killdagger,
You might give it a try, it certainly can't hurt anything.
You also might try other configurations you have the space
for. As long as you don't double the legs of a dipole back
onto themselves, 'shape' isn't too critical.
As for the SWR, well, it sounds about normal to me. The
'low SWR readings from daylight to dark' type antennas are the
ones that sound 'unnatural', it just doesn't happen that way
unless there's a reason. That reason is usually lower
efficiency. You just don't get something for nothing, and if
it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
'Doc