I have an one an aire ocelot also. I felt that if it was just 1 passenger you could possibly get away with putting them behind you, but if there is any additional weight at all, you will quickly become too back heavy and maneuvering will suffer. I prefer to have the passenger in front a little more than one full bay, so that you don't hit them with the oars as they lean back dodging waves and your powering through. Also you can add some gear to front and back bays for short muilti day trips, not to much though, for you can quickly overload this boat. as far as the drop bars, I just tilted the tubes slightly to the mid line to grab the d-rings better.