The Escape 19

[skyfree]

Are you sure a Propex is more efficient, and is efficiency that important when you can carry 40 lbs of propane? I would be really reluctant to pull out the Atwood in my Escape 17B personally unless it was a noise issue. Just curious what your reasoning is there.

 

[Grassland]

Are you sure a Propex is more efficient, and is efficiency that important when you can carry 40 lbs of propane? I would be really reluctant to pull out the Atwood in my Escape 17B personally unless it was a noise issue. Just curious what your reasoning is there.

I've been told (but not read the specs) that a Propex is more efficient with electricity use as well as propane use. It is the power consumption that is our greatest limiting factor.

 

[Alloy]

Are you sure a Propex is more efficient, and is efficiency that important when you can carry 40 lbs of propane? I would be really reluctant to pull out the Atwood in my Escape 17B personally unless it was a noise issue. Just curious what your reasoning is there.

It comes down to the air flow through the heat exchanger.

The max efficiency of a RV furnace is 60%.
Flexible ducting, not enough outlets and outlets that blow warm air into the retun air drops the efficiency even more.

The small fan in the Propex means it most efficient when there just enough (<18") ducting to separate the warm air from the return air.

The power draw of the Propex is 2.5A vs. the RV Furnace at 7.5A

 

[Grassland]

The set ups in the Escape just blow out the front grille for supply. No ducting. They are small inside so it works.
But yeah that power consumption.

 

[Alloy]

The set ups in the Escape just blow out the front grille for supply. No ducting. They are small inside so it works.
But yeah that power consumption.

That's perfect.

It was 3C overnight and the 2800 was running 50% of the time with the inside at the 15C heating a 35' box with 3 slides that are anything but air sealed.

First time I've cooked soaking wet Alder. Ebay blower help (but noisy) to get it going.

 

[Grassland]

Man what does that weigh when it's soaking wet?
I've had enough adventures with wet wood. Especially when it's -30°C

Even with the axle lift on the trailer, I don't think I'll be able to insulate and shield the fresh tank very well. Or the grey for that matter. So if I get around to insulating the underbody between the frame, it's mostly for comfort.
I'm not super familiar with living at altitude because we are 800' or something above sea level here and it's flat as a board for many KM. But I'm hoping that late spring and early fall trips that end up in mountains it doesn't dip much below freezing at night or we have to camp dry.

 

[Alloy]

At 11:00pm after getting stuck in the snow ( won't use Wildpeaks next year) for an hour the Alder laying next to the road didn't seem heavy.

Might be worth considering a diesel hydronic so you can run 10mm PEX under the tanks/valves before insulating......or you could make a copper sprial to wrap the exhaust of the Propex combined with a small circ pump.

I talked to a guy that's bringing in Lavaner diesel heaters from China. They adjust for altitude.

Lavaner.canada@telus.net

 

[Grassland]

Take a really close look at the torsion axles. Run a straight edge across them see of they are square so you don’t burn through a tire or two from alignment issues?.

Looking forward to your trip report would love to get up there in that region. Have read lots of great trip reports about it.

So, kind of wish I did this.

One tire comically worn outside edge, 3 other tires fine.

 

[calicamper]

So, kind of wish I did this.

One tire comically worn outside edge, 3 other tires fine.

Oh dang. Hopefully it didn’t screw up your trip? I’m still waiting on the stupid prices to crash. Going to look at a Airstream 23CBB next week for another idea err possible option. Getting my parking area sorted so I can jump on the epic RV market crash looming ?.

 

[Grassland]

So, last year I found a nut missing on a wire with a ring stud on some sort of thermal safety. The tention of the wire wanting to curl up and the teeth of the stud managed to hold it in place. Escape shipped me the nut and I put it on.

This year, the EMS gave me a reversed polarity error. I checked the power point with a cheap meter and it was indeed reversed. But since I was checking around I opened the EMS to check everything and found more sloppy electrical.
On the contactor, the neutral side terminal for the smaller gauge cables wasn't tightened down, instead tension of the wires kept it jammed against the main neutral wire that was actually clamped into the contactor. Very hard to take a pic.
Fixed that before it became a problem.

 

[calicamper]

So, last year I found a nut missing on a wire with a ring stud on some sort of thermal safety. The tention of the wire wanting to curl up and the teeth of the stud managed to hold it in place. Escape shipped me the nut and I put it on.

This year, the EMS gave me a reversed polarity error. I checked the power point with a cheap meter and it was indeed reversed. But since I was checking around I opened the EMS to check everything and found more sloppy electrical.
On the contactor, the neutral side terminal for the smaller gauge cables wasn't tightened down, instead tension of the wires kept it jammed against the main neutral wire that was actually clamped into the contactor. Very hard to take a pic.
Fixed that before it became a problem.

I have seen many loose bolts on the wiring side in a few different brands. Probably a combo of sloppy work and road vibration in many cases. Road vibration definitely will rattle everything loose at some point.

 

[Grassland]

I have seen many loose bolts on the wiring side in a few different brands. Probably a combo of sloppy work and road vibration in many cases. Road vibration definitely will rattle everything loose at some point.

This one was straight up never there. The rubber stud cap was on, but no nut.

 

[calicamper]

This one was straight up never there. The rubber stud cap was on, but no nut.

Ha newbie’s first Friday on the line.?‍♂️

 

[Alloy]

Oh dang. Hopefully it didn’t screw up your trip? I’m still waiting on the stupid prices to crash. Going to look at a Airstream 23CBB next week for another idea err possible option. Getting my parking area sorted so I can jump on the epic RV market crash looming ?.

It's coming!

I'm looking for a Northern Lite 10-2 Camper. In the spring everything was pre-sold and 5yo used was 70% of new. Now dealers have 2 or more NL campers on the lot.

At a RV Show in BC there was 2 NL with "special" show pricing.
The dealer called on Wednesday:
- it was a bad show for all of the dealers
- The NL are less than the show price and they are open to offers
- they've stopped ordering and canceled all the large RV orders.
- financing was 2.99% for the last couple years. It's 7.99% now and going to go up again. Horrible for anyone that has to refinance.

 

[calicamper]

It's coming!

I'm looking for a Northern Lite 10-2 Camper. In the spring everything was pre-sold and 5yo used was 70% of new. Now dealers have 2 or more NL campers on the lot.

At a RV Show in BC there was 2 NL with "special" show pricing.
The dealer called on Wednesday:
- it was a bad show for all of the dealers
- The NL are less than the show price and they are open to offers
- they've stopped ordering and canceled all the large RV orders.
- financing was 2.99% for the last couple years. It's 7.99% now and going to go up again. Horrible for anyone that has to refinance.

Yep
Daily FB group posts have even high end stuff getting dumped. Airstream has 3yr transferable warranty ??. I figure if the presumably more financially capable buyers of the higher priced stuff are dumping units like they are infested with plague rodents the whole market is toast for a while. Most builders have either shut down or rolled back to bare bones staff by now.