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Thoughts on bow mounting a trolling motor on my Montauk?
I'm working on mounting an 80 pound thrust Minn Kota trolling motor on the bow of my 1993 Montauk 17. I'm guessing I'm not the first to do so, so I'm wondering where people usually put the plate?
Since the wood under there is probably thin I'm making an aluminum plate that's roughly the size of the bow step under it. In other words about 2.5 times the size of the plate.
Does anyone have any thoughts on that? Better place to mount it, etc?
Thanks for any advice.
Edit: aha, I just found this post with some thoughts on it:
I made an aluminum plate that was similar to the wood insert in the step. It is screwed down using 4200 to help hold it in place. The screws only go slightly through the wood insert. I screwed the Minn Kota removable bracket to the aluminum plate. The motor is parallel to the center line of the boat but is not located on the centerline. I have not notice it causing any problem.
At one time I had a trolling motor screwed to the step at an angle so it would clear the bow rail. I gave up on that because it hung over the side so I couldn't dock with the right side of the boat.
That's where mine is mounted. There's one on here that cut a notch in the bow rail that looks better to me. That minimizes the shaft overhang outside the boat.
Thanks. What year is your Whaler? Someone said older ones like mine (1993) might have thinner wood in that bow step, since they were made before bow motors are a thing. He's not sure about that though.
I'm wondering if my bow step is for sure strong enough for this?
From the Wood Locating diagrams for the Montauk, (that reelescape points too above) they all have the same 1/2" plywood on the front steps for a Trolling Motor Mount.
