Some folks pointed out that towing my ~6000lb seacraft/trailer every day was going to blow up my 1/2 ton transmission, even though it's rated for 10K. In other words, a 1/2 ton truck is more than enough to tow on the weekends but if you tow every day, the trans won't survive more than a few seasons.
So... I looked up F250s and 2500s. Around here (MA) in post-covid 2022, a used truck (5 years, 100k miles) starts around $50k. My budget was $25k, which gets me 15-20 years old, 200K+ miles. But then I started seeing Nissan Titan XD's show up in my searches. The "XD" is bigger than the regular 1/2 ton Titan, but its not a full 3/4 ton. It's the same frame as the Nissan SV panel van (hence strange size). Designed for towing. Comes in a cummins diesel. And the diesels are cheaper than v8 gas! $25k was good for a 5 year old titan XD with 4x4, tow package, and 50-80k miles. So I spent a few weeks scouring the interwebs (cars.com, carvana, carguru, and good ole craigslist) and ended up with the cheapest CPO gas Titan XD is the lower 48, which means I have a full 7 year/100k warranty for about the price of a used tacoma.
Why gas? And why is the titan XD the only truck where the diesel is cheaper than gas? A Nissan service tech explained that while the cummins has had bad press, the real issue is the transmission, which is also not made by Nissan. Compare that to the gas v8 power train, which is in millions of vehicles, has been around for 10-15 years, and is made by nissan. Anyway, Im happy. Good truck, great price. For sure it's heavier than my 1/2 ton and tows better, but it also does not ride like an F250 dump truck. I wanted a diesel 3/4 ton tundra (not a thing), so this is a close second. 10.5 mpg towing, 15mpg otherwise.
