The generator selection problem is an interesting one, Ty. I once had the reverse of your problem: I needed a high output generator, but I needed it for long term occasional use, and would always be starting it myself, so the best choice was very different (8 kVA set with 2 cyl, 1,250 cc Lister diesel, running at 1,500 rpm instead of the 3,000 rpm petrol generators run at, so it would last forever, and more or less had before I bought it). Lister also had an autostart model, which fired up automatically whenever you applied a load to it, but I think a radio control is a neater answer in your situation. Having the generator start and stop every time the refrigerator kicks in and out would be a bit of a pain at night, I think. If you have a demand pump supplying water, that could be much the same issue if someone flushed the toilet during the night.
Because you only need it for months rather than permanently, a 3,000 rpm petrol engine seems like a better concept. Compared with diesels, petrol engines are usually easier to cold-start in cold weather, and don't glaze their bores when running at light loads. (I used a giant battery bank and inverter to back up the Lister, so I wouldn't need to run it if I needed less than 1,200 Watts. Battery bank was trickle charged by solar panels, and recharged by a 3 kW battery charger driven by the Lister. It took something like 17 hours to do a recharge.) The main "acid test" of a generator for my application was being able to just strike an arc any time with the allegedly-220-Amp stick-welder set for maximum current, and know there would be no delay or noticeable weak start to the arc, just a dull bellow from the diesel as it came up to load in what seemed like a lot less than a second. If you are going to be doing much welding using the generator you might need to check its performance first: a guy I knew who used a petrol generator could only arc weld if he had a second operator to manually slam the governor link to full throttle just before he struck the arc. That would be no use to me, since I never have a second operator and tend to start and stop the arc very frequently on the kind of welding jobs I do.
It would be interesting to get some feedback occasionally on how your generator performs: what limitations you find in living with it.
