I've previously had an electric trolling motor (56 ft/lb) on my A.I. but it just left a lot to be desired, so after doing quite a bit of research - what outboard motors people have used, I settled on the Suzuki 2.5. Originally I was thinking Honda 2.3 because of the light weight, but that's an air-cooled glorified lawn mower engine, albeit a nice product by Honda, and this Suzuki is not a whole heck of a lot heavier. Briefly considered a Honda 4, 5, or 6 but at 60+ lbs I just can't see it.
Which leads me to the mount. I designed the mount before buying the outboard. I've seen quite a few designs and none of them really "did it" for me, especially ones that use the rod holders. This is what I came up with. It's a two piece design made of nice, strong oak. 3/4 thick oak was used for all parts - I just screwed two of them together for the heavier, beefier part. I wasn't really sure about the transom angle (or the motor I'd end up using), but went with 14 degrees. Position relative to the rear aka mount was critical, too. I figured with two parts, I could make changes easily. As far as mounting to the kayak itself goes, I went with aluminum L (Home Depot sells these) attached with a bunch of (7 each side) well nuts. Two oak boards are screwed into them. To add more bracing, I simply got a thin (1/4" as I recall) piece of plywood, sanded down where it would jam under the aka brace, and screwed that onto the boards. Maybe overkill. I used stainless steel wood screws everywhere (1", 1 1/4", 1 1/2") - the star drive kind. The beefy motor mount part (1 1/2" thick) attaches with six long 7/16" diameter clevis pins (Home Depot). Should be fairly easy to remove so when I'm not going to take the motor, there's less added weight.
What's the correct way to post pictures here, anyway???
https://www.dropbox.com/s/20wejjrs4ngwxax/MM1.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y6qe3kd292nf9hg/MM2.jpg?dl=0
Paint: used marine primer and paint.
