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Hello Tom,
This might sound like I am all over the place but I see 3 issues that you could be having and none of them are encouraging. You might want to have that engine checked out by a pro. I know that certain years of Honda 130's were problem engines and had recalls and numerous issues which might be affecting your performance. Also I believe the WOT should be around 5800 and if you are hitting 6000 without trimming the motor up you might need a prop change, but I don't think the small variance in RPM is going to drastically improve planning. Lastly, Whalers back in 2002 and maybe even now are hull plus engine boats meaning the buyer often could choose his selection of power regardless of performance. This is not a common engine boat setup for whaler, so if the original owner was brand loyal to Honda and put that 600 lb motor on your boat, he could not exactly return it to Whaler for performance issues. This might be evidenced by the motor being mounted all the way up as rarely do factory Whaler installs on later model hulls mount the engine in such a way. This is only done if the original hull was designed for 2 stroke engine weights and your boat was right on the cusp of the death of the large 2 stroke engines save for ETEC's. The previous owner changed the mounting probably trying to improve performance or maybe this was a re power.