yet another bracket height question. Need opinions.

[erebus]

So I repaired the transom on my new to me sceptre 23 over xmas break.
And last night I was getting ready to re-drill the holes for the armstrong bracket and a few things stood out to me.

From all the research I've done, the deck of the bracket should be approx 25" from the bottom of the keel for a 25" motor.
On this particular install it was put at about 22.5 inches from the keel.
There's approx 3" between the bottom of the bracket and the bottom of the keel.
Seemed low to me...

Its a single armstrong with a 30" setback, and a 48" deck.
So rule of thumb would put the motor cav plate at about 27.5" above the keel when all is said and done, approximately. Right?
That means there should be about 5" of transom from the keel to the bottom of the bracket, not 3".

Don't have a lot of experience with the boat in the water (she's new to me) and the previous owner said she performed beautifully (but he isn't super experienced).

From the pics the owner sent me (and from the corrosion) the nose of the motor sits in the water all the time when shes trimmed up at rest (2012 Etec 225).
So that also makes me think she's low. The motor was also mounted as low as possible for some reason, so I can raise the motor up a few inches just by itself.
Didnt measure where the cav plate was before I took it apart. My bad.

So I'm looking for opinions on whether I move the bracket up while its off the boat and the fiberglass supplies are out.

Here are a couple of pics as she sits in the water before I took everything apart.