A 5500 cab and chassis with a bed of your choice allow more than enough room for payload plus reserve for towing. There are a lot of 3500 trucks pushed to their limits like my older GMC while the newer generations do offer more carrying capacity. I intend to tow and wanted the additional security plus I look forward to my wife driving on our trips and want the handling and braking to be something expected (second nature) to her exposure of driving a heavy load which isn't a lot.
Bedlam made choices with his new camper and is better to speak about it. It did involve more solar and a major delete of the skylight (prone to problems) in lieu of a fan. I believe the solar components are sourced locally to Host (Zamp power I think?) and they have a pretty good system in place.
Good luck and I'm sure Bedlam will chime in soon-
