can I just go and buy mounting bolts for a minn kota at a local boat dealership, or is there a difference in bolts between motor guide and minn kota.

I believe they are universal and I have bought some at Academy. I had hell with rubber insert pulling out of the fiberglass, I eventually had to add washers and lock nuts to the underside of the bolts.

use stainless hex heads from lowes, fender washers and mount to the cap solid, the rubber insert bolts are not all that good imo.
if you have room get a piece of aluminum and make a backer for underneath, did mine this way and it is rock solid.
you can go to wall mart and in the auto section they carry a rubber step that is self adhesive I used these to go between the troller and the fiberglass on top to cushion it some.
it looks like diamond plate and works great.

+1 I used the old rubber inserts as spacers between the mount and the boat when I finally gave up on that BS system....

Bass Pro in Gvine used to have some toggle bolts that I used because I could not get under there to add lock nuts. Have had to retighten a couple of times but all in all a great solution over the rubber inserts.

I cut the rubber inserts top off and use it to make an unlevel surface level. If there is a twist in the trollmtr bracket, it will make it hard to unlatch the unit or to even latch it down. So by using the 1/4" thick pad, You can fine tune the mounting bracket and make life easy at the lake.

Thank Yall

the minnkota inserts are made of a lot tougher material if i had to use a insert type id go minnkota

the minnkota inserts are made of a lot tougher material than the motor guide brand, if i had to use a insert type id go minnkota inserts

I forgot to mention that I did the same, I just cut the rubber tops off of them and used them as a buffer between the TM and the fiberglass, and on the underside as well.