23se trolling motor mounting

[MartyL]

We deal with this almost daily in the buildings that we design & build. Imagine that your trolling motor shaft is down and you applied a constant load on it from the front of the shaft toward the rear of your boat. The force would attempt to pull the four mounting bolts up through your deck (your rear two bolts would actually receive the bulk of the force). The force would be concentrated on those four specific points of contact where the washers were located under the deck. When you have a backing plate, and also a deck plate should you choose, those same forces would now have to pull the entire plate through the deck thus the load is spread out over a wider area.

So, how much of an advantage is there in just adding a deck plate that provides 2 more bolts at the rear of the plate? Is the real advantage in the backing plate under the deck be it the same size or larger than the 'puck' on the deck?

 

[Fishaddict]

We deal with this almost daily in the buildings that we design & build. Imagine that your trolling motor shaft is down and you applied a constant load on it from the front of the shaft toward the rear of your boat. The force would attempt to pull the four mounting bolts up through your deck (your rear two bolts would actually receive the bulk of the force). The force would be concentrated on those four specific points of contact where the washers were located under the deck. When you have a backing plate, and also a deck plate should you choose, those same forces would now have to pull the entire plate through the deck thus the load is spread out over a wider area.

Agree with you but plate only going to work in areas of DIRECT contact with under bow area. If I had to create even surface with epoxy PB on visible surface I imagine hidden suface is uneven. Bedding your plate will fix the issue and you will be trully spreading the load and motor would have to pull/break large area of the bow.

 

[Fishaddict]

My 112lbs 60 shaft Minn Kota came with regular size washers. That is insane unless you installing it on thick aluminum boat. May be.

 

[baker]

Backing plate if your goal is to spread the load needs to be bedded. Otherwise it will not work. It is no different than putting house on uneven foundation.
[/QUOTE

depends on the direction of the load
But i would still bed the plate for a better job

 

[rseate]

So, how much of an advantage is there in just adding a deck plate that provides 2 more bolts at the rear of the plate? Is the real advantage in the backing plate under the deck be it the same size or larger than the 'puck' on the deck?

I'm not an engineer but we do have some that work with us. Their suggestion to me was "put as a large a plate with as many screws in it as you can". I don't think that I went to the extreme but I did use an 3/8" x 8" x 18" plate with 8 screws holding just the plate down (I had 4200 evenly spread out under the plate as well). Then with the 4 additional screws for the puck I ended up with 12 screws (or points of contact) spread over that 8" x 18" area. I initially put 1/2" starboard as my backing plate but after thinking about it, and reading other comments about starboard breaking down under load, I changed it out for another 3/8" aluminum plate the same size as my deck plate with 4200 under it as well. I know this may be overkill but I didn't want to look at the deck a year later and see spider cracks running everywhere.

 

[rseate]

Agree with you but plate only going to work in areas of DIRECT contact with under bow area. If I had to create even surface with epoxy PB on visible surface I imagine hidden suface is uneven. Bedding your plate will fix the issue and you will be trully spreading the load and motor would have to pull/break large area of the bow.

Agree

 

[rseate]

My 112lbs 60 shaft Minn Kota came with regular size washers. That is insane unless you installing it on thick aluminum boat. May be.

Agree with this as well. I used large stainless steel fender washers, stainless lock washers, stainless stop bolts.

 

[Fishaddict]

I also feel that Parker marine has to change their bow design to accommodate for TM on CC boats. It would be strong selling point for them.

 

[MartyL]

I'm thinking I'm a little dense on this. I get the theory of all this stuff about smooth surfaces and backing plates and I agree that they are very necessary. What I don't get is the importance/necessity/advantage of any additional plate on deck under the TM puck. I don't see how the torque from the TM is spread out beyong the 4 bolts that attach it to the deck and that all the advantage is what you do under the deck by creating a large stable base for those 4 bolts.

 

[MartyL]

Finally received my TM from Rhodan(3 month wait). Currently waiting for the backing plate to set up. I had to relocate the nav light and anchor cleat to get the position that I wanted with the TM. I filled the old holes that I will not be using with epoxy. Is there a way to finish these holes so they blend in with the cap? Any suggestions on nav lights? I'd like to use LEDs.

 

[rseate]

Finally received my TM from Rhodan(3 month wait). Currently waiting for the backing plate to set up. I had to relocate the nav light and anchor cleat to get the position that I wanted with the TM. I filled the old holes that I will not be using with epoxy. Is there a way to finish these holes so they blend in with the cap? Any suggestions on nav lights? I'd like to use LEDs.

These are the ones I used.
https://tacomarine.com/electronics-f38-6610d

 

[rseate]

Finally received my TM from Rhodan(3 month wait). Currently waiting for the backing plate to set up. I had to relocate the nav light and anchor cleat to get the position that I wanted with the TM. I filled the old holes that I will not be using with epoxy. Is there a way to finish these holes so they blend in with the cap? Any suggestions on nav lights? I'd like to use LEDs.

Not sure of your setup but when I installed mine my mounting plate covered all but the lowest large hole where my bow cleat was mounted. I reused that hole as the upper most hole when remounting the bow cleat.

 

[MartyL]

These are the ones I used.
https://tacomarine.com/electronics-f38-6610d

I like these, they look good and are out of the way. Are they Coast Guard approved? I see that Taco says that they are but I've been reading that many LEDs are not approved... How did you know where to mount them to be compliant with the Coast Guard regulations?

 

[MartyL]

Not sure of your setup but when I installed mine my mounting plate covered all but the lowest large hole where my bow cleat was mounted. I reused that hole as the upper most hole when remounting the bow cleat.

My setup looks exactly like yours except I do not have the access hole. I relocated the cleat exactly like your pic, reusing one of the old cleat holes. I did not plan on using a mounting plate on the topside. I epoxied an oversized 1/4" G10 mounting plate to the underside.

 

[rseate]

I like these, they look good and are out of the way. Are they Coast Guard approved? I see that Taco says that they are but I've been reading that many LEDs are not approved... How did you know where to mount them to be compliant with the Coast Guard regulations?

They have a mounting guide that comes with them to show you where to mount them.
I just went through our annual Coast Guard safe boat check last weekend and everything passed.

 

[MartyL]

They have a mounting guide that comes with them to show you where to mount them.
I just went through our annual Coast Guard safe boat check last weekend and everything passed.

Thanks for the info. Sounds very good. I'm ready to order - any recommendation on who to buy from? Was the area that you drilled for the nav lights cored?

 

[rseate]

Thanks for the info. Sounds very good. I'm ready to order - any recommendation on who to buy from? Was the area that you drilled for the nav lights cored?

Yes, it’s cored.
I ordered them off Amazon