Rich,
I built the boat from the plans a few years ago, but fitted it with a schottel drive. I also did the mod with the angles leading back to the prop area. I think it ended up at about 60 degrees, but can't be sure
It could turn in circles around it's own length, but it is the rather bluff bow that causes the problems. It is designed to be strapped at the back of something as a power unit rather than a highly maneuverable little curved hull pusher 'bug'. I would suggest, rather than having a totally bluff bow, angle the front of the hang down bit backwards by 45 degrees, that should help a lot in keeping the nose from dipping
I donated my unpainted model to a certain member, and he duly stripped it to make a springer out of the bits. If he did a good job of the stripping and hasn't used them for anything else, there should be a fully silver soldered set of skids just right to fit your model.
To put the cat amongst the pigeons, have a look through all the springers and see who has one with a schottel drive and a Motorflote cabin on top. He who put the major smiley challenge at the top of this page.
John