If it works, is safe, and is maintainable, there’s no shame in it. My unraid box has some unorthodox drive mounting too.

Not sure what constitutes a lot, but definitely had AUR software. Generally only for things that were not otherwise available

I know it’s not the same (some would argue worse), but I ran manjaro for a long time and just didn’t have these sorts of issues. Maybe I didn’t update enough, or I updated too frequently, or ?