I am not sure of the guage metal we used. My friend owns AMS Metals in Anaheim Calif, and he hooks me up with aircraft aluminum. It is extremely strong and not quite as heavy. And ya we used wood glued together to fill the gap. The previous part on the bow had two L shaped brackets and that was...
so I had some time between storms this past summer, and I used some metal laying around. I used some heavy duty L brackets and put some skateboard grip on top for traction. This is so much easier when it comes to launching the boat now.
When I had my old tracker, this is what my dad and I did in order to mount the 74lb Minn Kota on it. We did a number of projects on that boat, it was truly custom.
I added the plexiglass to fill in the gap that was present ; I added the aluminum plate over top of everything and then bolted it down. It has worked really well.
the bow of my boat had a much smaller surface area for mounting trolling motors. The boat came with a 55lb thrust, which I got rid of. I got the Minn Kota 101 and the fun began.