diff --git a/include/libtorrent/kademlia/traversal_algorithm.hpp b/include/libtorrent/kademlia/traversal_algorithm.hpp
index b09601747..0bc50bfc9 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/kademlia/traversal_algorithm.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/kademlia/traversal_algorithm.hpp
@@ -78,21 +78,7 @@ struct traversal_algorithm : boost::noncopyable
 
 	void add_entry(node_id const& id, udp::endpoint addr, unsigned char flags);
 
-	traversal_algorithm(
-		node_impl& node
-		, node_id target)
-		: m_ref_count(0)
-		, m_node(node)
-		, m_target(target)
-		, m_invoke_count(0)
-		, m_branch_factor(3)
-		, m_responses(0)
-		, m_timeouts(0)
-	{
-#ifdef TORRENT_DHT_VERBOSE_LOGGING
-		TORRENT_LOG(traversal) << " [" << this << "] new traversal process. Target: " << target;
-#endif
-	}
+	traversal_algorithm(node_impl& node, node_id target);
 
 protected:
 
@@ -128,6 +114,7 @@ protected:
 	int m_branch_factor;
 	int m_responses;
 	int m_timeouts;
+	int m_num_target_nodes;
 };
 
 } } // namespace libtorrent::dht
diff --git a/src/kademlia/node.cpp b/src/kademlia/node.cpp
index 4acc02b07..7313c9f1a 100644
--- a/src/kademlia/node.cpp
+++ b/src/kademlia/node.cpp
@@ -433,7 +433,7 @@ time_duration node_impl::connection_timeout()
 {
 	time_duration d = m_rpc.tick();
 	ptime now(time_now());
-	if (now - m_last_tracker_tick < minutes(10)) return d;
+	if (now - m_last_tracker_tick < minutes(2)) return d;
 	m_last_tracker_tick = now;
 
 	// look through all peers and see if any have timed out
diff --git a/src/kademlia/refresh.cpp b/src/kademlia/refresh.cpp
index fda33f0c3..33d8bf2bc 100644
--- a/src/kademlia/refresh.cpp
+++ b/src/kademlia/refresh.cpp
@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ bootstrap::bootstrap(
 	, done_callback const& callback)
 	: refresh(node, target, callback)
 {
+	// make it more resilient to nodes not responding.
+	// we don't want to terminate early when we're bootstrapping
+	m_num_target_nodes *= 2;
 }
 
 char const* bootstrap::name() const { return "bootstrap"; }
diff --git a/src/kademlia/routing_table.cpp b/src/kademlia/routing_table.cpp
index 531f22eb3..76e68e901 100644
--- a/src/kademlia/routing_table.cpp
+++ b/src/kademlia/routing_table.cpp
@@ -183,8 +183,8 @@ void routing_table::touch_bucket(node_id const& target)
 bool compare_bucket_refresh(routing_table_node const& lhs, routing_table_node const& rhs)
 {
 	// add the number of nodes to prioritize buckets with few nodes in them
-	return lhs.last_active + seconds(lhs.live_nodes.size())
-		< rhs.last_active + seconds(rhs.live_nodes.size());
+	return lhs.last_active + seconds(lhs.live_nodes.size() * 5)
+		< rhs.last_active + seconds(rhs.live_nodes.size() * 5);
 }
 
 bool routing_table::need_refresh(node_id& target) const
@@ -425,15 +425,29 @@ bool routing_table::add_node(node_entry const& e)
 		new_bucket.push_back(*j);
 		j = b.erase(j);
 	}
+
+	// split the replacement bucket as well. If the live bucket
+	// is not full anymore, also move the replacement entries
+	// into the main bucket
 	for (bucket_t::iterator j = rb.begin(); j != rb.end();)
 	{
 		if (distance_exp(m_id, j->id) >= 159 - bucket_index)
 		{
-			++j;
-			continue;
+			if (b.size() >= m_bucket_size)
+			{
+				++j;
+				continue;
+			}
+			b.push_back(*j);
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			// this entry belongs in the new bucket
+			if (new_bucket.size() < m_bucket_size)
+				new_bucket.push_back(*j);
+			else
+				new_replacement_bucket.push_back(*j);
 		}
-		// this entry belongs in the new bucket
-		new_replacement_bucket.push_back(*j);
 		j = rb.erase(j);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/kademlia/traversal_algorithm.cpp b/src/kademlia/traversal_algorithm.cpp
index 96befd7a3..ebd062575 100644
--- a/src/kademlia/traversal_algorithm.cpp
+++ b/src/kademlia/traversal_algorithm.cpp
@@ -58,6 +58,23 @@ observer_ptr traversal_algorithm::new_observer(void* ptr
 	return o;
 }
 
+traversal_algorithm::traversal_algorithm(
+	node_impl& node
+	, node_id target)
+	: m_ref_count(0)
+	, m_node(node)
+	, m_target(target)
+	, m_invoke_count(0)
+	, m_branch_factor(3)
+	, m_responses(0)
+	, m_timeouts(0)
+	, m_num_target_nodes(m_node.m_table.bucket_size() * 2)
+{
+#ifdef TORRENT_DHT_VERBOSE_LOGGING
+	TORRENT_LOG(traversal) << " [" << this << "] new traversal process. Target: " << target;
+#endif
+}
+
 void traversal_algorithm::add_entry(node_id const& id, udp::endpoint addr, unsigned char flags)
 {
 	TORRENT_ASSERT(m_node.m_rpc.allocation_size() >= sizeof(find_data_observer));
@@ -237,7 +254,7 @@ namespace
 
 void traversal_algorithm::add_requests()
 {
-	int results_target = m_node.m_table.bucket_size();
+	int results_target = m_num_target_nodes;
 
 	// Find the first node that hasn't already been queried.
 	for (std::vector<observer_ptr>::iterator i = m_results.begin()