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Hi Rick. My thrusters are steerable but for mounting the actual motor head,
a standard 4 inch schedule 40 pipe has just the right diameter to hold the
motor.
I took a 4 inch section of pipe, split it in half, welded flanges to the
split seam area and drilled bolt holes to re-assemble the pipe.
The Minnkota 101's fit nicely inside the split pipe section. I have a thin
sheet of rubber as an insulator and shock absorber wrapped around the motor and
when the bolts are tightened it holds the motor head snugly.
If you don't want to weld up a mount and your motors won't be swivel type
mounted you could just connect them to the hull with the threaded coupling that
is part of the motor housing.( where the shaft connects to the motor head)
On the 101's the threaded nipple part has the same threads as a 1 inch
compression fitting. You can buy a "compression to pipe thread" adapter at most
local hardware or plumbing supply stores and simply screw it into the motor head
fitting where the wires come out. Now you have standard pipe thread and a pipe
coupling will attach it to the thru-hull. Put a ball valve on the inside where
the thru-hull penetrates the pressure hull so just in case you crash into
something and break the motor off and the thru-hull starts to leak you can still
shut off the valve and stop any leakage.
You can see a shot of how my motor mounts are made on the psubs "projects"
page.
I used regular steel pipe but will probably upgrade to stainless later. The
dimensions are the same.
I'd like to be able to remove/replace the motors quickly so I made
the mounts so it will be quick and simple to switch out a damaged motor. I plan
on carrying a couple of spares just in case.
Frank D.
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