Hi Renderspud sorry for the delay in response, I don't look at this very often. I'm still pulling the rig with an F150 and still debating whether to get an F250. I just don't camp enough yet and my travels are mostly on the East Coast with minor terrain. Keep in touch!

Hey mmelfi, I have a 2002 F250 with the 7.3 diesel. Initially I had an 08 F150 but I didn't want to hurt it pulling the Whitehawk over the hills and mountains over here.

I found the F250 after doing a bit of research on pre-2008 (before emission requirements went crazy) diesels and narrowed it down to 3 makes and models known for longevity (Chevy/GMC, Ford, and Dodge). My F-250 (my wife named it 'Stinky") was the first one that turned up in good condition.

I bought it with 215k miles on it for $12k. It was in really good condition. I took it to a diesel shop before the purchase for an inspection. They said it should be good for another 200k if I keep up on the maintenance. So far so good. :-) We only use it to pull and haul things so it should outlast me by a few 100k. :-)

It has plenty of power for the Idaho mountains and sounds like a beast. I'm sure the neighbors love it when I pull into a campground. :-P Are you still pulling with your F-150?

Thanks for your reply Renderspud. I recently went to a hitch place to make sure the wdh setup was configured for my trailer/truck configuration. I feel a lot better about it now. I'm like you, it is hard to justify getting a new tow vehicle (f250) for camping 10 times or less a year. Still considering it yet for the potential of retirement travel - we'll see. The only thing I see that is sort of hokey on the rig so far is that the outside kitchen latch mechanism is a bit clunky. I've had to people accidently fling the catch and spring assembly off. Luckly I found the spring both times. Doesn't seem to be well thought out. Let me know if you have any comments or questions about anything - thanks!

Hello mmelfi, glad to hear from you. We were able to pick up our 27RB on a pre-order from the dealer here in Idaho. We were able to take it out once before winter hit in November and do the initial shakedown. So far, we've been really happy with it. There were a couple small issues but very minimal.
I also had an F-150 but it was a 2008 with the 5.4 Triton engine. It pulled the trailer OK but going over hills worked it over pretty good. I ended up buying an older F-250 (2002) with the 7.3L powerstroke. I use it only as a tow vehicle and it does the job nicely. We looked at some newer trucks but the costs were SO expensive. I just couldn't feel good about spending 50K for a truck we'd use a couple dozen times a year.
Anyway, we love the trailer and have had it out 5 times now. We love the layout and the front window. Nothing quite like laying in bed and staring up at the stars. :-)

Hi Renderspud thanks for friending me. We just picked up our 27 Rb a couple of weeks ago and went to St Augustine Bch for a few days. Everything seemed to work ok. We are still getting used to the how to control the lights (switch/remote). I weighed rig on the way home and it weighed in at 7700 lbs. I was glad to see it was under 8,000. I have a 2017 f150 ecoboost 3.7 and it feels like I'm at the upper end of what I can tow with the 27 rb. Hope we can share experiences to learn from each other. Let me know if you have any current questions.