A word of caution on tilt
I found your thread via a search and wanted to add a word of caution when it comes to motor tilt. I've got a honda 8hp myself, and ran into a problem recently that was caused by motor tilt. If you're running in salt water, be aware that tilting the motor without flushing it will accelerate waterpump corrosion.
When you tilt it, most of the water drains out of the pump and exhaust housing in the little holes (as long as they aren't plugged). But a small amount, about 2 ounces worth, will collect in the forward section of the waterpump inlet. Since this water doesn't touch your zinc, it creates it's own galvanic cell and attacks the aluminum casting below the water pump. Over time, this will thin out the wall and require some sort of repair, or a new casting.
On my motor, I caught it when it was about 50-80% corrroded, and the gasket sealing surface had about 1/2" area missing once the corrosion was removed. Fortunately, the oil seal OD sealing area was only lightly corroded, so I still had a decent sealing surface to use as a reference.
I found a great repair method. I put a wire brush on my dremel too, and brushed out the oxidized aluminum (which is dark gray) until I saw some bare shiny aluminum. I degreased it with some alcohol, then layed down some metal epoxy (I used Duralloy which is awesome stuff, but isn't too easy to find, you could use some other metal epoxy as well). Reshaped the repair to the original dimensions by grinding, and then put down one more layer to fill in the gasket sealing surface. Put soap on the pump plate as a release agent, and pressed it down to get a nice gasket sealing surface. The repair came out beautifully.
If you want my two cents, I'd say you're best off leaving your motor down with the lower unit submerged. Yes, you will have to replace your zincs more often, and it will get algae on it, but at least your zincs will be protecting your whole motor. The best solution is to freshwater flush every time, and then store tilted up, but personally, I don't find that to be very practical or easy.