RE: Adding weight for cg
Have you thought about moving the battery to the engine mount? I have one with two packs in the cowl. I mounted a ply board to the side of the engine box positioned to the bottom of the engine. Then with foam and Velcro straps, put a battery pack on each side of the ply. My engine is inverted, but this could work for a side mounted engine, depending on how the motor box is made.
david