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The welding glass is a good idea. I forked out for a big stopper a while back and promptly dropped it the very first time I used it, breaking a corner off. Its now held together with gaffer tape but thankfully is still usable. Not my happiest day!
Anyway, regarding your shot. Sounds like you've done all you can for sharpness, though depending on your lens you may get slightly better results at f16-f18, many lenses drop off a little at the extremes of their range, Also, makes sure all your glass is spotlessly clean, lens, filters and welding glass, it can make a big difference to sharpness on long exposures (and short ones!). Light leaking in the viewfinder can also soften the image, so cover or shade that while your shutter is open.
Lastly, and probably most importantly, the LE filters need quite a bit of playing around with before you can get really good results on the sky. Water is relatively easy to make look good, but for the sky the clouds, cloud direction etc has a hug impact. The clouds you have look a little awkward as they are moving in different directions. Try shooting into or against the wind direction and you'll get more of a zoom effect. Or an even longer exposure will give you a more ghostly blur. You may need to shot later or earlier to get the extra exposure time.
Keep experimenting with it and you'll soon get a feel for what will work well, and when your actually better off just shooting a normal length exposure
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