It’s Official. The New Woodyboatermobile Is A Ford F150 Crew Cab!
Photographed in upstate NY on the return from the big show! It looks black, but in the light, turns brown
After long deliberation, a way to long deliberation we have chosen a new 2014 Ford F150 with an Ecoboost engine. Thanks to fellow Woody Boaters Shawn Brozovich and Seth Katz for clinching the deal. For the record I test drove everything, Twice, I drove dealers crazy and waited. The new 2015 F150 is coming out soon and they are deal’n on 2014’s This is a Platinum edition with a twist. The ecoboost engine already is delivering around 19 miles per gallon and best thing. The Boatress approves.. She hated the Silverado, I think more because it was a base model.
Also photographed in NY on the way home
Shawn works for Ford Motor Company and made the process fun and well… we have a Woody Boater at Ford! Seth owns several Ford trucks for the Marina and I fell in love with them this summer. I rode the F450, F350 and F250, the F150 Ecoboost was the best fit for me since I drive a ton without a boat, so gas mileage is somewhat important.
In New York
The color is a cool Woody Boater brown, Almost a metalic Walnut color, with a Root Beer look. Officially called Kodiak Brown. We used a copper color vinyl lettering that sets it all off.
This is the sample shot with iphone with graphics photoshoped on to see how the colors go together. You can see the Kodiak brown in it in this light. Photo down the street at our neighborhood marina.
We de badged the truck, and added a color matched grill like the Limited edition to clean up the look. Why? Because the Limited edition doesn’t come in brown and has a strange blue interior.
The matching grill and color matched trim.
A very nice looking truck, but it looks somewhat naked without a boat attached to the bumper.
This weekend we are on a cool barn find hunt. We will grab some cool pics. The ecoboost engine is amazing!
Enjoy! Safe travels.
Nothing embodies the American spirit like a Ford and woodies. We’ve been looking into Ford in Germany mainly due to the EcoBoost – insane gas prices are here.
Oh, “we” have been, eh? All the hints about the “cool colors” they have now makes sense…
He is sooo busted! Take it easy on him.
If you are in Germany, you want a small car with a diesel. You won’t want to drive and try to park an F150 for very long.
A man can dream before giving-in towards some car smaller than our couch. Ouch
Couch? That smart you will soon be driving is smaller than a lazy boy!
But if you need a truck this is the way to go. Can’t haul a boat with a simca!
Great looking F-150 Matt, and glad to see you bought an all American built truck from Ford. The Ecoboost engine is perfect for towing those classic boats.
Ford has come along way since 1963 when they produced these cool Uni-body F-150’s which are now sought after collector trucks. (Notice no gap between the cab and box)
Love it! But no 4-wheel drive for those slippery boat ramps?
Good pick Matt!
I am still running the F250XL 7.3 Diesel that my parents ordered new in 1990.
sweet!!!
does it have a alluminan body?
can you tow my boat to florida for spring break? the trailer is red though.
mike
Great color!
Ford is a natural choice for wooden boat owners… While most wooden boat owners think of Reed & Prince screws as the “Chris Craft” standard for wooden boat building, the original company also supplied screws to Ford who required special shipping boxes that could later be used for the floorboards in the Model T.
Ford, all the way! Beautiful color and we love the graphics that will be on your new truck, very stylish.
You have to trick it out with one of these babies.
I’ll try one more time…
I have to agree. I am on my 2nd, in 2013 in purchased a 150 will the 5.L engine could not make up my mind on the ecoboost. now a year later still second guessing my choice, so you should be happy, today i would have chosen eco. Boatress should be very happy with a platinum truck the seats and space will be very nice on long road trips. Nice choice, took you a long time.
Chris I agonized between the two options. I made call because of resale at some point. We also own a cmax energi that we love.
resale , for me the truck will be 10 years old and have a whole lot of miles on it, so it will be scrap.
He’s right. I love it! Now I might actually go places with him.
Great Minds Think Alike!
I’ll try again…
I am not sure what the EcoBoost is, but sounds and looks like you made a good choice. As a person saddled with a 2500HD truck, DO NOT buy the 3/4 ton unless you actually need the towing/pay load capabilities. Major sacrifice in ride comfort that it is wise to avoid if you can. I couldn’t, but for your work Matt, the 1/2 ton ought to be perfect! Looks great as well. Nice choice.
Paul,
Must be something with the Canadian models. I use my 3/4 ton for hauling loads.
And my 1 ton for a smooth ride.
SUPER SWEET, I hear great things of the ECO-Boost. We had gotten a 2010 last Dec , both of us fell in love with big back seat, & the dashboard layout… Traded in a 2005 red Ford. ! .. Empty hitch.? We need ya to move vintage campers around the East coast. !!
