Issue with my bow flexing while using trolling motor.

Took my new to me boat out for the first time the other day. Has a 80# terrova mounted on the bow to a quick detach plate. I noticed when I would go from a stop to rabbit mode or make a sudden course correction it looked like the motor was shifting on the bow.

At first I suspected the quick detach must be lose but I checked that and it was fine. I thought maybe the bow was somehow weak/soft but I checked that and it appeared to be fine plus there is aluminum over the plywood.

I checked the quick detach and it has large plate washers under the nuts. I checked the wood of the bow and it seems solid. What I did find though was that if I applied enough force I could move the playwood of the bow up and down. I also noticed the plywood was sitting on 3 screws. I wonder if these screws were supposed to be screwed into the side of the plywood?

What are your thoughts?

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Not sure if its gonna help but recently when installing my new to me bow mount, the previous owner put the hardware in a baggie which included rubber washers for spacing, and looking at them they were crushed and indented badly. Whether that happens immediately or over time I’m not sure, but I didn’t want much to do with them.

Possibly yours has this same indenting and now the whole system has flex???

nhamm wrote:

Not sure if its gonna help but recently when installing my new to me bow mount, the previous owner put the hardware in a baggie which included rubber washers for spacing, and looking at them they were crushed and indented badly. Whether that happens immediately or over time I’m not sure, but I didn’t want much to do with them.

Possibly yours has this same indenting and now the whole system has flex???

There are no rubber washers that I see just the metal ones. While that could help the issue I have my old boat still in my garage and it took significantly more force to get any flex out of the bow.

While I don’t know much about boats, I can say for certainty those 3 lil screws in the pics wouldn’t have done much for the integrity of the bow even if they had screwed in.

Is there any floor to screw into under that bow? Would think some simple angled 2×4 secured from floor to platform would firm that up in a hurry. Or L brackets on the sides of the platform underneath, if you dont mind holes in your boat.

Or……….just use the motor at a lower setting. I seldom if ever ran mine full throttle anyway. It’s something to watch but isn’t anything to get to concerned about in my opinion. You most likely will upgrade boats again before it becomes a real problem. If you are hellbent on beefing it up I have some aluminum angle around here someplace you can use.

Dutchboy wrote:

Or……….just use the motor at a lower setting. I seldom if ever ran mine full throttle anyway. It’s something to watch but isn’t anything to get to concerned about in my opinion. You most likely will upgrade boats again before it becomes a real problem. If you are hellbent on beefing it up I have some aluminum angle around here someplace you can use.

Sometimes I need to use speed 10 when making adjustments in strong current. I also use my trolling motor to troll. I’m gonna try sticking some wood blocks under-there to start as you are probably right I am more worried about it than I need to be.

Well I think I got it fixed for now at least. Put a piece of 3/8’s plywood under the trolling motor. Haven’t bolted it to the bow yet other than the 4 bolts for the trolling motor and I can already notice a difference. Now I will have to pull it up, coat it and put some carpet on it.

Might run this way over the summer and look for a more permanent fix next winter.