This was a pretty easy and inexpensive addition, but from what I read around different forums, an important one to help protect your transom, motor and mount. Transom mounts are very commonly attached to the roller on the back of your trailer, but since I don’t have any rollers, being fully ‘bunked’, I got a bolt on version.

The ‘Bolt on Transom Saver’ that I got from Gander Mountain is quite simple to use. I just drilled one 1/4″ hole in the rear cross member of the trailer, and bolted the attachment point to it with included hardware. A pin than passes through the bracket and the transom saver itself to hold that end in place. On the motor end, rubber pads on the ‘mouth’ cushion the motors lower end. Before I installed the tilt/trim unit, I had to use a ratcheting strap to hold the motor down against the transom saver, or else it would have the potential to pop out when you went over a bump and the motor bounced. With the tilt/trim unit in place, I can now just used the included rubber ‘bungee’ strap to hold it in place, and then put a slight downward pressure with the tilt/trim unit. Note that most of these transom savers say that they are for use only with a tilt/trim unit for this reason.

The transom saver bolted to the trailer cross member

Full view of the transom saver in use

I had originally thought about adding power tilt/trim to easily lift my motor on demand. After taking the boat out on a really shallow lake (max dept 4′, average depth seemed close to the dept of my prop!) I was pushed further to want this feature, so I went out and got it.

The unit I purchased is the CMC PT-35 Power Tilt & Trim, and it is gorgeous. Designed for motors of 35HP or less, it is made from machined aluminum and is not only sturdy and functional, but beautiful to look at as well. I slid my motor over on the transom, found the center line, and after lots of calculations, decided on the mounting height.

The unit moves your motor back another 5″ or so, which makes mounting the motor higher desirable since the water that comes under the boat will begin to rise after clearing the transom. They suggest mounting the motor 1″ to 3″ higher in relation to the transom than it was before. After doing all the math and looking at my layout, I mounted the top of the transom side of the unit level with the top of the transom itself. This put me at the minimum 1″ higher mark as a starting point, and I figured I could always raise the motor up on the mounting plate if I needed to.

After measuring everything about five times, and marking the bolt holes onto the transom, I finally did the deed, drilling holes into the transom of my new boat. Once done, I test fit it with the bolts and thankfully everything lined up perfectly. I then used some gutter sealing caulk around the holes on both sides, added some large stainless steel washers on the boat side of the transom, and bolted the unit on with 1/2″ stainless steel bolts and nuts. The caulk spread out the edges of the hardware nice and evenly, so hopefully I won’t have a problem with any leakage.

I then lifted the motor off the transom and onto the tilt unit. Though it only weights 110lbs, it is very awkward to grab onto, so this was easier said than done. One on I clamped it down, hooked up the electrical, and gave it a test. It’s moving! The fun was short lived as I found a problem. The clamping bolts were hitting against the transom when I raised the motor up.

The boat side of the transom with 4 new mounting bolts

The tilt unit mounted with the motor tilted up

Clamping bolts hitting the transom

As much angle as I can get for now!

Step one to try and fix this problem was to remove the large handles from the clamping bolts. This gained me a few more degrees of lift, but the ends of the bolts eventually hit the transom. I didn’t want to cut the bolts off as it would make future adjustments very difficult. I came up with the idea of threading bolts in from the inside, and then backing them out so the head would press against the mounting bracket, expanding into place to lock the motor in. I tried to find some bolts with the proper thread and found that this thread is not common.

I decided to go with my plan, but with bolts that didn’t thread into the holes for the clamps, but instead just barely slid through them. I put a nut on the side closest to the hole, and the head on the other side, then once the motor was on the tilt unit, expanded the length of the bolt until it tightened against the clamping plate. It seemed to work. I then cut the extra length of bolt flush with the motor’s mounting bracket, and was able to tilt the motor up so the bracket actually sits flush with the top of the transom. Great, but there’s a new problem.

Now that I can tilt it up fine, when I lowered it down I found that the lower bolts that go through the motor mount were hitting against the housing of the hydraulic unit. The solution, raise the motor up one inch. I made a spacer from rock hard Maple to raise the motor higher, drilled two new lower mounting holes in the aluminum mounting plate and tried again. This time everything worked fine. Up all the way, down all the way, no hitting. I’ll eventually replace the wood spacer with some aluminum, but that maple will take some time to show any wear.

