A lot to unpack here, and for what it's worth I'm on the cautious side because the whole point of camping is to relax, not spend 3 - 5 terrifying hours trying to keep the rig upright with a back seat of screaming kids  * Diesel. Gas is a great engine if you want to tow around a ~30ft bumper pull, but at the size you're looking for you will want diesel if only to reduce the amount of engine noise -- the gas engine is likely to stay at higher RPMs trying to tow around a huge 5th wheel like that. 42' fifth wheels get heavy fast. More so for toy haulers. Gas is not the best tool for that job.  * EDIT TO ADD -- Also, diesel so you can go through the truck stops to refuel. I would never in a million years want to pull a 42' 5th wheel through a corner Shell station on a Saturday with a million blind minivans trying to end my vacation early.   * CDL question: That is entirely dependent on the state you are in and how loaded your trailer is. I don't know if CDL requirements are on max weight or actual weight, but you'll want to become an expert on those laws rather than trust some random folks on the Internet.    * "the most payload", you are going to want to get a bottom of the line trim with no extras if you want the highest payload. I have a Platinum SRW F350 and my payload is "only" 3920; but while towing I am riding very comfortably with massage seats. I think the sweet spot if I wanted toys and payload would be a Lariat, but I'm not sure how much more payload I would get.    * This is the big one: You said that your target length is ~42', and in that case I really really think dually is your only realistic option. You don't say how much towing experience you have, but at 42' 5th wheel is a HUGE amount of wind surface, and you'll want those extra wheels helping keep your rear under control. I'm not trying to be the tow police here, but this is a huge investment for you and I only see white knuckle buyers remorse if you spend any real time in a SRW with a 40+ foot 5th wheel. But again, I lean on the cautious side because I'd rather cruise listening to music, not fight the rig.  I probably wouldn't go over 38 feet if I wanted to stick with my SRW setup and stay relaxed, but to be fair I haven't towed that long before. My current trailer is only 28' and low profile and even with that I only know it's back there with a strong gust hits it. I can't imagine a much taller, much longer trailer going gentle when a shear hits it.    Good luck on your research!

My '94 F-150 has crank windows.  Young people get a big kick out of that, and the vent windows.

But I'm trying to understand your logic, though, of why Ford investing in/buying Slate would benefit Ford?   You haven't proposed anything they'd bring to the table outside of "boxy traditional truck design" and "customization".  Both of which Ford could do on their own, as we've seen with something like Bronco.   If they had a new battery technology or unique motor design or something that Ford could learn from it might be something, but they don't seem to have that either.

We're just gonna have to agree to disagree man. 

Has he said the CE1 truck will be radical looking, or other vehicles on the platform will be that way? (genuinely asking)   And, even if the CE1 is radical looking, I revert to my other point of....let's say they do want to have a "safe"/traditional design option alongside the radical one......why would they invest billions in this random no-name company and hope it works, when they could just take their own great new CE1 platform and put a more traditional top hat on it with tried & true/well known Ford branding?

So already shifting the goalposts?  "it's everything we want but......"   That said, as I've mentioned in other threads, the pricing on that thing doesn't make sense when you have Maverick on the market for nearly the same price with far more features.     Makes sense to me regarding Maverick.  And even if they were "only" buying for MPG/$ equation, it's more practical than other competition/body styles unless you truly needed covered space.

And to be clear, I have the same opinion of any sub-brand, be it Mustang, Explorer, Bronco.....I had/have the same push back of the rumors of an Explorer sub-brand....slapping Explorer on 15 products only dilutes the name, IMO.     The problem with that, is that they've already delayed so many products.  Pushing new stuff out even further is a recipe for disaster, IMO.  This is exactly when they need to be developing new things so they have the fresh, new products arriving when the market does go back on the upswing.     Sure, they've shown a few concepts, but there's never been an actual production model to see how the market reacts to it.

This morning's updated gas prices in Hamden, CT (New Haven)  $3.03 Regular (Cash) @ Gulf  $3.19 Regular (Cash) @ Citgo   Citgo Regular jumped from $3.05 to $3.19 over the weekend but the GasBuddy.com site is not updating the latest prices online, which happens on a regular basis.   There's usually a $0.10 difference between the Gulf and Citgo stations, so the current $0.16 differential is unusual.       

Except Ford's recent decisions have already caused region-specific products (even if I think vehicles like Puma would do well here).   Obviously that market has its unique needs, but I also feel some products could be globalized (i.e. I still think a Focus hatch could do ok here) so that we're not having a model entirely market specific.

So don't look at it then? Many have complained about Navigator not having tech that competitors do.  This is an example of a feature they did put in that competitors have.  I revert to the tech is there, why not use it and equal competitors?  If you don't like the feature, just look at the mirror like you normally would.     Yeah, I know the ratio is unfortunately what limits it....and Ford seems obsessed with maintaining the backup camera on the left, 360 immediately to its right layout (obviously it can't be changed here, but on examples with a vertical screen like outgoing Explorers or LIghtnings, instead of making both huge one on top of the other, they keep them horizontally placed.     Yeah, the example I saw was black, so I didn't see the full view of the black rear panel.  It was odd how tall it looked between slimmer taillights , shorter glass, and design elements being pushed to the upper liftgate to accommodate the split tailgate design.