Adding a 79 Long Shaft 6 HP Kicker to my Alumacraft 165CS

Ok.
This spring I upgraded to newer boat. It's a 2006 Alumacraft Navigator 165 CS. Awesome boat and got a good deal on it. But after relying on my trolling motor to get around some local lakes that have 10 HP limits, I've decided I want to take my 1979 Evinrude Long Shaft 6 HP kicker from my old boat and put it on the new boat. The 6HP is great little motor. My issue with doing so is that I don't plan on leaving it on permanently. I would like to take it off when I don't need it on larger bodies of water. I also DO NOT want to be scratching the paint on the new boat from putting it on and taking it off repeatedly. Now, I thought about adding thin plates to protect the paint. But I only have about 1/8" of clearance over the transom between the washers on the clamp bolts and the back of the mounting bracket. I've been looking at jack-plates and such but they set my motor back at least 4". Which I don't really want to do. And some are really expensive or flimsy to the point I wouldn't want my motor on it while going down the road. I've also thought about just bolting a 2 x 8 or 2 x 10 to the back of the transom with it sticking up about 3" to allow for clamping without even touching the top of my boats transom. I will also be adding a separate throttle control and tying the kicker to my main motor for steering. This worked great on my last boat.

If you have any ideas to help get this done don't be afraid to offer them up.

Thanks,

jbird68

Can I ask why you wouldn't want to leave it on there? If it were me I would buy a decent kicker plate and have that puppy on there permanently. The boat is worth a real mount and there is nothing wrong with having a back up even on big water.

I don't know. I guess on my last boat it was a smaller boat and I just didn't want to have the extra weight of another motor on the transom. Or have extra drag from it being in the water while using the main motor. I have a 24V trolling motor on the bow as a back up, also.

One other thing I did not mention was that the Transom on my Alumacraft is not the same height all the way across. It drops down where the main motor is mounted. I added a photo of the back.

I also emailed Alumacraft and they don't recommend putting a kicker on their boats that are less than 16 foot long.

Well, I tried to set the motor on the transom with a piece of cardboard to protect the paint. I couldn't even get it over all the way. Only about 1/2 of the washer would go over the top. So now I am thinking I might just cut a 2 x 8 to about 12 inches long and bolt it to the back of the transom so it sits 3 inches above. Just enough room for the clamp washers to be tightened without hitting the top of the transom. I'll paint it so it looks good. Will a 2 x 8 be OK? Should I use pressure treated wood or make a board from plywood?