Rev,

Before I replaced my motorguide, I had this problem.  The trolling motor was on the boat when I bought it and the bracket had worked loose.  I can tell you that getting to the area that needed tinkering with was absolutely no joy, at least on my boat, I felt like Gumby.

Part of the reason mine had come loose was they had used some shims but made out of wood, over time the wood broke down and allowed play in the bracket.  So if I really got on the trolling motor and was turning, it creaked, cracked, made noise etc.

I managed to get in there and replace the wood shims with metal shims a buddy of mine fabricated.  He made them thick enough that I didn't have to tighten all day on the 8 inch bolts they used and he made them wide enough that they used the bow structure for reinforcement/pressure displacement.

It worked great and lasted up until I had the trolling motor replaced with a new one a couple years ago....


FWIW, although mine made some noise at first, I didn't have to forget about fixing it when I got home as eventually they nut backed off enough that I could remove the bolt on the front end

I was interviewing Florida bass pro Bernie Schultz this week and he said something that made me think:  "I was raised fishing clear water, looking at fish that can see me, and I can tell you they react to boat noise more than people realize.  And a sloppy trolling motor bracket can be the kiss of death."

My trolling motor bracket has definitely gotten loose and therefore noisy, and I have wondered many times if I shouldn't fix it - but then I get home and forget all about it.  So out of curiosity, have any of you tackled this problem?  Obviously it requires adding some shims, but what materials have you used, and were you satisfied with the fix?