Well then, Happy B-day SteveBob!

Thanks TG,

The cool thing is since They are being built to my specs, The builder is adding tabs for my fish finder transducer, and grab handles. I may also add an anchor rope guide to one.

The planned deal fell through

So much for the plan of making my boat work. Anyone want a free14' aluminum jon boat?

Are there any boat dealers (anywhere in Texas) that can tell me when the 2022 aluminum boats twill be available?

I just ordered some pods. They are pretty much the same as the Beavertail units but are available in the size I need for my boat.

I have seen these type pods mounted in several ways. Well of course with me being me, I had to come up with an easier installation means than what I
have seen thus far.

But how?

The price of welding was more expensive than the boat was worth, Pop rivets seemed pretty weak to me, I was not going to cut a huge hole in the tops of the pods in order to bolt them on, and there is no marine adhesive I could find that is strong enough to bond the pods securely to the transom on it's own. So I decided to go with waterproof 3/8"-16 rivnuts in the pods and then bolt the pods on with stainless 3/8" bolts & washers and then seal the project with 3M marine adhesive. The whole cost installed complete with a rattle canned paint job will be less than $500 for the pair (pods included). It will take about 2 weeks for the pods to arrive, but once here I'm thinking maybe 2 days before being water ready. I'll start posting pics as I progress once the pods arrive.

The pods I'll be using will provide about 118 lbs of buoyancy right at the transom and add approximately 2' in length to the boat. The buoyancy should more than compensate for the complete weight of the motor 106 lbs. So "empty" the boat with pods and motor should float as if it was just the hull with no motor. That alone will make the install worth the investment. Their length should have a similar effect as putting wheelie bars on a dragster. Thus getting on plain a little faster while keeping the front end lower at speed. That should also have a similar effect to putting weight up front while moving.

I ordered my pods on the 14th of August and according to UPS, they should be here tomorrow. Under a week.... That's great. Now all I need is my rivnut installation tool to arrive and I'm in business. I could be on the lake by next weekend.

Here are the pods



And here is the tool I got to mount them.



And the rivnuts.



I'll begin the process in the morning.

Having the trolling motor batteries, anchors, and accessory battery up front will get the bow down and transom up.

These pods already have the angle built in. So they will mount flush with the transom. The rivnuts I'm using are blind and are closed on the blind end making them waterproof. I intend to install the rivnuts into the pods.

Then I will put bolts through the transom and into the pods. I will not be putting the rivnuts in the transom. I will then seal around each rivnut, along the outer edges of the pods, and at the bolt holes in the transom with heavy duty marine adhesive/sealant. I cannot understand why some of you think this will not work. If you do think it will not work, please tell me why. What is the mechanical justification for failure of this setup? If it will leak.... Why - Where? If it is not strong enough Why - How? I'm reasonable and open to any common sense responses.

I was otherwise occupied, so I have yet to perform any installation of the pods thus far.

Thank you.
SteveBob

As it stands now the rivnuts won't work, but not for any of the reasons listed above. Compressing the steel nuts in the aluminum firmly enough to keep them from spinning, crushes/pinches the aluminum. It does it enough to weaken the metal that they were installed in. Due to the beveled flange on the steel nuts, the 0.100" thick aluminum crushes paper thin on the sides of the hole. One good kick could rip them right out of the pods. So for safety sake I am back to square one in rethinking my mounting options. When using these in the past I always used them with plate or angle steel. I thought aluminum would/could have handled the rivnuts better. I think they could still work if I was able to place a washer on the rivnuts inside of the pod. That would require me to put a big hole in the pod. If I was to do that, I'd probably just bolt them on the regular way. Something I still do not want to do.

Oh well.... I can admit it when I'm wrong. Even if it sucks to do so.

At least I did the test on a piece of aluminum I had in my workshop first rather than molesting the pods.

Has anyone here done any low temperature welding? Would that be an option? Or is it more like soldering than welding?

"Low temp welding". If your referring to silver soldering, I personally wouldn't trust it. But that's just me. There will be a lot of force on those pods from buoyancy.

One of the things I thought about while building my pods and mounting: When the pods are in the water, buoyancy forces the pods up. This means there is force applied to the top edge of the pod where it meets the transom, and it wants to push into the transom. And buoyancy causes a pull on the lower edge, making the bottom edge on the transom side want to pull away from the transom. This is all because of the back edge of the pod is unattached to anything. Kinda like a "lever" with the force being applied from the back edge.

Therefore, I made sure I had a good strong attachment point on the bottom transom side. As it is the most critical side for strength. The pods would want to tear away from the transom from the bottom edge due to the upward force. The next strongest side needs to be the outside edge, Port and Starboard. As water passing down the side of the hull when underway at lower speeds, will want to push them to the inside until you get up on plane where the force is reduced and again is on the back edge pushing up. But when stagnant, or at moor, there is no force on the outside edge pushing inward. Just up.


Nothing against engineers. But I've worked with enough of them over my lifetime that they may have rubbed off on me some over the years.
Some have brilliant minds. And I'm always waiting to see what they come up with next.

Well after exhausting every concept I have come up with, I have decided that I can't ignore the elephant in the room any longer. It comes down to weld them on or bolt them on. I refuse to pay a welder $120 an hour with a 4 hour minimum (best price I could find around here). So the only other option I can see is my least favorite. Cutting big holes in the pods and bolting them on. I ordered a pair of round 6" waterproof service hatches with "O" ring seals that I will be mounting on top of the pods. I will incorporate 2 pieces of angle aluminum inside each of the pods and inside the boat to strengthen the bolt on connections. I'll use 3/8" stainless hardware to mount the pods and 3M 5200 sealant/adhesive to keep things watertight.

So maybe before long I should be placing the boat once more in the lake besides just leaving it sitting on the side of my house.

Can you get some aluminum angle tabs welded on the the pods and bolt them on?

(shaking my head) As I said in the post you just replied to, "I refuse to pay a welder $120 an hour with a 4 hour minimum (best price I could find around here)". Come on..... $500+ after taxes just to weld a few tabs on a $300 pair of pods? REALLY???????