Yes, NAZCARider, I agree with everything you said about weight.
My inspirational Touring Guru (Wade Hatler) who has ridden his SM Bent all over the World says its silly to try and shave a couple of pounds of your Bike/Load because you wo'nt really notice it once you are in good touring fitness. He often travels with nearly 100 Lbs of gear including a 3Kg laptop.
Of course Wade does seem to be an exceptional hillclimber. But the fact that his SM was able to handle all that weight without any structural failures must say something about the robust strength of the SM.
The only improvement to the SM Wade suggested was to get the Rohloff hub option. He said he spent a lot of time fiddling with and adjusting his stock cables and derraiulers (I can never spell that) and if the Rohloff hub eliminated all that constant adjustment it would be worth the extra cost.
It's interesting what you say about Schwalbe Marathon tires, I must investigate those, are they smooth or knobby? I hate the noise knobby tires make. I also hate flats, so heavier tires are worth it. One of the reasons I'm using a trailer is to avoid flats.
The lightfoot Ranger looks like an excellent 26 Tourer. Just a bit too large to ship back to Australia easily.
In case the snow is chilling you too much I am sending you a link to my local BeachCam. It changes views every minute or so. Notice the water temp is around 26C
http://www.coastalwatch.com/cam.asp?cam=2200
Have a good one, Mark.