Yes.
There are 2 under the seat.
We use Old Dominion Freight company (tractor-trailer/semi) and we rarely have shipping damage issues. We ship 30-50 kayaks a week to our customers.
Yes. 4 1/4". That being said, I ordered one for my son in law 2 months ago because I liked mine so much. Amazon emailed me about one month ago and had to cancel my order because they could no longer get this model.