Hey Phil, is it the new happy troller that's spit in the middle? or is it the old solid one? Also is what size is you volvo motor? 4.3-5.7? Me and my buddy are thinking of putting one of the old ones i have on his boat which is a 4.3 mercruiser I/O curious if its the same plate that i have Thanks Take Care God Bless and Tight Lines Dave!!
Thanks, Looks like we're going to give it a try, my buddy Rob's cousing owns a machine shop so he's gonna add a 4 inch piece of aluminum to the bottom of it, it's not quite long enough to cover the entire exhaust, even though it's old it's built alot sturdier then the plastic one he tryed two years ago UGHHHHHH that thing was a pain in the A__ always broke pin's so sent it back and got our money back and did the old fashion frenchman trick of two 5 gallon buckets LOL Figured we don't have anything to lose trying it all we have to do is drill a couple new holes in it, if it doesn't work i just put it back on my "Real" old 20hp mercury LOL Take Care God Bless and Tight Lines Dave!!
I had one of those plastic pieces of s___ years ago and had the same problem.
If you use a bucket (as I do) cut a circle in the bottom of the bucket (it actually makes the drag greater) There's an extruded circle (about 2 " in diameter) molded in the bottom already. I just used it as a pattern & cut it out with a jig saw. Also, I got clever and put a nylon strap handle screwed to the outside of the bottom (I doubled the strap and sewed some closed cell foam inside) that way when the bucket gets pulled in (as in- when I get 'a good one' on) the metal handle pulls the open end of the bucket down and the foam handle tips the bottom up so it's easy to grab! & it comes right out of the water w/o a fight or having to wait for the bucket to drain!
Some folks have trouble steering w/ just one bucket, I put a couple of small hooks on the top of my old Evenrude's motor cover and run the rope to the bucket in between. It keeps the bucket centered to the boat and I found it actually helps in a wind keep the bow to the wind. I have an lot of Alum boat out of the H20 and in the wind.