Tips for 1st Hog?

Greetings Brethren! I'm fielding suggestions, well wishes, good karma and free advice for smoking my first (half) hog this Friday. Dressed weight expected to be around 190-200 making my half about 100 LBS. I'm having the butcher split the half into quarters (2 pieces) so I can manhandle them, but I don't want to move the meat after it's on the smoker unless it's absolutely necessary. So here's the big question: Skin side up or down? I'm sure there are two equally divided camps on this, as with most things Q-related, so I'm looking for some input as to why one way would be preferred to the other.

The cooker is a trailer mounted beast with an offset FB and could probably fit 2.5 whole hogs of this size, so no worries there. Planning to start early AM with a target time of 6:00 PM for the finished product, including an hour rest (for the pork!). Best guess is 12-14 hours at approx. 250* with BIG cooler ready if needed to hold.

Thanks in advance for any helpful posts or letting me know if I'm way off on my timing! Will post pix along the way as practical.

Update w/PRON

I wanted to update my thread with some pix and let ya'll know how we fared with our Halloween Hog roast; thanks to all of you who sent suggestions! Friday here in the KC metro was WINDY (30 MPH+) and cool, making fire control a little dicey. I hopped outta bed at 3:45 and quietly started 20 LBS of charcoal in "Old Ironsides". Piggy went in at 5:00, along with some oak and pecan, and we started cooking @ 300*. I had planned to flip the two halves after 4 hours, but when I grabbed the leg, it was already too tender to manage alone, so I ended up going skin side down all the way.

12 hours later with an internal of 170* at the ham (was hoping to go 180-185), we took her off to rest. Time for a cigar! An hour later some reinforcements showed up and we pulled pork. Then a quick change into my Halloween costume - Father Fumidous from Our Lady of the Holy Smoke - and we delivered approx. 30 LBS of cooked pig (keeping some for ourselves) for our partying hosts and friends. It made for a long day and I'd personally like to thank the creators of 5 Hour Energy drink :shock: for allowing me to make it to midnight before we headed back home, absolutely whipped!