Pulled the trigger, now I need your help.

Well I gave in and bought new instead of settling for a less expensive used boat that I wouldn't have been as happy with. I still don't know if I made the right decision, but what's done is done. I found this pic online, it's exactly like mine.



After toiling with that decision I thought I could finally put my mind at ease, but no such luck. Now I have a new set of dilemmas that keep my mind racing. I don't want to rush in and completely remodel the boat yet, and I certainly don't want to spend a big wad of cash on it right away, but I do need to do some minor things to be able to fish out of it.

First, is mounting a bow mount trolling motor. Second is mounting a pedestal base. I could mount the pedestal base at the as far back as possible on the existing front deck, but that would mean drilling a pretty sizable hole in my new aluminum. I don't think I can bear to do that just yet, mainly because I think it needs to be further back to be comfortable. Although if it didn't work out and I built a deck later the hole would be hidden, so it's not 100% out of the question.

For the trolling motor I thought about just buying some stainless toggle bolts and mounting it directly to the aluminum deck but I'm pretty sure it'll have to be elevated some for clearance before it would deploy properly. I would really like to fish out of it bare bones this season to get an idea of what I want to do with it, but I'm just having a hard time deciding how to accomplish the minimum necessities.

Have any of you found yourself in a similar state of analysis paralysis? I'd love to hear some words of wisdom or encouragement.

Excellent! Don't beat yourself up for buying a solid new boat it was a good decision for hundreds of reasons! slap the motor on, use a cooler as storage and get on the water. As you spend more time using the boat you will come up with solutions for improvements. Fish it for a year and build it in your head a hundred different ways before you commit and you will end up with the perfect boat for you!
If you factor in your hourly rate, materials, and the headaches of getting an old boat to look as good as yours, you will see that you made a great decision!........... Don't be afraid to get in there with a drill, you have to start somewhere, you will find 30 different ways to mount a trolling motor on this board. Have fun and take pics!

I think you'd be wise to fish out of it for one summer so you can decide exactly what you want and where you want it before committing a lot of time in to a big mod. If the deck seems small now, it probably is for what you want. It should be very little work and material to build a temp deck extension out of wood framing and floor. Maybe a 2 foot extension that would give you enough space to mount the seat and not have to cut big holes in your aluminum. At least that would let you get up and and see if you needed more or less room after actually fishing with it and make a decision then. I think you're right about needed to raise the mount surface for the TM. A couple of short 2x6's should do the job as a temp mounting, and you could fasten them down with only a few small screw holes in your floor.

A Flush mount pedestal base about 1 foot foreward of the rear edge of the front deck and another one mounted 1 inch aft of the edge of the rear seat should do the trick.

In the pics my front pedestal base is about in the center of the deck. Mine came with it there. If it was not there I would still install one but I would have moved it about 6'' aft.

The Center rear pedestal base was already on the boat as well. I added the two on the outside so my wife and I can ride side by side and put them closer to the edge. I wish the Center one was closer. When I am driving I have to lean a little to reach the CC steering wheel. No big deal because I am usually standing but it would be nice to have the center seat a little closer to the steering wheel.

Installing the mounts is easy... Just drill out a hole big enough to fit the ped mount into (about a 2 inch hole saw blade) and then pre-drill your lag screw holes. Thoroughly put some 5200 or marine silicone all over the back of the mount and in the holes. And screw in place. You may have to use a screwdriver to dig out some of the foam that is in the way after you drill the hole so you can get the pin on the base down all the way. You want it so the mount sits flush on the alum deck. The pin flares out a little and gets bigger as it attaches to the plate and the welds also stick out a little so make sure your hole saw blade is big enough to let the little welds on the base where it meets the pin fit in the hole as well. I had to get another blade and make the holes bigger because of this. I just looked at the pin and bought a blade to fit that.

Cabelas and BPS have an adapter that you can use to mount a transom mount TM to the front of your boat without adding anything to the deck. It clamps to the rail is very clean looking unlike 2x4's screwed to the alum or decking over a deck that you already have. A 30lb or 40lb thrust hand controlled TM would work perfect on your boat. https://www.basspro.com/Pro-Controll-EZ-Mount-for-Transom-Trolling-Motors/product/10210607/45549

Is that a 1648 lowe frontier?

Are you going to run a tiller motor or put in a side or center console? If your going to run a console https://www.akmccallum.com has some very nice and easy to install side and center consoles that would fit nicely in your boat.

If It were mine I would do an alumacraft Center console (the one without the seat/baitwell/livewell) from https://www.akmccallum.com and strap a cooler in front of it for a second seat or storage. The console with the built in seat and baitwell is nice but the baitwell is too small to really be effective as a storage area or a livewell. The cooler would be easier to clean if you use it for bait and fish, and work better for keeping stuff safe and dry if you use it for storage.

A 30 or 40 hp would would move you real nice too! Anything less than 25hp would be a dissappointment. Unless of course you are on a HP restricted lake.

You have room for a 6 gallon tank in the rear, but with the console you could hide your cranking batt and your TM batt. just route your tm power wire along the gunnel and through the ribs back to the console and then run it under the floor to the batt.

Great boat...Good luck!

Also...a piece of 3/4 ply cut to the right size, sealed with spar urethane and painted rustoleum OD green will sit flush on the little lips of the rear deck covering the gas tank and making the rear deck more usable. dont run it all the way to the transom though. You want to leave a little room for fuel lines and fumes to escape. I did this on my Alumacraft 1542 with a similar rear bilge area.

You can use self adhesive velcro to hold it down on the little ledges. Sticky side on the boat and furry side on the board. It will stay down while towing at highway speeds and it will be easy to access when you need to get to fuel tank or the plug. No need to cut or screw into your new boat if you don't need too.

I should have probably mentioned earlier that I'll be putting a 9.9 tiller on the back (hp restricted lakes) and I already have the trolling motor for the front. I'm just looking for the least intrusive way to mount it because I'll probably redo my boat after a season of using it. I think I'm just going to do a 2' deck extension like someone mentioned earlier because I feel that the existing deck it a little too short to mount the base on. I think it would be too cramped. Then I'm thinking to mount a piece of 2x6 to the deck with toggle bolts, then screw another 2x6 on top of that, then lag bolt the trolling motor to the stacked 2x6 assembly. Do you guys think the toggle bolts are necessary, or should I just screw the 2x6 down with stainless screws? I'm pretty certain that the aluminum has plywood underneath the front deck.

Reed, do you have a link for the velcro you used on your build(s)? And to answer your question, it's an Alumacraft mv1648ncs.

contact bassboy1, he can build you a nice aluminum mount for your trolling motor,that you can re-use when you re-do the boat.

reedjj, I followed your 1542 build from start to finish and look forward to seeing what you end up doing with this one. Good Luck with it.

Crabtree,

Nice boat ! You won't be sorry . I think you are on the right track - 2' front deck extension now, use it for a season , compile a list of all the niceties and necessities you want to add, then go at it next winter!

By the way, how many people usually fish with you?

man your gonna have some fun with that thing. When i was 14 i got a used john and me and my grandpa spent the winter building decks and putting everything on it. make a cooler livewell if you need one for this year strap on a trolling motor and have some fun.