Expanding bolt as clamp

Mounting bolt head hits hydraulic unit

A perfect fit at full up tilt

View from the back with original mounting holes now exposed

Full view of the motor at maximum upward tilt

Full view of the motor at maximum lowest tilt

The ‘clamping’ bolts cleaned up and the spacer in place

The unit comes with a long cable attached to the ‘up-down’ switch, which was long enough for me to route it to the console. I drilled a hole behind the steering wheel and mounted it there. I also ordered an extra switch, the “Transom Mounted Tilt Switch” from iBoats.com that I mounted on my battery box to make tilting the motor at the launch easier. I used some wire splices from True Value to splice the three wires for the switch onto the wires for the original switch so they both work and do the same thing.

Splicing the wires for the extra switch onto the stock wires

Toggle switch is original, other on right is optional add-on

Toggle switch mounted to console

Transom tilt switch mounted to battery box

I took the boat back out onto the shallow lake, and it worked great. No leaks, and the motor tilted up and down very easily. The bolts seem to hold things well, no movement or loosening at all. This was an expensive addition, but in the end one I’m sure I’ll be glad I have.

My boat is rated for a maximum of 25HP, so of course that’s what I wanted to put on it since I’d like the option to just cruise around in it as well as go fishing. New 25HP 4-Strokes are so expensive, so I opted for a used 2-stroke. I found one on Craig’s List that seemed to match what I was looking for: 25HP, long shaft, with remote and electric start.

The motor wasn’t set up so I could test it, so I was going on the word of the seller that it ran fine last fall. The only problem he was aware of was with the starter, which he suspected would need to be replaced. I of course factored this into my offer, and ended up spending $625, which compared to others like it I had seen, seemed reasonable.

I removed the starter and the shaft in it was very loose, so it would appear the bearing were shot. Found a replacement on e-Bay ($79) and bolted it in, perfect fit. When I finally got a battery and was able to test it I became quite frustrated, it wasn’t starting properly. The starter would rotate, but wasn’t popping up. A buddy and I sat around with beers in hand trying to figure out what the problem was until divine inspiration hit me in the face, I didn’t hook up the battery backwards, did I? Yup, doh. After that the starter worked fine.

With the cover off on a stand

So this spring I decided I wanted to get back into fishing, which I did pretty often as a kid. I wanted a boat that would allow me to easily take along a friend or two to do pan and game fishing on inland lakes. Something small enough that I could go out by myself, and fit it in my small garage, and something light enough that I could haul it with a more fuel efficient vehicle than the pickup I have now.

I decided a 14′ aluminum jon boat would meet my needs. I wanted to have casting decks in it, so I got the widest I could find to help with stability, a Lowe 1448T, 48″ wide at the bottom with a 70″ beam. I was hoping to get one used to cut costs a bit, but that’s not a very common boat, so after searching Craig’s List and e-Bay for a month, I bit the bullet and ordered one new from my local fishing/boating store at the end of May.

As luck would have it, the flooding we had in the midwest delayed the shipment of the boat until the beginning of July. Yea, ironic that a boat can’t be delivered due to flooding. In the meantime, I found a motor for it on Craig’s List and a trailer as well.

The motor is a 1989 25hp Mercury long shaft. The boat is rated for 25hp, and I got the tall transom, so this motor should be a perfect match. The motor included the remote shifter/throttle as I plan on having a console in this boat instead of piloting it from the back with a tiller.

The trailer was setup with rollers for a v-hull boat. It’s wider than most trailers meant for smaller boats, 60″ between the fenders, so it would easily hold my boat. Electrical worked, tires were good, and all around it appears to be a good, sturdy trailer.

I’ve been out on the boat a few times now, I’ll start including posts with pictures on what I’ve done to get it to where it is now, and will continue documenting the modifications that I make, as I plan on making this a sort of “Ultimate Bass Boat”. Stay tuned, and feel free to ask questions if you’re interested!