About the WDH ... it depends! And as for your combo of Sprinter + ?, I have no idea whether a WDH is necessary. With our combo of Tacoma and Elkmont it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise the 620# tongue weight seriously overloads the rear axle, and lifts the front making the steering very squirrely. With the WDH adjusted so that the front doesn't lift, the combo has a very stable, solid, planted feel to it. And the axle weight ratings are not exceeded.
I 've driven on some pretty horrible paved highways riddled with potholes, and the WDH seems to reduce the bouncing. On the other hand, many northern and rural roads are well-maintained and high speed even though they are gravel. Flying rocks can be more of a problem than ruts and potholes.
Friends who've driven to the Yukon and NWT say pretty much to plan on a new windshield and a chipped grill. This is from trucks flying by in the opposite direction. The front face of an upright Elkmont is more exposed than the regular ones so will have more trouble there. Our friend's solution was just to pull off the road or as far over as possible whenever a truck appeared coming at them.
The other problem of course are the rocks thrown up by your own vehicle and what it does to the underside or front of your trailer. I've sand-blasted all the paint off the frame of our utility trailer traveling at highway speeds across the prairie on a straight gravel road. I wonder what that would have done to any plumbing hanging below decks?
As Scott says, there have been threads about this, and I remember some that deal with protecting your trailer from rocks in particular. Good luck.
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