It's not a little bass boat like hunters use and there doesn't seem to be any plate near the stern to give this kind of informationAny help would be appreciated.
contrary to the other answers, for that amount of heat you need something thicker than 1/16 inch, that won't allow enough heat to flow from the hot spot (the IC) to the rest of the aluminumI suspect when the heat sink gets hot, it's only near the IC, and cooler elsewhereYou need 1/4 inch thick, perhaps 1/2 But you also need a lot of surface area, and possibly fans.
You are pretty much stuck with that angle If you grind on that aluminum, it will distort and wont be stable Kind of like releasing internal stresses in it due to the skin on the aluminum I would take that back and see if you can get a perfect 90 from the place you got it Take a Try Square along and check the whole supply You take that to a shop and its $50 to reform and it will not stay there perfectly at 90 degrees Have you though of a drill and tap a few 1//4-28 screws on the near edge of the angle leg spaced along the 24 dimension and to put a 3 or 4 jack screws in there so you could adjust to a perfect 90 against your mounting surface?
Your boat might've been built before the rating plate was inventedThe USCG SAFETY STANDARDS FOR BACKYARD BOATBUILDERS (link below) gives this formula for determining max horsepower for a boat with remote steering and at least a 20 transom height: Length times Width (at the transom) times 2 minus 90Round up to next multiple of 5your boat: 17 x 6 x 2 less 90 114, rounded up to 115 hpThis of course is a general guideline, not a regulation enforceable by any agencyHeed the warnings about transom condition - any softness at all, the whole thing needs to come out and be replaced - rot is a living bacteria that will keep spreading unless you remove it allThere's no real way to reinforce a rotten transom, because any solid wood you find to fasten a plate to, won't have enough structural integrityThe motor uses the transom to lift the boat out of the water, so any flexibility at all is counterproductive and dangerous.
