Bow bracket mounting for an electric trolling motor

Claim 1

A bracket for mounting on a boat an outboard motor having an elongate shaft with a water submeRgible propeller unit on the lower end thereof, said bracket comprising: a base attachable to said boat; an upstanding propeller unit holding assembly mounted on said base and adapted to hold said propeller unit in an out-of-water storage position, said assembly including a pair of upstanding C-shaped members, one of which being disposed on each side of the elongate motor shaft, having a cushioningly padded exposed edge to protectively receive the propeller unit in the storage condition; a pivot arm hingedly connected to said base; a motor shaft retaining member mounted on said pivot arm for limited pivotal movement with respect thereto and adapted to adjustably hold the elongate shaft of said motor; a releasable latch connected to said pivot arm and engageable with said retaining member for locking the position of the retaining member with respect to said pivot arm; said bracket being positionable to an operating condition whereby said latch locks the retaining member to the pivot arm and said pivot arm carries the shaft of the motor in a substantially vertical orientation and being further positionable, upon release of said latch, to a storage condition whereby said pivot arm rotates from said operating condition to carry the shaft of the motor in a substantially horizontal orientation with said propeller unit securely held by said propeller unit holding assembly.