I was playing around last night using an N-chan (2N7000) and a P-chan(IRFU9020), set up similar to the first schematic you posted, and had very good results. Using my 10v batt pack, I got an output of 9.82v @ 30.2KHz w/ a 6.28mA draw from the batt. The batt only dropped <1v after a full run(10 min pulse 4x, 20 min pause between pulses, then complete shut down of the circuit) then Im using the same setup(N,P-chan) for the power hold on the PIC. Ill draw the schematic later.