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What scale?

My assertion is a simple one: If you raise your motor, your boat will go faster, accelerate quicker, draw less water, get better fuel mileage and have lighter steering effort. This does not mean you can double you boat speed by raising the motor one set of bolt holes; the improvements will be (literally) marginal, but it takes exactly the same effort to bolt an outboard one or two holes up as it does to bolt it a set of holes too low. So the question becomes: Why wouldn't you want a little more speed, a little faster acceleration, some more miles per gallon of gasoline for exactly the same installation effort?

For the Whaler owner is repowering his classic 16'-7" hull and who has to decide where to mount the motor, as Suamicotom, the originator of this thread does, my advice is to NOT mount it all the way down on the transom. If you want to disagree with that advice, that is fine but please show us where the advantage of mounting the motor all the way down is. You haven't presented any and I know of none apart from the aforementioned avoidance of filling the old lower bolt holes, a trivial task.