Scamp? Escape? Differences?

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by accrete

On a fiberglass egg with outer shell... is there an advantage of having interior with a minimum of wood "cabinetry" and if so, are there options of going that way with either brand being considered?

Scamp has fiberglass cabinetry as standard equipment and offers wood cabinetry as an upgrade option. They have been known to do custom design in the wood version if the customer was willing to pay extra for it. They do not customize the fiberglass cabinetry.

Escape has wood cabinetry and does not offer fiberglass cabinetry. They'll customize the wood installation.

Casita has fiberglass cabinetry and does not offer wood cabinetry, and they don't do custom installations either.

[accrete]

Frederick, THX for the clarification on options with the three brands you mentioned.

Other than if for whatever reason i _had_ to have some non-stock cabinet configuration i would always take fiberglass over wood as a structural part of an Egg. Guess i've spent so much quality time in glass-sailboats over the years i've grown accustomed to the care/feeding/feel of fiberglass interiors.

I know on the Parkliner the fiberglass cabinetry is actually fiberglassed to the shell to create a structural bond between the two. Something i would imagine is not done with wood interior to fiberglass shell.

Please don't take my love of fiberglass as a dislike of wood. There is a charm and mystique to an old school wooden boat that is hard to surpass in today's world of _plastic_ boats! Cari and I are surrounded by warm cinnamon hickory in our Mobile Suite, so the clean white cabinetry inside the Parkliner is a nice change on our adventures.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by accrete

I know on the Parkliner the fiberglass cabinetry is actually fiberglassed to the shell to create a structural bond between the two. Something i would imagine is not done with wood interior to fiberglass shell.

Please don't take my love of fiberglass as a dislike of wood.

Both Scamp and Casita drill through the shell and use pop-rivets to attach the fiberglass cabinetry. Scamp substitutes wood screws for rivets to attach their wood cabinetry.

Escape fiberglasses wood cleats to the inner surface of the shell and attaches their cabinetry to that so there are no extra holes in their shell.

I certainly understand that the wood/fiberglass thing is not zero sum, as I like them both myself.

[accrete]

THX again Frederick.

Sounds like Escape has a robust design by incorporating the wood/fiberglass attachments. If one is going to design a nice glass egg, it might as well incorporate as few points-of-entrance for the elements and possibilities of gel-coat fractures down the road due to stress.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by accrete

THX again Frederick.

Sounds like Escape has a robust design by incorporating the wood/fiberglass attachments. If one is going to design a nice glass egg, it might as well incorporate as few points-of-entrance for the elements and possibilities of gel-coat fractures down the road due to stress.

It might... if the assumptions you make had merit.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by accrete

If one is going to design a nice glass egg, it might as well incorporate as few points-of-entrance for the elements and possibilities of gel-coat fractures down the road due to stress.

Well the few point of entrance is probable a good assumptions but not so sure on the other. Scamp has been putting rivets through the shell for a long long time and I am not aware of a gel-coat fracturing issue. I know my 21 year old trailer has seen a lot of miles over some pretty rough roads or least in its time with me and no sign of gel-coat fractures caused by the rivets... it has a couple of hairlines but it wasnt caused by rivets.

[Donna D.]

The thing that irritates me is the way Scamp mounts curtain rods. I have 24 unnecessary holes through the shell of my trailer just to mount the DANG curtain rods. Stoooopid.

[Carol H]

LOL I spent part of last week ends camping trip drilling out old rivets on a friends Scamp and couldnt agree more on that front!

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

The thing that irritates me is the way Scamp mounts curtain rods. I have 24 unnecessary holes through the shell of my trailer just to mount the DANG curtain rods. Stoooopid.

I don't see how else they could do it. If they used wood blocks glued on or something, the curtains would stick out to far. I'm in the process of changing all mine so the rods are almost touching the top of the window, and they still hang too far away at the bottom. I'm going to have to come up with a magnet or snap solution to keep them against the bottom of the window.

Any other mounting method would make it worse.

[Cathy P.]

Has anyone ever been able to match the price of a sort of equal Scamp to an Escape? I would have to say that every time I read one of Floyd's post, I want to put in an order for a Scamp. Scamp is the first fiberglass trailer that I ever saw and have seen a few from the outside since. To me, that shape is just too cute! I have no issue with units not changing as I worked for the high-end 5th wheel manufacturer that worked that way and after he sold the company, they changed and now I consider their products a mixed bag. I also understand that it is cheaper to not deviate and I saw a lot of people not that happy with what they were sure was a winner after spending a lot of extra cash to get it that way. OK, I like "classic" and those items that pass "the test of time".

