Mountain Trail Campers' Escalade: Review

Written by: Emma Ryan

Published on November 23, 2014

Time to read 1 min

The folks at Mountain Trail Campers have been very busy beavers over the past 18 months, employing a team of mechanical engineers to develop an all new, state-of-the-art hardfloor camper trailer using electronic design software and manufacturing techniques.

Once they were satisfied with this hardfloor design — some $300,000 worth of trial and error later — they applied the same engineering DNA to the brand’s new softfloor camper, the Escalade.

Design and Construction

Essentially, the Escalade has the same footprint as Mountain Trail’s previous softfloor campers, but it’s constructed differently. Rather than a welded assembly, the trailer is comprised of 181 laser cut panels that fix together with mechanical precision and are each fully repairable by any regular panel beater.

The 181 parts are comprised of galvanised, aluminium, Zincanneal and stainless steel metals, with the only RHS being at the drawbar, so rust is an unlikely outcome.

Everything you see on the Escalade comes as standard at $39,950, but the options list allows you to build your own ultimate rig as the budget allows.

Exterior

Combining the storage box and stoneguard makes the front end minimalist and tidy; the two jerry recesses are locked within the box, which has three distinct sections for storage and a perforated floor for easy cleaning. Behind the storage box sits a large luggage rack, suitable for two bikes, swags or anything else you might need to carry there. It’s all comprised of aluminium at the front end to keep the weight down.

The tent is made from 12oz Wax Converters Australian canvas, has a removable PVC floor and measures 2.4m wide, with the option to upgrade to 3m if your horde demands it. The tent is gas-strut assisted and is light and easy to pull over into position, and once you know how, can be done in 5 minutes.

This camper is 100mm wider than its predecessor and just as long, yet 100kg lighter thanks to the modern construction methods and materials used.

Interior

The bed base is comprised of rot-proof, lightweight plastic, while the mattress is a comfy 7in innerspring queen complete with mattress bag. There is a 12V and USB outlet here. There’s a dual 240V outlet here, too, for when you’re on mains power. The interior lighting comes via the light in the passageway, an LED strip overhead and two bedside reading lights.

The electrical system is 12V and 240V respectively, with twin 105Ah AGM batteries and a Redarc battery management system keeping it all under control.