My trolling motor went overboard.

Hotaluminium · Aug 10, 2019

I just purchased a new trolling motor (transit mounted style) and mounted on the bow. I clamped it directly to the aluminum. Before I took the boat out I checked the two screwed and it was right. Out on the water I hit a wave, and the trolling motor went right off and into the water never to be seen again. How can I prevent this from happening again?!?!?

TMO8853 · Aug 12, 2019

I’m really surprised you haven’t gotten any feedback on this yet. First off, man that sucks and I feel for ya! To make sure this doesn’t happen again you need to make a very over built L shaped wood block and it needs to be through bolted to the boat with stainless bolts and washers. I will post of pic of what I’m doing on my boat so you can see what I’m talking about.

LDUBS · Aug 12, 2019

When I first read this I thought 'Oh Heck', but not heck. I don't use a TM so can't really offer any suggestion. Except maybe a safety chain/line?

TMO8853 · Aug 13, 2019

Here is what I’m doing on my boat. Again, this mount will get through bolted to deck and I’ll use something a little bigger than 1/4 size bolts with some big washers.

surfman · Aug 13, 2019

I did something similar except i used a piece of AL angle and bolted and glued the wood to the angle then bolted the angle to the boat.
Ok, I was going to post a picture but it looks like we've changed the way this thing works again. I'll have to figure it out again.

TMO8853 · Aug 13, 2019

Sounds like that would work for sure.

Guess I should have shown how I attached the two pieces of wood. The bottom piece is a 2x6 and the top is a 4x4 post that I ripped on the table saw. I then used 4 3” exterior grade lag screws to tie them together. These lag screws are designed to hold a lot of weight and over the years I’ve successfully used them to tie garage shelving to studs and interior walls to rafters.

jethro · Aug 13, 2019

Hotaluminium said:
I just purchased a new trolling motor (transit mounted style) and mounted on the bow. I clamped it directly to the aluminum. Before I took the boat out I checked the two screwed and it was right. Out on the water I hit a wave, and the trolling motor went right off and into the water never to be seen again. How can I prevent this from happening again?!?!?

I would either fabricate a bracket like shown above, or better yet, get a bow mounted trolling motor and mount it properly which may require fabrication of a front deck/mount. Clamping a trolling motor to the aluminum is probably not the greatest idea unless it is on the transom that is flat and usually has a lip to keep the clamps from slipping up. The gunwales are usually an odd shape and won't hold the clamps well.

Lost Pole · Aug 16, 2019

jethro said:
I would either fabricate a bracket like shown above, or better yet, get a bow mounted trolling motor and mount it properly which may require fabrication of a front deck/mount. Clamping a trolling motor to the aluminum is probably not the greatest idea unless it is on the transom that is flat and usually has a lip to keep the clamps from slipping up. The gunwales are usually an odd shape and won't hold the clamps well.

That LIP is the key! You will never lose a trolling motor.

I’ll take a better pic this eve.

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