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So I stopped by my dealer today to check on the progress. My old Slozuki had been removed, and my new Tohatsu had just arrived and was still sitting in a box on a pallet. They plan to rig it tomorrow. I am getting pretty excited.

A couple of questions:

1) the dealer forgot to order the digital Tohatsu hour meter that I requested, as well as the water pressure and volt gauges. For the hour meter, if I install it at a later time, will it start from 0 hours, or will it read from the engine's ECU? If. I don't buy the hour meter, how will I know when the motor is ready for its various services?

2) the dealer plans to mount the engine with the cavitation plate even with the bottom of the keel. Is this too low? I hear a lot of talk about mounting it 2 holes up, 3 holes up, etc., but I don't totally get it. I reviewed a diagram on here showing two holes up, etc., but to me, the more holes up (meaning empty holes above the bolt), the lower the cavitation plate would be. Maybe I have this backwards, but I just don't understand I guess. If the dealer mounts the engine at the non-ideal height, how much work is it to change to two holes up, etc.?

FYI, I plan to run the stock Tohatsu aluminum prop for at least the time being, and I will be running the boat mostly in the Pacific Ocean off of Southern California.