engine height df140 on SF20

[TMala]

All,

I recently did a bunch of work to my 1969 SF20 including new transom at 25 in height and a new to me Johnson/Suzuki Df140. Batteries mounted under console, gas tank under floor in front of console and penske board used in transom.

I built the transom to 26.75 inch height, I originally mounted the engine to the third or second hole which put me at 1.5 in above keel which I read on here is a good place to start. On first trip bow came up a bit much before planing and would propoise too easily. Today I raised it up another hole and it seems to have helped a bit with getting on plane and the porpoising was slightly eliminated but still there when engine tilted up. I am going to go to final hole up to see if that helps.

My question: is it normal for cavitation plate to be mounted that high above keel on these boats? I will be at almost 3 inches above keel on the final hole. I'm trying to eliminate the porpoising by mounting engine higher, but maybe it needs to be mounted lower? I'm at a cross roads on which way to go.

I took a few pictures along the way and hopefully I can post a build thread soon so others can see what I did!

Thanks for the help all!