Kicker Mounted On "Swim Grid"...

[Damien]

..without through bolting. Am I nuts to consider this?

It will be for a maximum 6hp motor ~55lbs. The mount itself is rated for 75lbs. The vast majority of the time it will just be an Minnkota electric motor on there for use while trolling on lakes.

I don't have access under the decking to through bolt, but I might be able to slide a piece of starboard or a cutting board backing under the back deck. So the screws will go through the mount, through the deck and into the backer board.

As you can see I can't get underneath to through bolt all the way. And it is so far back and filled with the foam if I go from the inside and only try to bolt through the top.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

[noluck]

throw up a picture inside, that should be open in there for the batteries

 

[Damien]

Will do, it is kind of open, but WAY back there and very hard foam fills almost the entire cavity. There is a small gap from the top of the foam to the deck which I might be able to slide a backer into. Not sure if it is feasible, or if I could reach far enough back to get to all the bolt holes, particularly the ones at the far after portion of the mount as it gets within a centimetre of where the top and bottom of boat are 'connected'.

 

[wishiniwasfishin1]

I would think a 55 lb motor on a bracket rated for 75 pounds is not sufficient. Maybe it is in a glass lake but with pounding through waves etc and them moment the bracket would take I would be pretty skeptical.

 

[Damien]

I believe the ratings on these things take that into consideration. It is not the breaking strength of the mount rated for 75lbs, it is for the amount of thrust being put out by the motor, in addition to how much of a 'pounding' it can take.

 

[Damien]

Here is what I'm working with.

 

[salmonkiller01]

I would recommend carving out enough foam to put a backer plate and thru bolt it. I would not trust lag bolts for a kicker bracket, they will come loose.

 

[noluck]

bread knife and clean out what you need

 

[Reel Gone]

I would dig the foam out but also buy a solid aluminum powder coated bracket instead of the style you have.

 

[Bait&Sea]

I did the same install on my euro transom, dig out the foam and make a backing plate with the nuts welded to the underside of it that you can slide in there, then you can line up the holes with a center punch and bolt from the top down, it is a good idea to have the bracket hang low enough to rest against the rub rail as this provides a lot of support. I have a 9.9 bigfoot hanging on mine for years this way with no problems.

 

[Damien]

Thanks, I will look to through bolt. Going to stick with the mount I have, but understand the added support shown above. I will likely only ever run an electric motor off of it. With the possibility of using my 5hp merc. This is a 99% lake boat as it is only 16' and not a deep V design.

 

[Damien]

Well, its on. And it is super solid, through bolted. Shaving the foam was a huge PITA as the area to shave out is very tight and so far back that I had to full extend my arm. I was getting claustrophobic at times, and drenched in sweat. If that foam has asbestos in it, I should be dead within the week.

Now on to mount the rigger(s).