General Raft Questions

I just recently received my Solidoodle 3, and am just getting started.  I have access to a Makerbot Replicator 2X at work (but have only watched others use it, not used it myself), and it seems like the raft Makerware creates is a critical component to getting good parts.  The main characteristic being that the bead of plastic is much wider than a normal .3mm layer.  I was able to get a good approximation with Slic3r by adjusting the Extrusion Width of the support material to 1.5mm.  However, with the SD3, I get more of a squiggly line of plastic, rather than a smooth, fatter line. 

Does anyone have pointers/parameters on how to make a nice smooth wide raft?

The area of Miracle Grue's raft is also larger than the part, which is different than Slic3rs raft.  I assume this would help with curling, since there is more surface area to the raft.  Can the raft area be tweaked?

I've been able to translate G-code generated by Miracle Grue to work with Repetier Host, which is mostly changing the A parameter of G1 commands to E, and commenting out M codes.  So, as a fallback, I can just use Makerware as my CAM program, but if I can figure out the right settings, it would be less effort per iteration with Slic3r.