So I took Skunk's advice and put the motor up as far it would go and bounced with my full weight on the skeg. I'm no expert and as much as I want to remain in denial about this it looks pretty bad IMO. According to the ruler it only deflects around 1/16" of an inch but it still seems too flimsy for 200HP.
I looked at Skunk's excellent videos (thanks for the tip Phat) and I'm pretty sure I don't want to tackle that kind of a project outside over the winter. Again, if anyone knows of a pro transom guy local to the NY/NJ/Ct area please let me know. Baring that, I may go the plate route and hope it tides me over for a few years but no way can I just leave it as is.
Here are a couple vids of me jumping on it. Thoughts?
https://youtu.be/BmS3VGQKPQs
https://youtu.be/XXwN7eKPUi4