Well finally bit the bullet on a pro series II power pole. I plan on adding a 2nd in a few weeks. Brackets are cheaper by the kit so went ahead and ordered the sand which kit since I don't have a jackplate installed yet. At which point I will just use the sandwich brackets between motor and jack plate at a later date.

I ordered: 1 power pole pro series II
And a dual bracket kit from power pole for a grand total of 1630$ shipped to my door.

Now I called around and the going price for an install was about 250$ but due to the sand which brackets they said another 100$ so 350$ total which is reasonable imo. But from what I've seen with the system I can't justify paying $350 for something that should take a couple hours to install so I decided to do it myself before tackling the project I made sure I had all of the necessary materials. I looked up a manual for the power pole online and it had right there everything you need to install it. I knew I would need longer bolts due to the sandwich bracket so I made a 30 second phone call To Power pole to see the thickness of the bracket then I turned around and made another 30 second phone call to a marine dealership to check the size of bolts for outboard engine mounting which were half-inch so I went and bought some stainless mounting bolts that were 1" longer than the ones I already had.

Now for the install:

I saw where they make a lifting eye for my motor which was $70 no thanks. I'll just use the tilt and trim with a block of wood and an engine hoist strapped around the motor to help some. Which is what I did.

I relieved the pressure of the engine on the bolts then loosened the bolts to about two or three threads left on each nut. Then I separated the motor from the transom with a small pry arm. Then I took out one bolt, cleaned all the old silicone off, cleaned it with some sand paper, then slid the new bolt in just to help support it. I did this to all 4 holes.

Next I added my 3m 5200 silicone to the washers of the inside bolts and then all around each hole, in each hole, and around the brackets. I pulled on bolt at a time and slid the brackets in.

Then I bolted everything down and torqued it.

Next I bolted the power pole to the bracket and ran the hoses through the hole my control cables go through.

Hooked up the two hoses as instructed and the wires to my cranking battery.

Installed the oil and cycled the pole to bleed it out. And placed the pump inside the rear compartment of my boat.

It works perfect no issues

Total install from the time was about an hour and 15 mins.

Now for the catastrophe part!

Power pole failed to include a bracket for my pump! Hopefully their customer service will take care of the issue.

Obviously I'm being sarcastic about this being a catastrophic install with a little research and homework prior to doing your install it's a painless process.

Hopefully you never need to remove the engine again. 3M 5200 is NOT "silicone" - it's apparently one of the most aggressive adhesives on the planet based on the experience of many, myself included. Others have seen it pull the gelcoat off a boat when an engine removal is attempted, as I have. There are other sealant products (vs. adhesive) that were probably more appropriate.

nice work...

Thanks!

awesome!

Well done.

Lol, the label on a tube does say something about permanent. Oh well, if he ever snaps a bolt at least his motor won't fall off.

Haha yea I know it's some tough stuff. Luckily I have plenty of experience removing adhesives. It's not red rtv so it's submissive to heat from a heat gun or infrared adhesive remover, it'll come right off. It's heat resistance is much less that of gel coat so it wouldn't harm it. Now if you just ripped it off then yes that would be a problem.

I assume some 5200 got into the hole through the transom. With the motor bracket over it, can you get enough heat onto the fastener to make enough difference in getting it to release? What about 5200 that oozed our to the flat area between the motor bracket and the transom's gelcoat?

I'm asking to learn how it can be done (for my own knowledge) in case I ever run into such a situation in the future.

At the end of the day it's silicon. The people that have issues with spread over the whole transom and mounted their motor. You only need to get some around the holes and a dab in the holes.

looks good. I like that trolling motor! I'm ready to fish when you are.

Sounds good man! Hope that yeti is treating you well. For sure I'll be off work and heading to fork on my next days off you're welcome to come a long

Thats why I use 3M 4200, semi-permanant and way better than regular silicone. Every one of my fittings with regular silicone eventually leak but not when 4200 is used...