Ross, it planed out pretty well... was being easy on it, but the boat is so light, with just Sandy and I, it didn't take much effort at all. The old motor has 4 tilt settings, I put it on the furthest out and it worked good, but I'll have to try the others. Next time out hopfully the water will be a bit smoother to be able to see more of the effect. My gut feeling is it'll be best there or maybe one more in. I touched up the trailer paint, still have some interior to work on and bunks, but for the most part, it's good to go. The design of the hard top does allow for more head room, they way it clamps on the top of windshield, and then angles up a few inches before leveling off. There are two flat aluminum hooks that grab onto the windshield metal edge, then you twist and close the clamp and it cinches down on it. The bottom of the hard top just sits in two aluminum grooves/or plates. I've heard horror stories of these things flying off going down the highway... but as long as the clamps stay in place, which it seems like they will, should be no problem. I'll just have to keep an eye on it while trailering. I can take some better pictures of how they work later on and post them. Only work I did to steering was wipe/clean the original cables off (had some kind of "gunk" all over it) on the entire length of both sides, lubricate the pulleys, and tighten the cable and brackets back by the engine (was a little loose). Other than that, had to do nothing else with the steering.