Baja man, I think your intuition is spot on. Same uses that make Crew cab short bed trucks the most popular on the market. They're like the Swiss Army knife of vehicles. They do most everything well.
1/2 vs 3/4? For your use 1/2T will do the trick, 3/4T will do most things better except fuel mileage.
If a TC is in the future, I'd be thinking long bed in general and 1 ton if going Ram, simply for the leaf springs vs coils, otherwise from what you've stated, you have zero use for a factory 4-5000lb payload rating. If looking at the other 2 brands of HDs, 3/4 vs 1 ton doesn't mean much to me. Only difference is how many rear leaf springs and tire pressure monitors.
I've had great luck with 2-6.2 Fords but I don't see Chevies or Rams parked on the side of the road with the hoods up either. Don't think there's a turd in the bunch. IMO ford charges more because they can....and all new model for '17 probably factors in.
Your use plants you squarely in the CC/SB gas 3/4 ton if you want a burly truck.
The one other up side to going to a class2 or 3 chassis is service life of chassis and drivetrain components. Being designed for heavier use than a half ton means longer service life under light use = less periodic repairs theoretically.
Example, our old Dodge, in my sig, only has 150kmi on it now, but brakes last about twice as long as the 1/2 ton variants I've had during the same period.
