Hi, I am Joh from Nevada City, California

[drjp]

Best wishes. We've owned a Camp-Inn Ultra teardrop trailer (2008, Petenwell Industries, bought new) and happily enjoyed camping in it all the way up to Victoria, but it's time to get something larger. So, here we are, looking for an Escape 17B but looking hard at Casita and Oliver, too. Glad to be in such an active forum!

[Borrego Dave]

Welcome to the group Jon. You won't know what to think when you can stand up in your future trailer........

[drjp]

You got it!

[Borrego Dave]

Jon, just wondering and a heads up for you. As you are not new to towing and trailers, what are you planning to use for a tug? You may want to pull up the post of "trailer weights in the real world" in the search section to get a handle on what these fiberglass eggs really weigh when loaded for travel. It won't be even close to what you have. Some rigs have a big time weight or tongue weight difference. My Casita SD17, just in round numbers has a 1000# overall and 100# weight gain over a 16' SD model. Check the list out. The only thing I would suggest to you is no matter what you end up with, brakes are a good thing. OK, that's it, off the soap box, you're on your own and good luck to you in your search.

[Jon in AZ]

Welcome, Jon!

Dave's suggestion is good, and here's the link: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rld-43010.html. Manufacturer's dry weights can be very misleading.

Post #297 has a link to an Excel spreadsheet. You can download it, filter by make, model, length, etc., and it will calculate averages. Very handy. It tells me, for example, than the average loaded weight of a Casita 17D is 3296 pounds with a tongue weight of 425 pounds, while the average loaded weight of an Escape 17B is 2974 pounds with a tongue weight of 353 pounds. The lone Oliver Elite weighed in at 3900/350.

Best wishes in your new trailer purchase!

[Jon Vermilye]

Welcome, and glad to see another member who (or who's parents) knows how to spell Jon!

[drjp]

Great advice, and it's appreciated. Been pulling with a 2011 RAV 4 with 260 horse 6; rated by Toyota for 3500#. I would think I could tug the Escape 17B especially if we were in the flats. But we're at about 2200' in the Sierra and got to get over the Donner Pass to get to Nevada. So, it'll be a tug, but I have hopes. Too optimistic? I usually like to keep my vehicles 10 years.
The Dripster has electric brakes; kinda overkill! Like the thing. True glamping, bed-on-wheels, with AC and all the options-- but for the longer haul gotta get more space and comfort.
Jon(athan)

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by drjp

Great advice, and it's appreciated. Been pulling with a 2011 RAV 4 with 260 horse 6; rated by Toyota for 3500#. I would think I could tug the Escape 17B especially if we were in the flats. But we're at about 2200' in the Sierra and got to get over the Donner Pass to get to Nevada. So, it'll be a tug, but I have hopes. Too optimistic? I usually like to keep my vehicles 10 years.
The Dripster has electric brakes; kinda overkill! Like the thing. True glamping, bed-on-wheels, with AC and all the options-- but for the longer haul gotta get more space and comfort.
Jon(athan)

Depends on your towing style. I tow an Escape 17B with a 2010 RAV4 (V6 & tow package). Just under 70,000 miles since April , 2011 up & down mountains in both the East & West. I usually take secondary roads @ 57MPH, and am willing to slow down on long uphill passes. I do wish I had a larger fuel tank - at 15MPG, the 15 gallon tank sometimes seem small, particularly when 40 MPH headwinds drops you down to 8-9MPG...

[Carl Pa]

I tow 16` scamp with a Rav4 tow pkg. V6. Works out fine, lots of power, but I drive about 60-62 mph and am in no hurry. Does hills for me fine, here in the north and south east, don`t know about the west though have not been that far yet. Good luck Carl

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by drjp

Jon(athan)

Me, too!

The Rav4 could probably pull the Escape, but definitely not a Casita 17 or an Oliver. If the Rav4 is already set up for towing, you have little to lose. If it ends up being somewhat underpowered for your towing conditions, you can take your time and upgrade. And in the meantime, you can take your time, which is not a bad thing when towing.

A lighter alternative is a Scamp 16, at about 2500 pounds loaded. Except for the size of the main bed, it's as roomy as a Casita 17. But it's not as spacious as the Escape. There's a long wait for an Escape right now.

[Lee Senn]

Jon Welcome aboard. We tow a 17 Bigfoot with a Rav4 V6. Our down the road weight loaded for a week outing is right at 2500lbs. Looking at trailer weights in the real world it appears your traveling weight will be marginally higher but will probably be mitigated by the fact that your aerodynamics are a little better than the Bigfoot ( The Bigfoot has the aerodynamics of a brick ). We live in Twin Falls , Idaho so most of out towing is in the mountains, including several trips over the Cascades to the coast annually and the Rav handles it just fine. We have 60,000 miles on the Rav with probably 25,000 towing the Bigfoot with no problems. We also have a teardrop that we built and still enjoy camping with the teardroppers. You don't mention whether or not you intend to keep your tear, hope you do as we don't want to loose you in that venue. Lee and Norma

[drjp]

Very nice, friendly, and helpful forum! Thank you all for your useful replies. Sounds like we are ok with the RAV. I'm thinking pretty seriously about the Anderson hitch option. On long grades, I'd planned to drop into a lower gear, keep the revs at around 3.5k (or close to wherever the 6's torque curve peaks) and not sweat it on hurry, to keep the tranny cool. Sure never need to bother with the teardrop; follows like anything.
escapes sure are popular; guess that's a vote for them! Earliest I can put in an order for the 17 is January for a 2017. Anyone heard of an Escape waiting list to take over a cancelled order?

[Borrego Dave]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

Welcome, Jon!

Dave's suggestion is good, and here's the link: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rld-43010.html. Manufacturer's dry weights can be very misleading.

Post #297 has a link to an Excel spreadsheet. You can download it, filter by make, model, length, etc., and it will calculate averages. Very handy. It tells me, for example, than the average loaded weight of a Casita 17D is 3296 pounds with a tongue weight of 425 pounds, while the average loaded weight of an Escape 17B is 2974 pounds with a tongue weight of 353 pounds. The lone Oliver Elite weighed in at 3900/350.

Best wishes in your new trailer purchase!

Thanks for adding the link Jon, maybe someday I'll learn how to do that