Mooring Cover Mod for Trolling Motor

[JASmith]

I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I'm betting I'm not...

For those of you who have trolling motors, is the most annoying part of your boat the process of removing your trolling motor, trying to find a place to secure it, so that you can put the mooring cover on?

I'm thinking of trying to modify the cover somehow to make it so I can leave the TM in place since it's the worst part of any of my boat related processes currently.

I'd love to see pictures if anyone has done anything!

 

[Force15]

Did you ever find a solution to this? I have 210 FSH Sport with same issue.

 

[zipper]

@FSH 210 Sport

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Your best bet is to take it to a canvas shop and see if they can modify the cover to fit the way you want it to. I’m in the process of having my OEM mooring cover modified to fit over the anchor roller I installed, but not over the installed trolling motor.

I remove my trolling motor and put it on the deck regularly, whether it is for installing the cover or for towing beyond the two closest lakes to my house which are 20 mins away, the quick release mount takes about 3 seconds to release, the main power and communication plugs add another 10 seconds.

The cover I use 99% of the time is an Empire / Budge universal cover that goes over the entire top half of my boat, and fits over the OEM trolling motor mount and the anchor roller I installed. The one I chose is the 600 denier nylon version. (https://www.empirecovers.com/boat-c...b60/494-triton-boat-cover#productDetailsTabs2) as opposed to the 1200 denier version ( https://www.empirecovers.com/boat-c...t/2020/btht-6/b1200/449-aqua-armor-boat-cover) for weight and ease of installation / removal reasons, I think the 600 denier version is 38#. This cover is now 3.5 years old, I live at 4500’ and summer days are long with intense sunshine and I think the cover is holding up well. It’s not as sexy as the OEM cover but I think it offers more protection, and it’s easy for me to take the back edge off and get up under the cover and work on the boat while it’s on.

I see that currently my cover is $263.99 with free shipping with the normal 50% off plus an extra 20% off for Presidents’ Day.

 

[Bottom Bracket]

Travelig with my mooring cover on, my troller is in my campershell.
Staying at a motel? Troller is removed from boat and mooring cover on.
Staying somewhere (vrbo) with an rv gate, troller stays on boat and I use a different cover that stretches snug over the troller.
Boat lives inside my shop with the troller on it.
I picked up a light weight dirt bike work stand for making it easier to mount and remove troller.

 

[JASmith]

Yeah I ended up taking the boat to a boat cover/canvas shop. They modded my mooring cover to add a third buckle, and cut a seam, vertically where it can Velcro together and cut a line around the motor mount. Super glad I did it. I can’t believe I can’t find the pictures I took of it. I get the boat back early April and then I can show pictures.

 

[JASmith]

Alright, snapped a pick when I brought my boat from winter storage to summer storage.

The rundown is at the bottom edge of the cover where the ratchet strap runs, they cut it and inserted a YKK buckle, presumably to match the others that separate the strap by the tower. This buckle ultimately failed for me and I ended up replacing it with a stronger metal buckle. I assume it wasn't quite the quality of the factory YKK because I've not had a problem with those.

They cut the cover vertically then also and added some material so the sides would overlap and sewed in 2" heavy duty Velcro.

Where the old mount projection was in the cover, they cut a hole and sewed in some extra material to create a shroud, with a tie so that it could be tight up against the trolling motor base.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Alright, snapped a pick when I brought my boat from winter storage to summer storage.

The rundown is at the bottom edge of the cover where the ratchet strap runs, they cut it and inserted a YKK buckle, presumably to match the others that separate the strap by the tower. This buckle ultimately failed for me and I ended up replacing it with a stronger metal buckle. I assume it wasn't quite the quality of the factory YKK because I've not had a problem with those.

They cut the cover vertically then also and added some material so the sides would overlap and sewed in 2" heavy duty Velcro.

Where the old mount projection was in the cover, they cut a hole and sewed in some extra material to create a shroud, with a tie so that it could be tight up against the trolling motor base.View attachment 218402

Looks great and I‘m sure it will shed water like that too! Well done!