re racks, Ive toured for about 25 years, and being a light guy, I've learned to keep my full load (camping etc) down to about 40lbs, 45 tops. Ive had perfectly good experience using medium priced well made racks, and your comment about coming from a backpacking background, and hence being aware and careful of what you take weight wise, I second the view that you don't need the strongest racks out there.
Here in Canada anyway, there are many well made, rather sturdy looking and feeling, aluminum racks in the 30-60 dollar range, and I strongly suspect that one of these type racks would work well for your needs.
I find that in general, there are a lot more options for good quality racks now, at reasonable prices.
I recently bought some high quality racks, but in all honesty, I did well with what I had before. I got these partly because of a sale, and also thinking ahead to future possible trips where the terrain would be a lot rougher.
what sort of weight do you reckon your get together is, tent included, ie what do you think you would have on your bike (I will assume that perhaps you would carry the tent, and so maybe more weight than your wife) ?
I've tended to have about 25lbs on the rear rack, maybe 10 or a bit more on front rack, plus some in a handlebar bag.
The advantage here where I live is that there are a fair number of stores that physically have a good range of racks in store, so you can touch and feel and see lots of diff ones. Might be diff for you if you can only read about diff models.
re frame saver, unless you plan to leave a bike outside all the time, my experience of keeping my bikes inside means that rust has never really been an issue and not something to be really concerned about. Regular drivetrain maintenance, quick rim and brake pad wiping after being in the rain--all this is waaaaaaaay more important for your bikes well being and how well it works and lasts.