How important is a jack plate on a prop tunnel hull?

I just got a used Sea Ark 1660 with a prop tunnel and a 60 Yamaha. The boat has a jack plate on it, a TH Marine Hydrojacker six inch setback model, but the previous owner appears to basically be using it as a manual jackplate because all the wiring is cutoff just above the plate and there are no trim switches anywhere in the boat. It's my understanding that the actuator is all integrated into the plate, and is 500 dollars to buy the assembly to replace it. I'm wondering how much of a necessity a hydraulic plate is. I'm running skinny rocky saltwater creeks and I'm thinking it might really help me jump out of the hole and move in shallow water, and maybe help reduce lower unit and prop damage when I inevitably find a rock with my lower unit. Is the jack plate something I'm really going to appreciate? Is it worth looking into repairing the plate, or should I buy another new unit to install, and if so which one?

I think I would Put some power to it and see of it works....

Hydraulic is not necessary...many boats do fine with a manual jack set where it needs to be.... Adjustability at the touch of a button is nice to have though to be able to allow for heavy load, deep water, shallow water....

Kind of reminds me of a crane with no hook, or a backhoe with no bucket...

I wouldn't repair it . At $500 you still may have issues . I think jack plates are a must , but that's just me . If you want one that works with a warranty spend the $800 of so and buy you a Bob's jack plate .

Yeah I'll try putting some power to it and see what happens. I'm not going to put much if any money into repairing it that's for sure. It's a two wire setup so I imagine I just feed power to one or the other to make it go up and down.