Ah, thanks guys. I was using geo-referencing so I didn't notice the time zone was wrong (I thought I had checked everything!) - that accounted for the few hours difference. Guess I will just abandon geo-referencing for the time being, but at least my faith in sketchup sun is restored..

ahh...i did (almost) that exact thing (wrong) four or five times
then beat my head on the desk four or five times..
deadlines will do that to you!

thanks guys, got my sanity back