OK, so we decided to trade campers at the last minute, just before our annual trip to Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada. We traded for a 2013 Silverback 29RE. Dry weight 10273, ready to travel 10800 give or take food and what's in the fridge. No time for a local shake-down, so off we went. We do the 1000 miles to PEI from south eastern PA in 2 days, the first day to Freeport, Maine, then on to PEI. The roads are everything from nice new, flat highways to battered old roads with as much as 9 to 10 percent grades. We've been making this trip for 28 years and it is, without a doubt, the most taxing trip we do.

We were, frankly, concerned about how well our Ford 2011 6.2L gasser with a 4.30 rear would do. After a trip to the scale we found were were at about 85% of capacity. Only a 15% margin, but what it is is what it is!!

Well, out fears were unfounded!! The truck performed great! Even on the steep hills of Rt. 9 in Maine and Rt. 1 in New Brunswick we had no trouble holding our speed and even accelerating up hills as much as 4 to 6 percent. Acceleration and breaking were very good and overall towability was as excellent.

We try to keep our speed to between 60 and 65 on the highway, not just for better MPG, but for safty too. Almost 18000 pounds of vehicles doesn't stop on a dime! We averaged 8.5 MPG. I did try 92 octane on the trip up and the mileage was a little better, but no where near enough to justify the price difference with no noticeable improvement in performance.

This truck tows as well, if not better, then the 2006 6.0L we traded in on this one. The 6.2L has what it takes to tow with it's diesel brothers!