Thanks to everyone for their very helpful insights.
In response to McGillicuddy my current prop is a PTC3 in which you state is a bow lifter, so getting more of a stern lifting prop should be a big help. All in all, the boat handles pretty well as is, but as I said in my 1st post it would be nice to stuff the bow in more at slower speeds on choppy days.
In response to Bushwacker, thanks for the info. I think I will try the Michigan 4 blade Alu. I found them for about a $130 on the web.... somewhat of a cheap way to experiment. And to EggSuckingDog, I will fool around with the motor height as it has a manual jack plate and should be easy to try different positions.
For all those suggesting I keep the tabs and notch the bracket, I just don't think it is physically possible to do. I'll attach a pic so you can see what I'm dealing with. If I mount the tabs close to the sides of the tub of the bracket I would have just enough room to mount the top end of the piston just below the bracket edge. And the tab would have to be at the same level plane to the bottom of the boat, I was told proper mounting of the tab should be above level when fully retracted. I was also told the tabs mounted in this position would be to close to the center of the boat and would disturb the water for the prop. I just don't believe I'll have enough verticle height on the transom to move the tabs further to the outsides of the boat even with the bracket notched. See the pic below. Any thoughts or suggestions would be very welcome. Maybe I'm just not seeing it the right way.
Thanks,
Bart