Good for you, Matt! nice looking pick up.
Congratulations Matt on both, your choice in truck, and color. Now look into new wheels, so you can play with the big boys.
Awesome. Can they put a ’69 body on one of these chassis and powertrain’s? I’ll need one to pull the SS. Whenever I get around to finishing it.
Matt I have shared your link today with the Service Engineering Team here at Ford Motor Company and WE LOVE YOU and your F-150!
Shawn Brozovich
Global Launch Manager
Ford Motor Company!
That would be a great advertisement for Ford. I think some of the other automobile advertisements have featured wooden boats being pulled by their vehicles. Now if only you could find and agency to put together the whole thing together………..
Great choice, Matt. And a great woody color. I also like the rebadge treatment. Why more people don’t do that, I’ll never know. I also have never been able to understand why people allow dealers to put ugly dealer stickers and even license plate frames on their $30,000 investment. It’s your truck!
Rabbit Says:
PS: Sure would look better with a couple of wool blankets in it!
Has anyone seen Art Hampton’s Ford truck? It actually says F-550 on the side. Has air horns like a steamship, holds hundreds of gallons of fuel, every gadget you can think of, and lots of gadgets you have not imagined. Would not surprise me if the whole thing is bullet- and bomb-proof. With the diesel engine powering it, the Chris-Craft being towed is simply an afterthought.
Well, ahem, it’s no Subaru Outback, but I guess it’ll do. (Especially as an Outback has only 174 torques, and will only tow 2,700 lbs — the equivalent of a Feathercraft with a few 6 packs in it.)
Seriously though, it’s a nice looking vehicle. I test drove one this spring when I was having a (yet another) mid-life crisis. It was remarkably refined. We’re I buying a truck, what you’ve chosen would definitely be it.
High towing capacity is not a high demand feature amongst middle aged lesbian couples.
No deck striping on the hood?
I was sure if see some thin white stripes to set off the Kodiak Brown
And, whenever some dude cuts you off, you have this course of action now available to you.
Ok, what’s with me no longer being able to attach photos snagged / borrowed from the web? Grrrr.
Photo I was trying to attach showed a F-150 quad cab sitting atop a Ferrari. I guess you’ll just have to use your imagination.
I saw it with my own two eyes in NY and it is cool. The color and graphics are very cool and allow the sun to play tricks with it.
Now, if only we could get a picture of the WB mobile towing that amazing Penn Yan from yesterdays story! With bacon sizzling on the burned up bearings……
Than can be arranged, but I would rather cook the bacon on the exhaust manifolds.
… what, no wood grain, real or fake, anywhere???????
Would be interesting to see a comparison between the Ford Ecoboost and the RAM Ecodiesel.
man that is a rich color. what an awesome truck, enjoy Matt
The color is amazing! Couldn’t be happier. That darn copper lettering really helped but did take a leap faith. Ha
Hey Chad, The ram will beat it hands down on fuel mileage empty or loaded. I have the diesel in a Grand Cherokee and it tows amazing and gets 19mpg doing so. I’ve heard the Ecoboost tows pretty darn good also but will sacrifice fuel economy. The one place the Eco Diesel can’t hold a candle to the ecoboost is off the line. The Ford is a rocket and the Diesel needs a split second of easy pedal before you can nail it, it just doesn’t have the off the line speed a gas job does. Get it rolling though and it’s a monster. 3rd, 4th, 5th gear pull like crazy and then you still got 3 gears left. Truck talk is almost as much fun as boat talk!
I did love the dodge and liked the fuel deal. I am not a fan of diesel though since I drive a lot and hunting for diesel can be a small issue. Also I was looking for resale at some point and the fords seem to hold value better. Also. Owning a car or truck is also about the support system and dealer for me. The two dodge dealers were like buying in the 80s. A miserable experience. The ford dealers were hands down the best. I looked at 3 in the dc area and one in Richmond. The best experience was at a dealer called sheehy ford. The sales guy was beyond patient with me and very helpful. They also were very streight forward with the deal. No games unlike the dodge ram dealer. I needed to shower after those experience.
did i miss a memo. matt do you post as woody now? or did you always.
mike
The dealer experience is the most important factor when buying a new vehicle. Not just the initial sale, but service after you drive it home has me returning to The Ford dealer time after time this last decade (plus). We have dealt with the same Ford dealer since purchasing my wife’s Mustang GT in 2001. A year later I traded my GMC 1500 G-3 for an F-150 Limited. The next two were F-150 King Ranch before down sizing to a Ford Flex Limited. I miss not having a pick-up but don’t miss trying to park it in tight spots.
