Congratulations on your work so far. You are a braver man than me!
I had a fibreglass cruiser and now a steel NB.
One of the reasons I gave up on the cruiser was I kept hitting the prop on either the bottom of the canal,or some rubbish. (outboard powered)
Outboards need about 3ft of water which is not always guaranteed so now you are getting close to using your boat,may I pass on a tip.
Two types of lifting the outboard, 1,fixed in the down position with a lever to release the mechanism allowing the engine to swing up.
2,Hanging loose but with a pin that engages the locking mechanism when reverse is selected. (this is also known as "shallow water drive")
The second is best for canal use as it allows the engine to swing up when it hits an obstruction.
If your motor is of the first type then it is best to rig up a cable to operate the release mechanism,not forgetting to unrelease it when you need reverse,not like me entering a lock,forgetting about the release giving the motor a burst of reverse engine rising up,
me rapidly shutting the throttle and the engine coming down with a hell of a bang!
If you know about this already,then just ignore this post.