I have a 19' Bayliner that the previous owner mounted his kicker to the swimstep on a big piece of 6" aluminum angle. He drilled six holes in the step platform and bolted this angle to it. Then the kicker mounted to the upright section. It worked great, but he didn't let it go with the boat. Since I don't use a kicker, I don't need it. I see a lot of guys with Happy Troller plates, Erndog loves his!!

I just set me idle at about 700, so I troll at about 5-600 which seems to be great. At that rate, I can go 5 or 6 days on a tank of gas. One nice thing about the 2.3L!
My downriggers mount on the corners of the transom. There is a lot of structural wood under the glass, but I added some 1" oak under all of that for extra strength. I have an '89, so the transom is flat. The newer "Euro" tails make it a little tricker. I did put in some recessed pole holders in back as well since I stack poles on the riggers, I like to spread the poles out so if the bottome one releases it most likely won't get into the upper on on the way up. So far works great!

With the exception of the mounting blocks, you can't tell the family tube hauler is really a fish killing bloodbath machine in disguise!!