Thanks Rip Bass. I might have just made a Jack Plate a "non" issue.
Made several runs today with the new 20" pitch Laser II and I think I've finally reached the top performance I'm going to get and I'm very happy with it!
Here it is: A very Light chop on the water, 1/2 tank of fuel, "All" my normal 'too much" gear, New 20" Pitch Laser II Stainless Steel prop, no jack plate, Engine mounted in 2nd hole now, down from third hole, WOT, Full up trim, Rpm's
6350-6370, right in the top range that I wanted and a top speed of 51.6 mph. The fastest that boat has gone since the first day I ran it, and at that time it was totally stripped of gear.
The Hole shot was down to 4 seconds to planed out, another improvement. The WOT "stance" of the boat, in other words, bow lifted and boat fully running on pad felt "perfect"! Its a whole different boat and that engine is a freaking dream. Especially running at the top of it's rpm range. If the rest of Mercury's FX four strokes run like this one, than they can consider it a Home Run. Its been a hectic couple of weeks playing around with the set-up, but I now declare it... dialed in. Thanks to everyone who helped me out!