That's a shame about the lead.

The swept wings help the CG to be forward on a canard pusher by putting the engine closer to the neutral point. However the downside is that the propellor tips get very close to the wing trailing edge if the engine is well forward. This creates a lot of prop wash noise. I found that using an APC prop really helped with reducing this noise. (used zingers and graupners before that - both noisy when close to the wing trailing edge).

I think its poor design if you need that much lead to balance - it is possible to get this configuration right CG-wise with no lead. (I've done it).

The problem with my canard is the landing approach. I can't get the aft wing into a high drag, high alpha steady sink. I have to come in low and relatively quick. It seems hard to land the aircraft on our rough grass strip with out some longitudinal pitching on touch down which often results in the prop hitting the ground. This puts shock loads on the firewall. I guess I could move the undercarriage back and make it harder to rotate on take off.