Holy $hit Mate! That's some gnarly water for a little rubber boat, you guys are definitely idiot club members.
I was in my early 30's when I tried off-shore racing in big cats when I was living in Aus & one race was enough to cure me of that crap. A good Saturday night pub brawl wasn't that hard on a body!
Seems like you have a pretty good handle on where you can make improvements but I doubt any of them would be much use to you in that big chop so it might be desirable to make them removable for conditions.
Stay safe & don't grow up, I tried it once & decided it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Sid.