Woody, your Ford looks amazing. Like the color! You’ll like the Ecoboost.
Welcome to the club. I am on my 3rd ecoboost f150. I tow my woodies all over the place with it and it has never let me down.
OH Ya!
It’s a FORD!
those ford rear ends are nice……
You know what they say, Base ball, hot dogs, apple pie , and Ford!
Where’s The Boats!
It’s a truck. A very big truck….
Yah ,so where’s the boats????
Details. Art Direction and details. Nice job Matt.
MFine here is your fix, Ford F 250 with a ( real boat) Shepherd attached.
Try again??
somthing an’t right???????????????? Did ya band Shepherd’s from the site???
Phil – Send me the photo. Texx@woodyboater.com
Okay everyone, don’t shoot the messenger. The picture attached is from 2012 when we retired the 2004 6.0L diesel with 90k miles and bought our new Eco-Boost. Over the next 2 1/2 years we put 26k miles on it.
* Two things.
1. Pulling a 8-9k pound gross load we averaged 4-6 mpg. Seriously, my mpg display went to 3 mpg pulling an enclosed car trailer with a XK140 over the bridge to Amelia island this year. It was a 4 wheel drive mind you, but we never saw anything over 18 mpg empty since new.
2.The other issue I strongly suggest you look into almost cost us our lives lives one night.
We were traveling empty going up Mont Eagle in a rain storm. As I changed lanes to pass a semi moving 35-40 mph I kicked her down in the passing gear (or so I thought) and all that happened is she stumbled and fell flat on her face! There we are, out in the left (Monfort Lane for any of you old truckers) lane with an engine that went into “Limp” mode. Seems there is an issue still unsolved with condensation forming in the intake plenum when you drive in a high moisture environment for extended periods. When you step on it, all that water is dumped into the cylinders and the ECU throws the motor into limp mode so it can try to save the cats. It was a scary experience and happened several more times before we sold her off.
We took it to the Ford dealer and were told they were waiting on the sixth “fix” from engineers and could not do anything for us at the moment.
We went back to a F250 Diesel. I strongly suggest you research this issue before pulling anything in the rain. Check the Ford truck forums. They’re loaded with discussions about this.
By the way, after years of black Ford trucks we also picked the Kodiak Brown! Love it.
Sorry again for the downer news. You just don’t want to be out in the left lane with a truck along side you going 40 mph and your wheels are falling down. Railing to your left, truck to the right, 65 mph cars bearing down on you in the rain at night! Not so fun Ford.
Yikes Scott.This sort of thing seemed shocking to me that a ompany would allow this sort of thing. Its a Family business and i know they take great pride in the product. So I googled and found this report from the National highway safety group thing.. I linked it here so folks can read it if they are concerned.
http://www.torquenews.com/106/feds-drop-ford-f150-ecoboost-investigation
By the way, here’s the Kodiak Brown replacement. We also have the bed slide which I must say is great. Now that I’m an old man!
Boats and trucks they are are natural match. When I pulled my boat out this year, I stepped out to take this picture. A man pulled up to me in a old and rusty F150 He said that’s an interesting thought you got there but I really want to talk to you about your truck. That’s what living in Tennessee is like.
Back in the 90s I was hauling a center console damaged from a pier in a hurricane. It had a hole in the side of the boat and the fuel tank was under the driving console. We were pulling it with a S10 Chevy which was quite a stretch. The boat was full of fuel and the weight was disproportionate enough that we could only go 45mph before fish-tailing. So I bought a hose to siphon the fuel from the boat to my truck. I performed this each stop appropriately at a gas station. Saved us the money for fuel and by the time we got home we were driving 65 mph!
At one stop I noticed a guy watching me and warned my wife he was going to say something, I could just tell. Sure enough, as I was finishing and gathering up my hose he came over and made this statement.
“You know, you didn’t have to knock a hole in the side of your boat to siphon the fuel out, you could have just laid the hose over the rail.”
I couldn’t begin to respond and thought it best to just agree with him and leave. I can only imagine how many times he told his side of the story!
People say the darnedest things.
UPDATE on the new Ford Ecoboost. I LOVE IT! we were able to reach about 19 mpg.. OK, the boatress did that.. She beat me by 1/10th of a gallon average. I will add that driving the Energi Cmax has helped me drive better. The truck has alrady 2500 miles on it, and all with a huge smile per mile thing happening. Also a big hats off to the tech folks at Ford for how all the hands free stuff works. The folding up rear seats are also a huge positive. Stay tuned.