[willy]

I believe Wellcraft raised it just about 1.5 inches in 1988 or 89 on some models. In 1992 they raised it just over two inches and and continued that in the V21.
The cap on my 92 was a littler taller that my 86 was but you still lost a little freeboard on the inside. It was still plenty high for safety and more than most boats of its size.
The bracket, depending on what length you put on and the weight of the motor you choose will effect your hull noticeably.
Think extending a lever to get more power and thats exactly what you are doing with the weight further aft of the hull(lever)
You will find the stock drain holes will sit right in or possibly below the water line, when you are drifting thru a chop you will observe water coming in and out of the scuppers constantly and sometimes due to how deep the chop you will take on water faster than it gets rid of it.
Think as short of a bracket as you can and as light a motor as possible. With that latter point bear in mind you are going to get an performance improvement between 5-10 % because of the bracket.
Weight is you enemy here. Anything moved forward, especially batteries and even the fuel tank by a couple of inches would help.
You do not want to move the fuel tank more than an inch or two due to the fact that cuddy boats were a little bow heavy, on a CC you have a little more flexibilty.
Also, if you have not bought your fuel tank already or are upgrading consider a smaller tank based on your needs and usage. A ten gallon difference is huge in the weight area and if you are a fairly short tripping inshore mostly guy you would still have plenty of range. With my 86 with the 115 Johnson and the bracket I swear that thing made gas. I would fish all day, come back and run off to the Rocks and some of the wrecks the next day. Come back another day and fish all day and run with the kids na d when I would go to fill up I still had almost half a tank.