Bow mount for hand controlled trolling motor

I own a 1986 Ranger BB with a 90 hp motor (2 stroke of course). The boat's been out of commision for 2yrs waiting for repairs on the steering, electronics, gas tank, carburetor and a few other minor things. The 55# thrust Minn Kota bit the dust and I needed to replace it.

Problem: bow mount, foot controlled trolling motors cost a bunch and to add one to an old boat whose engine may die next year didn't make sense. Besides, why spend over $650 when I had a long shaft, hand controlled, 55# thrust sitting in the garage that I used for my 12' jon boat. Mounting a hand controlled bow mount presented a challenge such as what kind of bracket, how strong and how not to damage the fiberglass deck from the weight and force of the motor. So, I bought a deck-mount transom-type trolling motor bracket.


A 55# thrust motor weighs a heck of a lot so support had to be added to the bracket not designed for the weight. Luckily I had steel brackets left behind from my garage repair job as well as wood and a plastic/ foam piece to act as a shim:

(You can see the holes left from the previous bow mount tm which have to be filled.) .

I'm glad I remembered that the handle on a stern mount faces in the opposite direction of the propeller but on a bow mount they point in the same direction. It was easy enough to turn the top around 180 degrees.

It took us all morning and a few runs to the store for bolts, washers and nuts, but once the holes were drilled it was just a matter of me lying on my back in the hot sun, reaching under the bow deck and holding the nuts and large washers while my partner tightened them. Now all that remains is attaching the sonar transducer to the tm. My buddy gave me a boat cover to replace the tarp I had been using: