I read one of Pat's threads a while back, and saw that he called the 180 a disaster. He said that the setup was extremely difficult. I bought one last year after owning a 184 for 14 years, because I wanted a better deck layout and this had it. Well, after playing around with the setup for a while (and a bunch of fishing), I have purchased a hydraulic jackplate from CMC. It will replace the manual plate I installed when I got the boat, and I think it will solve my setup probs in one move. If anyone else has tried this, I would be interested in your results. My problem is, the engine height must be lower for lower speeds in order to allow the prop to bite well. But this cuts down on top speed considerably. The hydraulic plate should let me have my cake and eat it too.
I haven't finished my 200 EFI yet, so I'm still playing with the 150 'Rude, but this will definitely let me know if I'm heading in the right direction.
Any input?
Artie