Bow heavy Sceptre

[jobu]

I now have about 100 hours on my Sceptre and I love it. I do however find it bow heavy. The previous owner had put some iron pellet ballast plates in the back of the boat. I couldn't figure out what they were for. They were incased in glass and then glassed and epoxied right onto the second tare of the hull. The workmanship was so poor and one was actually starting to slide around, so I removed them. They weighed about 150-170lbs. each and I didn't want them to damage anything. Now I realize that they were to help get the bow up. One day I (alone)was running wot at 35mph/gps and walked towards the back and picked up 3mph.
Eventually I will install a bracket and close off the transom...I am hoping this will add some leverege and help with my top end. Also I think it should make the boat run more effecient. I am not sure of the prop size but it gets out of the hole ok so I am thinking it is correct.
Any input on the bracket or helping with current configuration would be helpfull!!
thanks, joe