Doc I agree with you on the sound and feel of the tenor in G. I've been playing around with it after finding out that a 'normal' string set can be detuned to G tuning.
I found that a set of D'Addario Carbons worked well, even low D but really prefer a High d string as it makes the tenor sound like a Uke rather than a small guitar. I thought that the strings were a bit slack, but they tend to stiffen up after a while. I bought a set of Fremont Black lines (high g) and put them on my travel tenor and they took a long time to begin to settle but they are firming up a good bit now and sound pretty good.
I've ordered some Worth Brown Fats to try and a set of the Aquila G for tenor strings. These may have a bit more tension which shouldn't hurt. Southcoast recommends different (fatter) strings to aid in volume, so we shall see if that is true?
My neighbor detuned some Aquila High g's and they work pretty well too, but are very loose. Maybe they will firm up some?
I really prefer the deeper tuning on a tenor. I did notice a slight change in volume, but not much.