Old guy and wife, retired just starting out fishing, in the small rivers and bayou's in Southeastern Louisiana.
I opted for the 10 foot long plastic Pelican Bass Raider 10E as something small enough for the wife and I to manhandle but still have room to fish.
Reviews showed it to be stable enough we shouldn't drown and more room than a two person Kayak.
It wasn't long before I got the bug to start modifying it though.
One trip with paddles (better than a gym membership), then a 30lb Mini-Kota, and now a 3.5hp Mercury.
(this may not be the last in propulsion).
My first modification, which I recommend to anyone putting an outboard on the back of the 10E, was to tame transom flex.
Using my GoogleFu i saw that flex was a common problem especially with the 3.5 (or bigger) and two people and lots of necessary stuff.
A couple pics of my mod, using standard aluminum mill strips and angles, attached to the inside vertical plastic with slotted well nuts (open into a cross on the inside). Since these would have the tendency to 'pull out' of the plastic in tension, all loads should be seen as shear. I still had a little flex so I extended the aluminum to the seat rails so my weight would help. The wood is exterior ground contact 3/4" ply. It is connected to the transom with an aluminum angle and 3 diagonal braces in tension. Looked good but needed testing
To test the Transom mod, which came in under 7 pounds, I attached a rope to the motor at the prop centerline and using a small digital crane scale applied forward force in increments of 30lbs up to 150lbs.
Here is a link to an edited Youtube video showing the test.
