Modelling Problem

I'm having some problems getting the vertex weights correct when copying a skin modifier. At the moment I model something and then use the easy way to skin a model, merging the old file in and copying the skin. Here's my process:

-file>merge, get the model that my model was based on
-when options come up to replace bones etc. I click merge for all of them
-then I move the new model so I can see it better and copy it's skin modifier
-then I delete the model
-then I move the skeleton back to 0 on the z axis therefore resetting it to my modelled model
-then I click paste on the modifiers panel to paste the skin modifier

It all works fine, the model will animate nicely if I move the joints around, the correct parts moving nicely. The only problem is that the vertex weights are different. As you know RTW only takes vertex weights of 1 but they all become non intergers (0.04 etc.). Anyone know how to fix this? There are so many paramters its hard to know when you have exactly the right ones. Any help is appreciated.

Regards,

Sundjata