Hi Jay,

thanks for your reply, that's exactly what I did and it worked!
I've posted this question to a few places and someone dropped reordering vertices as a keyword, and the workflow I figured out from that point matches your suggestion, so I'm glad to know I got on the right track there.

As for the auto rigging - absolutely, I'm currently learning that the hard way, but I'm coming out of it with a lot more experience for what it's worth.

Thanks again!
squiggs