what Happened Here?

Ok guy’s here’s what happened was sitting on the bike seat waiting for a tournament to start just shooting the breeze with some other guy’s go to hit my trolling motor foot pedal to back away and snap goes the bracket..Had to fish a musky tournament with no wind and no bow mount. No Fun…looks to me it was mounted backwards on the trolling motor.There were only 3 screws in the mount on the motor and had it been turned around they could have gotten all 6 screws in……Called my dealer sent him the pic’s and havent heard a peep out of him.. Minn kota e-mailed me and I need to take it to an authorized dealer 40 miles away to see if it was my fault….lol What do you guy’s think????

I have that same mount and yes you are right – its backwards. Whoever mounted it might have done that on purpose to get the motor to clear the bow…the other problem is they left that 4th bolt out…not sure why they did that….but that caused the motor to flex AND twist when you juiced it…done deal.

Sorry man that sucks fortunately those mounts aren’t that expensive relative to everything else on your rig.

JP

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I have that same mount and yes you are right – its backwards. Whoever mounted it might have done that on purpose to get the motor to clear the bow…the other problem is they left that 4th bolt out…not sure why they did that….but that caused the motor to flex AND twist when you juiced it…done deal.

Sorry man that sucks fortunately those mounts aren’t that expensive relative to everything else on your rig.

JP

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Yep that sucks installation error. The larger peace mounts to the boat and the smaller drops into it.

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Yep that sucks installation error. The larger peace mounts to the boat and the smaller drops into it.

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Not on mine. I’ve got the smaller piece mounted to the boat. Larger piece on the motor. Certainly looks like not all the bolts / screws were used, and put on backwards. could be why it broke…

But, I’m also wondering if they used Loc-Tite on them. I made that mistake with my old Minnkota sideplates bolts. Made the plastic brittle instantly. Can’t remember which color Loctite, but obviously the wrong one. Heated up and destroyed the plastic. Those pics remind me of that. That plastic “puck” shouldn’t fracture like that,unless it was terribly brittle, IMO.

Hope you get things taken care of. Never a good time, but that was rotten timing.

My dealer claims The motor was mounted by Skeeter factory and he Didn’t mount it. Man I bought a new Boat because I didn’t want any issues and all Ive Had is Stupid little Problems and crap quality control Issues…..Maybe SBC can chime in and let me know how its suppose to be mounted. Looked at cabelas and the have pics of the mount with the big plastic piece mounted to the motor but the wide end of the mount is mounted to the back of the motor and the narrow side to the front so all the holes could line up.. What else is confusing is all the holes drilled in the motor some all the way through other’s not…some out of round and other’s alright. But skeeter and my dealer has yet to call me and Iam about a month away from the one year Warrenty……

I think your dealer is being less than honest with you !!!

Mine is the same way. Smaller “puck” mounted on the boat and bigger piece on the trolling motor. 5 years old and no problems ever.

smaller puck definitely goes on boat…but the orientation is 180deg reversed….thats what hosed ya.

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smaller puck definitely goes on boat…but the orientation is 180deg reversed….thats what hosed ya.

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Woops me bad the smaller does go on the boat sorry about that. Only one year on mine and no issues yet. I did have to use the rubber washers on the back two holes to make the plate mounted on the boat level.

My problem I dont I don’t think is weather the puck is right Iam thinking the plate thats on the trolling motor is backwards because they could only get 3 screws in the motor if you look close to that pic you can see the plat would have matched all the holes in the motor if the thiner side was to the front…

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Maybe SBC can chime in and let me know how its suppose to be mounted.

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Eyehabit – I’ll have one of my guys look at the pictures. Skeeter has been great to work with if they happened to do something wrong…

Dave M
SBC

After looking over the pictures and looking at all the boats we have here in stock I came up with a few ideas.
As far as the mounting of the plates, each plate is on the correct piece of the boat or trolling motor. The peice on the boat looks to be in about the right location for that boat, assuming that it is a wx2100? As far as the mounting onto the trolling motor that is where things get a little fishy, pun intended. It is the correct way but just not the correct mounting holes. The more I look at it, it looks as though it was attempted to be mounted many of times with all the extra holes drilled in the trolling motor plate. The back two holes are not even over the metal on the plate. I havent seen a single one from skeeter that came like that. So my personal and professional opinion is that either the dealer or someone else mounted the trolling motor. When we order boats we can order them with or without a trolling motor and this may be the case, Im not sure.
Either way on this, someone moved the plate that mounts on the trolling motor in order for it to stick over the bow of the boat farther. Do you have any pics of the bow of the boat with the trolling motor on its bracket? It seems as though it will still well over the bow farther than it needs to.

