All, I always hate it when I'm reading through an old thread of interest and never find out what the OP decided, so let me take the chance to avoid that here...
firstly, thanks for all the input!
I ended up buying a new Chevy 2500 with the disel engine. It's crew cab and standard (short) bed.
I had been targeting an LT but found very few and ended up with a deal on one of the few 2016 LTZs in this configuration. It was month and quarter end last week when I bought it so more discounts and probably ended up only running a bit more than an LT would have been by the time I found one. So more bells and whistles than I planned for but will enjoy them nonetheess.
Picked it up yesterday and just loving it. Went and looked at first (used) fifth wheel tonight (a 2013 Coachman 269BHS) and will be doing more of that next coming up. looking at both mid/smaller 5er's and TT's in the 3-10 year old range.
thanks again!