Keep your nuts tight - or ya might lose em and more

[Basscat7]

If you run any kind of rough water you need to check your Jackplate/motor mount bolts before every tournament.  You'll be surprised how often they will loosen up after taking a beating on a run thru 2 footers.
Even bolts that have has locktite applied will loosen , especially on the 200 HP and ups, thats 500+ pounds bouncing around on 4 or 6 bolts ( depending on boat brand ) on the transom.
Nothing will cause transom problems like a loose jackplate bolt, even if it is only a couple of threads loose, that is enough to let the engine bounce and cause the boltholes to widen in the fiberglass...once that happens nothing good can come of it....water gets in the transom, or the holes will widen to the point of needing to be re glassed.  Either one can be an expensive repair.
Keep a box wrench that fits your plate bolts in the truck or boat, and make a habit of checking the tightness before each trip. For the cheap cost of the box wrench and less than 5 minutes time checking the bolts you could save a lot of repair work down the road.

Bet you can check at your next tx and a lot of boats will have loose jackplate bolts.

Basscat7

[dogndux]

good tip - any idea what the typical torque is on the bolts???