As far as the bases breaking. From what I can tell it looks as though the trolling motor hit the bow roller at least once if not a few times while unloading the boat. That would be what caused that. With the plate mounted as far back as it was, causing the trolling motor to stick over the bow even farther gives it that much greater of a chance to hit the bow roller.
It is a known issue of the trolling motor hitting the bow roller on very steep landings. That should have been brought to your attention by your dealer, letting you know that.
I honestly dont forsee the trolling motor having nearly enough torque to do anything like that. By looking at the pictures of the base on the boat I can see that the base broke in an upward motion. It also bent and snapped the rod that holds the brackets together. I just cant see how the trolling motor could do that on its own. I have fastened that same bracket on a boat with 2 bolts in each bracket to get by in a pinch on a fishing trip and never had an issue.

With all that said, I would think that your dealer should be able to figure something out for you and get it fixed.
If not feel free to call me and I can work something out for you.

Who’s the dealer???

Ty Eric,

At this point in time Iam on my own. I have removed the brackets and gonna take them to a certified minn-kota dealer.

Have not heard back from my dealer and really don’t expect to as Ive had other problems that were never addressed.One of the problems were the trolling motor and how much it moved from day one and that i could not get the rod’s out to remove the motor. This is a 2009 wx1950 and not sure but my guess would be this is probley one of the first made..just my opinion based on a few of the thing’s that I have found wrong…One is the Motor is a 2008 (225)….Which I was never told about and why would I ever ask ( know better now) but with that said I am gonna see if minn-kota will warranty if not Ill mount the new one myself… Should have gone to SBC further drive but It would have been done right…

As far as the motor being a 2008, that is very possible and not out of the norm per say. If that boat was made right around the change over time they could have had more motors left than boats. The year on the motor is just a manufactured date. The warrenty and such will not start until it is bought.
I dont forsee minn kota not standing behind that but if dont, let me know and I can get you a new one.

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One is the Motor is a 2008 (225)….Which I was never told about and why would I ever ask ( know better now)

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Eyehabit,
Just a point of clarification on the year of the motor. The date you are looking at on the motor is the build date. Beginning in 2006, Yamaha eliminated the model year on all of its motors because of the confusion it caused. They now focus strictly on the model code as a way of differentiating the features you get on your outboard. For example, the new Offshore 225 has a different model code and cost than your 225. Either could have been put on a 2011 Skeeter.

It would be normal for a 2009 Skeeter to have a motor with a 2008 build date. The first 2009 1950’s were actually built in 2008. Since your warranty started at your delivery date, the actual build date is not something you need to be concerned about. The year of the boat and the model code of the motor now determines your future value. We do not list the model year on the purchase agreement for any of the main motors or kickers we sell on our Skeeters. I believe Merc did the same thing as Yamaha.

I hope this clarification helps.

Ty Dave, that was well explained and relieving… I dropped the mount and trolling motor of at The Boat Doc in Lomira and Josh believes that Minn Kota will warranty it. His concerns were all the hole and the fact that the plate with the hole in the center if turned the other way would have accounted for all six screws being installed and would have allowed for all the lift the motor would have received in reverse. But at this point I cant fish without it,,, Ty all for your help and input and my dealer or should I say they dealer that sold me the boat has still not gotten back to me…..LOSER……

Glad to hear you are starting to get things straightened out. One thing I will say is if you do turn the base for the trolling motor around make sure that it sits far enough forward on the boat to clear the rub rail. The bracket “should” need to be “backwards” but you can use the front 4 factory holes and will need to drill 2 new holes closest to the inside of the boat to get your 6 screws in. Those 2 holes should be the only 2 holes you need to drill.
If you can get the trolling motor to clear the rub rail with the bracket on the “correct” way that will of course be best, but I have yet to find one that works that way on that model.