Dankenman, when I read the title of the thread, and the first few sentences of your post, and saw "your buddy" I started lauging so hard! lol... I have no idea why it was so funny to me. But thank you! lol...
Looks great - a lot of cool ideas. Did you figure out how to mount to the base with out going through the boot? Maybe try going up higher through/under the cuff of the suit leg and mounting/supporting at the shin or calf?