So sorry to hear about this, hope you a fast recovery Victor!

Well, I was only going to use the two side mounted scotty together with the turnbuckle to start with, and the AKA release buttons prevented me from placing the two scotty mounts any further than they are right now. I really did not want to mount any scotty on the top of the crossbar to start with because I wanted to be able to flip the yak uptown side when I car top it, until I found it is so difficult to flip the AI upside down and keep it steady when trying to push it onto my SUV. If I was to do it again, I would top mount two scotty on the crossbar as far as I can, then side mount the third scotty at the middle of the crossbar as Ernst said. But so far it felt pretty stable, and I will report back after water testing it.

Besides all the methods mentioned here, I found rubber banding their claws noticeably increases their life time and meat quality in cooler, as they spend less energy trying to kill each other, or actually kill each other. Roping crabs to minimize their movement is a pretty common practice in Asia, unfortunately I do not have any of the crab roping skill.

Tong,
When we met last week you mentioned the Scotty insert you use is not flush with the rod holder mount. I 3D-printed one that is flush. It should make the motor bar much more stable since the bar could now anchor flat on the scotty mounts. PM me if you need some.

ernest

Thanks a lot Ernest! I will PM you.

Tong

Tong, I looked at your mount again and remember something. When the engine is running, the motor tends to twist and pull the bar towards the back. If your turnbuckles are anchored to the front of the bar, they would help alleviate the engine's pulling force. Anchoring the buckles toward the back does not help as much. It's more pronounced the faster you travel. You may consider finding a way to anchor the turnbuckles towards the front of the kayak.

ernest

Thanks a lot for the extra info Ernest! To anchor it to the front of the kayak, I would have to drill on the yak, which I was trying to avoid so far. I will probably put a couple of track mounts to the front of the mount to anchor the turnbuckles.

Finally put on the turnbuckles, and the unit feels pretty solid when I push forward mimicking the motor push. Next step is to put on the motor and try it out, and the only minor missing details is that I do not have a motor, and the new shipment of Suzuki 2.5hp outboard is stuck somewhere on the pacific ocean thanks to Covid-19

Yes Ernest, it was me who was next to you at OP a couple of weeks ago, and it was very nice meeting and chatting with you!

Thanks a lot for the great info! I will go to Alan Steel & Supply for the aluminum pieces tomorrow, and I think this will be the last needed parts to start trying putting up my version .

I do not want to put the PatR on the top of the crossbar since I want to flip the yak and roof top it (PatR will touch the car roof if I mount it on the top), so I am going to mount two PatR on the side of the crossbar. I will then try to make a ABS piece that goes into rod holders to be the third point to enforce the mount. I have no idea if this ABS piece will be strong enough to keep the mount steady, and I can just hope for the best.

I don't know if my 2016 AI is higher or lower than yours on the water, assuming they are the same height on the water, and my side mounted Scotty mounts raise the aluminum about 2", I think I will just get 1.5"x3" bar with another 1.5"x3" extension on top of it to mount the motor. If I need to change the height, I will just go buy 1.5"x2" or 1.5"x4" piece to swap out the 1.5"x3" piece.

Let the fun starts

Lowered the price of Old Town Predator to $700. Note the price includes the Lowrance Elite 4 fishfinder with map chip, and I think it is a great price. If it still does not sell, I will just keep it as my spare yak.