I must agree that saving money on manuals is a mistake, because you WILL buy electrics sooner or later. If you must buy manuals I had cannon ez trolls for years and never had a problem. As for using 2 hands, I never had to use 2 hands to operate my down riggers. If you have this problem the clutches may need to be replaced (very simple to do when doing regular maintanance). As far as mounts I had the pedistal type mounts that I bolted through the bench seat. They had a piece of 1/4" steel backing on the under side and worked well. Make sure if you do weld on mounts that they are in a very solid place on boat so you don't get any flex in the side of your boat from the drag of the down rigger.