Today’s RV review is of the Escape 21C travel trailer. If I were a trailer manufacturer, I would run my business probably just like they do at Escape Trailers in British Columbia. Escape trailers is an independent trailer manufacturer that makes fiberglass shell trailers much like what you may already be familiar with from companies like Casita.

Here in Quartzsite in the desert I was camping with some friends and one of them used “that Casita trailer” as a landmark. But it wasn’t a Casita, it was an Escape and the couple enjoying it just happened to have picked it up just a few months ago.

Build

Escape trailers are fiberglass shells on steel frames, for now. The shells are built in top and bottom half molds and then fused together to form one big fiberglass “egg” so to speak. As part of the molding process the walls are first layered with a gel coat, then the fiberglass, than interior insulating layers. This type of build quality is really strong and we’ve already looked at one of the company’s trailers in the Escape 5.0 small fifth wheel.

The chassis for the 21C is a steel frame and there are two axles, each utilizing a Dexter torsion axle suspension. Coming from Canada might be the reason all of these also feature dual-pane windows and great insulation, although even the company’s owner doesn’t lay claims to these being truly four season coaches depending on the four seasons where you live.

They’d certainly be four season coaches where I live and that’s one of the reasons I live there.

What’s inside

At the present time the Escape 21C is the company’s largest travel trailer although they plan to come out with a larger model soon. But in the grand scheme of RVs in general these are still smaller trailers at just over 21 feet long and just over seven feet in width.

So that means that these trailers feature a pocket bed rather than a walk-around bed. But owing to the fact that the decision makers at Escape are clearly RVers at heart, the mattresses in these are so good some folks get one for their homes.

I should have prefaced that sentence with “get your defibrillators ready.” It’s almost never that an RV company puts in a mattress that even a prison system wouldn’t turn down as cruel and unusual punishment but Escape does just that. A good inner spring mattress.

That also means that these trailers have relatively small bathrooms and that those bathrooms are wet baths. This alone will turn some people away, unfortunately.

The galley consists of a two-burner propane cook top and the refrigerator in this model is a standard three way fridge, so you could chill it on shore power or propane and then use the 12 volt mode to keep it cool on the road. It’s so rare to see a three-way fridge nowadays and I was happy to see it here.

The last thing to note is that the company’s dining tables are on a mount that allows you to move them around almost like a ouija board so folks of all sizes can be accommodated here.

Options

Where Escape really shines is in the number of options the company offers. In fact working with them you get a “personalization specialist” who will walk you through all the choices, and there are plenty.

Escape trailers don’t come with an air conditioner, for example, but they are available. The same is true of microwaves with a choice of standard or convection models. You can also outfit your Escape with a choice of two three-burner stoves with ovens, although they are the 17” oven models.

The wood used in the interior, too, is one of the choices and the upholstery, vinyl flooring and counter tops also offer numerous choices.

There are also solar and solar plus lithium power upgrades, and so much more. While the base trailer is very affordable and absolutely functional, you can really have the factory tailer your trailer so that you get something quite unique but still built by the company rather than modified after the fact.

Boondocking

As mentioned, I saw one of these out in the desert in Quartzsite and they were well situated for boondocking.

Escape offers several solar packages including one with two 190 watt solar panels and lithium batteries along with a 1,000 watt inverter. You can also get a choice of either a 12 volt compressor fridge or the standard three-way fridge which might be the better choice for boondocking. Maybe.

Another option you almost never see is the available composting toilet. If you really want to save water this is one way to go, although I’m also a fan of that Laveo dry flush toilet I reviewed. But the fact that an RV company actually offers a composting toilet as an option is quite surprising.

In summary

The build quality of these is certainly good but the company itself is very impressive. They actually have a good website but, even more, a great YouTube presence. The company’s founder, Karl, actually shares regular updates and there is a lot of information presented by the company on their YouTube channel.

I think that any RV manufacturer would do well to adopt this kind of messaging to their customers and with the tools available nowadays there’s no reason why it should be any other way. But it is.

For my own personal camping style this trailer is smaller than what I would want but the company does have a new 23C coming out shortly which they’ve been very, very open about on their YouTube channel and which addresses all the things I don’t like about this model, all of which are personal preferences, not qualitative issues.

Escape trailers are purchased factory-direct so this affords you the opportunity to order one to your specific liking. There are options such as solar systems, lithium batteries, higher-capacity air conditioners, various entertainment options, additional insulation, wrap-around dinette, lift kit, frameless windows and much more.

So how you do you see one in person to make the decision? The owner base is enthusiastic enough that the company has partnered with owners to show you their personal trailers. This kind of enthusiasm speaks to the build quality of these units.

I spoke with the company about warranty and repair work and since the major components of Escape trailers are from typical RV suppliers such as Dometic, Suburban and such any RV repair shop can do repairs on these. In looking at groups of owners it didn’t seem that getting things repaired was a hurdle and, in some cases, was easier to accomplish than for some going to a traditional RV dealer.

In fact I would say these are very, very well made trailers from a company that operates very differently from the majority and one I would have no hesitancy to recommend to a friend.

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