i have a 23 with a full float Armstrong bracket, and a 650lb 4s. gas tank is pushed forward. 2 batteries are as far forward can be under the seat front of console. the deck self bails at rest which is critical
. no bilge pump dependence on a mooring or slip. however, one decent size guy in a corner water does come in via the scupper. invariably some makes it way into the bilge via hatch in transom deck area. i have flap scuppers, with circle flap scuppers new this year from th marine. better than the old style. they help a bit over the old curling with time flappers.
net net if i was doing a gut restore, yeah i would raise the deck via adding height to stringers. not 2.5" though. maybe 1". have to check with a buddy down the road who raised his deck slightly and not 2.5", he has a fiberglass float bracket hermco and a 250 honda ob.
if i was not cutting out the deck for other reasons, i would not do that just to raise the height. my deck was shot when bought boat, due to the extra glass schedule of potter era i let it be for a couple years. managed to recore deck in place
. balsa core mulch was my friend. cut out sections, left console in place, left at least 1" if not 2"~ more perimeters in place to sand down and glass into. recored in squares. i call it the patty cake patchwork fein tool loving method. saved me a ton of time from a gut restore scenario.
boat came with the armstrong bracket, if a perfect world i would take it off have welded some more float or have custom made a fresh bracket with a bit more 'float'. aka widening bracket below waterline in other words. it is a full float though out of the box and pretty good at that. i have trim tabs so have to take them into account if widening. or getting a custom bracket. tabs imo are critical with a bracket...
i've prob gt the worlds heaviest 4s a 2005 verado. other engines will be lighter...
when i load up 35 gallon live-well right behind the console seat on deck, all bets are off for scuppers at rest though lol.....
someone said it right, 20 totally different than a 23 for freeboard. the 20s are pretty darn low oem kind of scares me never been on 18.. then again relying on bilge pumps without self bail cares me 2. i think the 23 can raise a bit and not be sacrificing that much for freeboard scaring. but ive got the most weight single ob on the bracket ... short of someone running twins i guess....so i am biased to wanting a 1" more deck height.
so thats my .02
. its worth about .01 maybe less.
what year Sc you getting? looked at a mid 80s for someone this summer and it was built like brick sheethouse. was impressed. love my 77 but thought it was beefier! course the fella was smoking high on his asked and talked my buddy out.