Damn, buddy. I almost did the same last weekend. Currently going through the same manual heartache. Threatened to pull out last weekend but the dealer said they didn't want to get stuck with a manual so they knocked another grand off. I was guaranteed it to be built by the end of January. May be...
There are outfits that build aftermarket larger tanks for pickups. I'm sure the gladiator will get on that list sooner or later.
As for comfort... That's a matter of opinion. Clearly "Shadowspapa" hasn't owned an IFS GM product.