Please help me mount this trolling motor

I bought an older Fisher Marine aluminum boat last week and the guy threw in a pretty nice Minn Kota to replace the older Motor Guide. However, I don't think mounting it will be as easy as I first thought. Check out Photo 1 which shows the existing mount. Photo 2 shows the Minn Kota. The mounting shoe is a good 8 inches longer than the existing Motor Guide though you can't really tell from the picture. Photo 3 shows the up-turn of the boats bow that is the source of the difficulty. Maybe fabricate a longer mounting box? Would love something simpler. Any ideas?

Thanks


Photo 1
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k5...ous/Photo1.jpg

Photo 2
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k5...ous/Photo2.jpg

Photo 3
[IMG]http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k5...ous/Photo3.jpg[/IMG]

It looks to me like you could squeeze a few more inches to the front and a couple to the back of the mount once the motor guide is removed,if you still dont have enough i believe i would drill a couple new holes in the minn kota's mounting bracket to make it fit onto the boats existing box.

Thanks Bugman. I'm gonna tackle it this weekend. You're right, there is a few inches of room at the front of the box. The Minn Kota has a ton of holes in the shoe, but I want to keep any overhang at the back down to a minimum. I'll see how it looks after I get the old motor off. I have a buddy who can probably fabricate a new box if need be.

Thanks again. I appreciate the feedback.

Consider one of the trolling motor mounts that let you take the unit on and off. One of those should mount on top of what you already have, and match or adapt to the new trolling motor. Measure first of course. Cabela's or BPS might have the dimensions of the mount listed with one of the units in the catalog

There are 6 mounting holes in the Minn-Kota bracket. You really only need 4 bolts to hold it on your boat. Your mounting platform looks like it is big enough for 4 of the mounting holes to work. One set of holes in the Minn-Kota bracket are actually the same pattern as a Motor Guide. They did this so people that switch over won't have to drill new holes in their boat.
Hope this helps.

thunderheart i have the same setup when i change my 15lb thurst motor guide to a 50lb motor guide the trouble i had was to much flex in the mounting box i had to beef the box up with 1/4" aluminum plate