Another trolling motor mount ?

If the pic in your avatar is your boat, you could mount it across the width of the bow, and it should work, but you will have to learn the quirks of using the TM in that position as it would probably pull or push to one side until you get the hang of it. Mounting the TM inline with the boat should not take up too much deck space, and if you use the TM more than the big motor, it would be deployed and not in the way for the most part. JMO.

I know most of you freshwater guys like a foot petal for controlling your trolling motor, most saltwater inshore guys like myself like hand control bow mounts, the first thing I did with my new/used jon boat was have this piece welded on it's on the bow starboard side, it works great, the cost for a transom troller is far less than a foot petal mount.. I don't lose any space like you would with a bow mount. I don't notice any slide because it's off to the side either IMO.

It's a 2x4 piece of aluminum don't bolt it, WELD it on ( my welder charged me $40 including the aluminum) it allows me to take the troller off when I want to use a boat cover, in your case maybe for winter to store it in a garage without much hassle. I will get a shot of the front later

Mine is offset to the left side of the boat, bow mount. I built a bracket for it. The bracket also houses an accessory plug (for charging cell phone, spot light, etc), a courtesy light, and the trolling motor plug. When I want to cover it up, the trolling motor is on a quick release mount so unscrew the knob and pull the motor off and nothing is in the way. Bow mount does take up a little more space but if you're like me and the seat is 3 feet away from the bow, trying to control the motor while sitting in the seat can be challenging. When I sold my other boat (which was a bow mount hand control motor) I let the motor go with it because I hated it. Constantly fiddling with steering, speed, etc. I bought a wireless Motorguide with a hand held control "fob"....problem solved. There is a lot of pluses with this motor. Dad sits in front of the boat, I sit in the back and I run the trolling motor from the back. Same deal with my girlfriend. She sits in front. Also it's variable speed. The pedal is not in the way because it doesn't have one....well it does but it's wireless so it goes wherever you want it. Then one day the GF was holding the boat at the ramp, or she was supposed to be holding it and it got away from her. By time I got the trailer in the water, the boat was about 10 feet from the ramp and slowly drifting. Use of the hand held remote bought it right back to me. About 18-20 feet is the maximum range. If there was any downside, it's that the steer motor is a a tiny bit noisy but you get used to it pretty quickly.

you shouldn't have any issues with control mounting it on side of deck . when deck space is at a premium side mount is a viable option. All my tm's mounted on the left side.