the Rockwood that I won’t have with the Escape?  There are some things:

A single axle … the Rockwood, with a single axle, is easier to turn than the ETI which has dual axles, when backing around a tight corner.  With only two tires (instead of ETI’s four tires), the Rockwood is less expensive when replacing tires.  The Rockwood’s batteries are located outside the trailer in a lockable box on the tongue of the trailer so they are easier to access than Escape’s batteries which are under one of the dinette seats … off-gassing of the batteries inside the ETI trailer might be an issue, time will tell.  And the exceptionally comfortable couch in the Rockwood is nice, although, with the larger dinette seats and the much larger dinette windows in the Escape (ETI), I may not miss the couch.

Cost:
Of course, selling the Rockwood and buying the Escape means less money in my bank account at the end of the day.  The base price of a standard 2018 21-foot Escape trailer is $33,000.00 (Canadian dollars).  That’s approximately $25,800 (USA dollars) at today’s exchange rate, not including upgrades and customization.

My trailer will be completed in mid-June.  I’ll go up to Chilliwack and bring her home with the big white truck.  I can’t hardly wait!

On one of the recent road trips my friend and I took to Chilliwack, instead of taking Interstate 5 (a major multi-lane highway), we opted to meander along some lovely country side roads.  Sure it took longer, but it was so much more pleasant.

We spied these Trumpeter Swans in a field right beside Chuckanut Drive, just north of the town of Mount Vernon in the Skagit Valley.  This area hosts one of North America’s largest populations of wintering migratory birds, with about 55,000 Snow Geese and about 10,000 Trumpeter Swans and Tundra Swans.

 

Trumpeter Swans are the largest waterfowl in North America with an average height of four feet and an average wing span of seven feet!  The grey ones are juveniles.

I’ll keep you posted as this Escape story unfolds, you can bet on that for sure!