Trolling motor mount

[ubugray]

I was looking for ideas on temp mounting a motor similar to my old fish&ski. Not a lot of good options but it is a pontoon. The goal was to minimize what was left on the deck once the motor was removed and it cannot be a tripping/stubbing hazard to anyone wanting to run off the end of the boat. So, after a lot of googling, I figured out how to take MiinKota's bow mount for pontoons and mount it to a removable plate. Even though it's not centered on the bow, I have no trouble manuvering the boat around. Very pleased with the final outcome. There's a couple shots of the mount in an album in my profile. Hope this helps anyone else trying to accomplish the same.

[Moser]

Looking good ubugray, I have had similar mounts on 2 pontoons, they work well despite being off center a little and pulling the motor straight up and leaving it there is easier than trying to figure out where to lay it back to. If that makes sense.

[ubugray]

Thanks. Sure made a lot of sense to me!

[Capt_Caveman]

I know this thread is from last year but I'm looking for ideas/suggestions on a way to mount a transom mount trolling motor to the front of the boat. i just haven't been able to wrap my head around a way to mount it yet.

Any thoughts?

[rickdb1]

You could bolt a SS bracket to the front. On an older toon I used to have, I just mounted a block of wood to the front and clamped the motor to it. Or are you looking for something temporary? Something like this is what I did before:

[Capt_Caveman]

Thank for the reply Rick. Ultimately I'd like to come up with something that I can mount the motor when I'm out fishing but can be removed or is out of the way otherwise. It wouldn't be too bad if I had an edge and flat surface like the drawing. With the rub rail along the front and the first cross rail only 2-3 inches back from the edge, I haven't figured out how to make it work.

[Moser]

The mount in this pic is a piece of stainless 3"x3"x6" angle with an 8 inch long piece of 2x6 bolted to one side with 3/16x18 stove bolts for the motor mount, and 3/16x18 bolts down through the deck with big SS fender washers on the bottom. It is like Ricks illustration except it is mounted on top of the deck not under. I used it on all three of my pontoons at one time or another.



Off topic a little, Rick what software is that illustration done in?

[rickdb1]

Microsoft Digital Image Editor. It's an older version, but works pretty good for most things. Sent you a PM...

[Capt_Caveman]

I think I have a possible design in my head. Now I need to figure out how to build it. Basically it would be a 5 - 5.5 in wide 'C' clamp type mount with a 2/6 bolted to the front to mount the motor. Here is a feeble attempt at an illustration.

[Moser]

The clamps are the weak point of the setup, the transom clamps on that 36 pound motor were always moving around letting the motor "walk" off of the 2x6. I came across some Minnkota "cups" that you run a screw through and attach to the 2x6, the little feet on the transom clamps sit down in these screwed down cups and then can't walk around anymore.

I can see why you would want to make this all detachable and also not want to put holes in your deck, but I'm afraid that the C clamps will become a weak point in your set up. I suggest you go heavier on the clamps than you might think you need to. Maybe you could put some cup like pieces on the underside of your deck with bigger screws to let your C clamps sit in to stabilize them.

If I can find the old mount I'll post a pic of the cups for you, they really changed the mount from a PITA to something that worked well.

I looked around online and can't find them for sale anywhere, I stumbled on them one day in a clearance bin somewhere. They are a Minnkota product I'm pretty sure.