Broke my trolling motor!

[Mark Hofman]

Woohoo!!! I did it! I broke the Motorguide mount! Now I can get that MinnKota Maxxum 24-volt ...Uuhhmmm, excuse me for a second.....



(Yes, wife? I CAN'T? I gotta get the one I have FIXED? Really? You know that's going to cost us money and I'm probably just going to break it again. But the Master Spring Catalog from that OTHER outdoors store just came today! . . . . But I don't know HOW to fix it! Oh, okay . . . I'll ask them.)



Guys, we hit a dock trying to park my boat and snapped the Motorguide decket in half. The decket is that black piece of plastic on the front of the mount that sticks over the bow of the boat and guides the trolling motor into its stowed position.



But the real damage is that one of the screws holding the mount in place spins and spins and SPINS when you try to unscrew it because the little plastic plug is also broken. I can't unscrew it.



How do I go about getting that screw out and replacing the plastic plug? It's the bow, port side screw. On my TV-18, the plug is in a hole in the metal, not in the wood of the casting deck. Do I have to take the deck up to get at that part from underneath?



Thanks for the help. Now excuse me while I go cry over my new spring master catalog.



Mark

 

[Spanky P]

Carefully cut through the rubber grommet and screw and it should ( piece remaining in bow ) be able to push through existing mounting hole in bow. Carefully done it with just a hack saw blade for someone over the summer. Was afraid to use my sawzall. Afraid I'd slip off or get hung up in the rubber.

 

[Mark Hofman]

Well, I had to take the bow deck and trolling motor panel up to get at this bolt from underneath. On this boat, there isn't a rubber grommet. It's metal and it's stripped.



There isn't enough space to get a pair of pliers in where I can work it loose, so I'm going to have to cut the head of the bolt off and pull it through from underneath. I didn't want to have a loose piece of metal rolling around in the boat, so taking the deck up was my only option.



So now, in addition to buying a new decket, I'm gonna need a new bolt, a couple of deck screws, and the piece that Tracker Marine inserts into the gunnel that lets you screw the mounting bolt in tight. (I have no idea what to even call it. It's almost a marine version of those drywall lag nuts).



Mark