If you have not purchased a truck yet, considering purchasing a 3500/350 SRW. For the additional $1000–$1500 increase, you get quite a bit more payloaded capacity.
30rls could possibly have up to a 2500 pound pin weight. And depending on the configuration of the 2500/250, it could be pushing the payload limit when you add passengers, fuel, firewood, hitch etc.
I was looking at a 2022 – Ram 2500 a few weeks ago. The way it had its options configured, it only had a 2160 pounds payload capacity.
When we look to trade in an pour DRW, we will be looking at a 3500/350 SRW
I've been considering doing that, I just haven't researched the 3500s that much.
I understand what your saying about payload, that seems to be the one real negative on the 2500s, and a number that a lot of people don't take into consideration; it depends on how many extra gadgets and stuff you want or need to carry in the truck. Just because you can tow it, doesn't mean you should.
Are you looking at gas or diesel?
I can't seem to find much real world data on the fuel economy of either the 2500 or 3500. The only thing I found was on a site called Fuelly, which gathered info from real drivers and their averages. It seems that the 2500 got an avg of 12 mpg gas, and around 15 mpg diesel. The 3500 got 13 average mpg diesel, of course, these are not towing numbers.
Some might say that if you're worried about gas mileage, you shouldn't be RVing; me, I want every advantage I can get.
I'm kind of a research geek anyway; I like to know as much as is reasonable about something before I invest a ton of time and money.