I’m looking to mount a regular plastic 3rod rack onto the back bench on my Jon boat. The back bench is a normal “Jon boat seat” - aluminum filled with foam. My worry is that if I just use sheet metal screws there will be so little contact between the screw and the thin aluminum that it won’t be strong enough. Would it be possible to use stainless toggle bolts to hold against the aluminum?? What do y’all think is the best way to approach this???
17’ Mako
16’ Alumacraft
A sheet metal screw should hold just fine. The weak point on all mine has been the head of the screw pulling through the plastic rod holder. I have started using fender washers to prevent this. Never had a screw get pulled out of the aluminum seat back.
I also mounted mine with screws but I do not troll with those rod holders. just use them to store my rods & never had any issue.
Get a small piece/strip of something sturdy and mount your rod holders to them with flush mounted bolts and nuts. You want the flush side to be the side that will touch your boat. Then you can use some epoxy or other really strong adhesive on the strip/piece and screws to attach it to your boat. This will make a much stronger connection and if you break the rod holder just unbolt it and put the same model back on the bolts.