I installed the bracket I purchased from from Merrit Marine. I cut the shim in half and placed both pieces between the hull and bracket to provide a solid, level mount. I had to trim a corner off one side of one shim. I was able to through bolt 3 of the holes in the MinnKota mount (the mount which lets you remove the troll motor). I used a 4 1/8" hole saw which worked fine. I ground off the tip of a 1' spade bit, used on a cordless drill, to carve out the foam. I used fender washers with the nut epoxed to the fender washer - this made it much esier to start the washer w/ nut. I installed more through bolts than provided for in the kit and used liberal amount of Rule cement on everything - I probably overbuilt but the mount is absolutely solid. It was a challenge to work through the 4' hole and took two of us to start the nuts - one holding topside and the guy with the longest arm starting the nuts. I did take some photos - if you get me your e mail, I will try to retrieve them and send them to you - hope this helps although you may be into it right now and sorry I didn't catch your post until today.
Tom_klein@hughes.net