Highfield 340/360 - upgrading tender questions

Currently have a 10’ novurania 320 tr with a merc/tohat 9.9 4 stroke. Considering upgrading before we do our first abacos trip this summer to something that will consistently plane with the 4 of us (2 adults, 2 adult size teenage girls).

I want to be very cautious about adding any weight to the front of our gen 2 post 42. Plus davit limit is 600lbs and I’d prefer not to get close to that - so weight is a big consideration. A secondary consideration is chock spacing - I’d like to use my existing chock set up but they are only spaced 44” apart.

My novurania is a pig for a 10’ RIB so I figure my current set up is around 350-375 lbs.

That means I should comfortably be able to accommodate a highfield classic 340 or 360 from a weight perspective. But both call for 5’ + spacing between the chocks. Adding the fct package would be a really nice upgrade but comes at the expense of space and ~80lbs of weight (assuming I’m already planning on an electric start motor & battery).

Questions

1) how important is the chock spacing? Will my existing chocks spaced 3.75’ apart work for either/both of these? Is there enough of a difference between the 340 and 360 to matter?

2) How much of a difference is there between the 340 and 360? I mean I know it’s about 8”, but is that meaningful? The 340 takes 25 horses and the 360 can take 30, but in the tohatsu that’s the same motor with a little extra top end for the 30.

3) Can I accommodate 4 comfortably with the fct console, or should I really just stick with the tiller to maximize space available and minimize weight?

Well it looks like the chock question is moot. I measured our existing chocks and the front has an angle of roughly 18 degrees and the back is less than 10. This compares to the chock drawing for the highfield that calls for 28 degrees and 19 degrees respectively. So I either need to heavily modify my chocks or get new ones anyway.

This upgrade keeps getting more expensive. Maybe will just upgrade to a 20hp on my existing 10’ deflateable and hope that is sufficient to plane the 4 of us (plus a cooler of beer).

Possibly. Part of the problem is that they are only 3.5’ apart. So I guess I could put longitudinal rails on there that extend out a bit further. But I need to think about how the new boat would sit in them. Def want the bow up enough that the boat will drain.

Got a quote for new chocks, installed. $5k! That’s more than the motor.

Do you have a guess of the pitch? I read 8”-9” in another thread but they were talking about a 3-blade. (Assuming a 360 with a 30hp tohatsu)