Since you are in experiment mode, perhaps start letting the auto powered up hive stay, use only the liquid for living expense.
Luckily/fortunately I have not sold any Hive in the recent past, and I have also not powered down any amount. I am not planning to power down in the near future either.
The more HP you have the greater your curation rewards will be.
I know. I have experienced this on the Steem blockchain, like you.
You have some very good comments to your post, think about what they all said, and remember the choice is yours.
Yes. I read every suggestion, and try to improve my Hive blockchain experience.
I manually vote on everything, and while I may not get as many rewards as some of the trail voters, my votes go on stuff I like, not what someone else likes.
I like that approach. I do mixed (both manual and automatic) voting. I do automatic voting, when I do not have time to manually use the Hive blockchain (for example when I work, or when I sleep).
Let that Hive Power build
This is what I am trying to do. It is hard, when most of my posts are earning cents, but lately I saw some improvements.
I wish you all the best.