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by floyd

The "big" difference is in the word "big".
I looked at an Escape 19 recently. It's a nice trailer, but it's a "House Trailer" as compared to the Scamp 13 which is a "Travel Trailer".

I'm not sure that comparison is valid for brand comparison. That is like trying to compare my little Ford Ranger, the "Tonka Toy" to a Ram 3500 Dually Diesel.
How would compare the Scamp 16' to the Escape 15' or 17'? Or better yet the Scamp 19' 5th wheel to the Escape 19' 5th?
I see 6" difference in length, 2" in height and about 600 Lbs as advertised. The weights don't seem to include options though.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Jared J

I don't see how else they could do it. ....
Any other mounting method would make it worse.

How about something simple like this:


Or for those that have overhead cabinets, Robert Johan's solution is really slick. If the only thing that's available is the rear cabinet, a curtain rod or blind can still be suspended from the cabinet:


These solutions take care of the 24 rivets through the shell, Scamp doesn't put any at the bottom for the curtains, except on the door. Eight rivets through the door for curtain rods!

Escape has a bracket attached to the bottom of the window frame that pulls the blind/curtain close to the bottom, it's not a very good picture, but you get the idea:


All you have to do, is think a little bit outside the box!!

[Dakota]

Hmmm! So if I purchase a Scamp I might go to an Egg ralley and go with a 70's theme wearing my bell bottoms, have an old color TV in the kitchen playing my 8 trac tapes to tunes of that period and have Lawrence Welk on the TV. My Tow Vehicle will be a 1973 Plymouth Gran Fury station wagon fully restored with an old 383 Commando V8. lol

I'm just kidding! Seriously there are things I like about both brands. Scamp is a classic and I like the shape and basically all these years in production I feel you know what your getting. I love eggs and can't wait to get my own gosh darn it! It's nice they provide parts and can refurbish trailers too. Besides they are right next to me in Minnesota which is like my second home state.

I sold new and used cars and trucks for a number of years and I just feel every brand has their strengths and weaknesses and there are a number of variables such as personal needs since everyone is different in how they hope to use it, budget, style which is subjective and what works for them.

It will be a little bit of time before I'm ready to purchase and although I would love a 19 ft Escape things could change and I could get a 16 foot Scamp deluxe with front bathroom/side dinette and eventually customize it. Either way I'd be happy, grateful and have fun!

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Dakota

....and I could get a 16 foot Scamp deluxe with front bathroom/side dinette and eventually customize it. Either way I'd be happy, grateful and have fun!

And that's EXACTLY what it's all about. Making memories. There are NO bad brands of all molded towables. None! Love the one you're with (or gonna get )

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Roy in TO

I'm not sure that comparison is valid for brand comparison. That is like trying to compare my little Ford Ranger, the "Tonka Toy" to a Ram 3500 Dually Diesel.
How would compare the Scamp 16' to the Escape 15' or 17'? Or better yet the Scamp 19' 5th wheel to the Escape 19' 5th?
I see 6" difference in length, 2" in height and about 600 Lbs as advertised. The weights don't seem to include options though.

Guess you made the point for me. I have a 2001 Ford Ranger and would not even consider a straight trade for a Ram 3500 Dually Diesel.
When I leave home, I like to leave it intact and on the foundation.

[RogerDat]

Rivets are cost effective from a manufacturing perspective and have proved durable over a long period of time. Having said that I replaced my curtain rod rivets with stainless steel machine screws and brass acorn nuts. But that was mostly because I thought the brass acrorn nuts looked better than rivets against the brass finish curtain rods.

[Cathy P.]

Are the rivets "pop" rivets? My husband says that aircraft use rivets - he studied Aircraft Maintenance years ago. He said the solid aluminum rivets are not a problem at all.

[Carol H]

Yup they are and they are very easy to fix (even I can do it) its why the trailers are easy to maintain.

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by Jared J

I don't see how else they could do it. If they used wood blocks glued on or something, the curtains would stick out to far. I'm in the process of changing all mine so the rods are almost touching the top of the window, and they still hang too far away at the bottom. I'm going to have to come up with a magnet or snap solution to keep them against the bottom of the window.

Any other mounting method would make it worse.

You could sew a loop in the bottoms of the curtains and run a piece of wire or nylon string through the loops. Ends of the wire or string could be attached to a small piece of whatever material (wood, plastic) you want, which in turn is glued to the wall. Then you have curtains that are close at both top and bottom, and can be drawn open or closed like usual. I set up the door curtain like this on my old Burro, and since it was on the door I actually screwed into the inside of the door with a screw at each end of the wire.

[Cam A]

Before you lay out your hard-earned money for anything, you owe it to yourself to shop around. After you have seen the choices, the answer will be clear.