I've been working on swapping out trolling motors for the past few days and have been having a heck of a time. The Motorguide I'm installing has very little clearance above the mounting holes making it impossible to get a phillips head drill bit into it and there is very little room on the sides of the holes making a ratchet/crescent wrench extremely inefficient. The hole to access the underside of the deck on my boat is barely big enough to get my hand into so tightening the two front bolts from the bottom isn't really an option either. I attached a ratchet to a PVC pipe to keep the nuts in place from the underside but it is not effective for tightening so really my only option seems to be tightening from the top. Anyone have any tricks to make this easier?

Not sure what kind of boat or room you have but you might have to cut off the existing bolts or drill out the heads of the screws to lift it out. As far as mounting it use these.

http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/motorguide-mounting-isolators-4-pack

Ratchet wrenchs are good for tight spaces.can you put a longer extension on the drill for more clearance?

I have no access for the nuts on mine either. I bought some of the isolator bolts but I just had problems with them and I've read where the rubber deteriorates in a year or so and they have to be replaced. It was suggested to me to try toggle bolts like these and they work great. On my 3rd trolling motor and I use them every time. https://www.lowes.com/pd/TOGGLER-10-Pack-0-25-in-x-2-5-in-Yellow-Zinc-Toggle-Bolts/3183831

FYI, do no try to use a drill to install the screw or it will be a headache because the plastic retainer will break before you can get the screw started. Use a screw driver and be gentle with them until you get them tightening. They have held up great for me. Homedepot sells some but Lowes has heavier duty ones.

I have thought about toggle anchors but the main problem is that there is no clearance above the head of the bolt. I'm talking like 1/4 inch so its hard to get any type of screw driver into it. it has a tiny bit of room on the side that I could fit a wrench/pliers on but id be turning about an eighth of a turn at a time and its tough to really cinch it down. Not sure why MotorGuide makes the mounting holes so inaccessible but its making me want to switch to Minn Kota.

There's really no easy way to do it if space is that limited. I've gotten a handful of fiberglass in my hand more than once while mounting a trolling motor....

That's what I was afraid of. Figured maybe someone knew some secret tool/trick. Oh well guess I'll just have to do it the hard way.

Can you remove the trolling motor from the mount? Not sure what your set up looks like but you said you can access it from the side with a wrench? You can use the toggle and replace the bolt with ones that have a hex head. Put a couple of sticks under the trolling motor to lift it and get the holes lined up and once the bolt catches then remove the sticks. Sounds like it is going to be a PIA for you to mount.

Do not use toggle bolts! How in the world are you going to trust one of those to hold a troling motor down in rough water SMH

When you get it off--here is what I did.

Get a 1/4 inch stainless steel plate that will accommodate the location of the holes on the trolling motor base plate. This plate will be your backing plate for the trolling motor inside the tight space you mentioned above. Mark where the holes need to be located-- drill and tap them to fit the stainless steel "hex" head bolts that you will use to attach the trolling motor bracket to the boat(this is why you need a 1/4 inch SS plate --to have enough thread to hold, and not aluminum as it will strip). You will need two sets of hands to do this. Slide this plate in place, line the holes up(may take some time for this step), and bolt it all together. I eventually epoxied this plate in place so that I could install and remove the trolling motor bracket by myself. Don't do this on your initial install as so mods may need to be performed on the plate. This plate has been in place now for 12 years, and many removal/installs for the trolling motors either new replacements or for repairs.

That's the best advice your gonna get right there. If you can get a plate in there you could even use individual plates inesatead of one larger one