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Hey All,

I recently repowered my 2004 Ventura 180.

The original motor was a 115 Mercury, and the boat was equipped flush-mount/concealed side controls.

I replaced the Mercury with a 2019 Suzuki 150, and new controls will be needed.

The cutout for the original controls is quite a bit larger than the new concealed controls that Suzuki sells.

My question for you would be this:

Would you guys recommend switching to a standard side-mount control which can easily install on the outside of the existing mounting hole to cover it, or should I cover the existing hole with some kind of mounting plate, and attach new concealed controls to that.
Personally, I feel the clean look of concealed controls is lost when you install a mounting plate. What do you guys think?

Also, is there a product you guys recommend I use to fabricate the plate if I go that route? Should such plate be epoxied, bolted, or 5200'd to the fiberglass it covers?

Thanks!

Note: I tried attaching a reference photo, but I'm getting an "Invalid attachment filename or filesize." when trying to attach a 2MB .jpg image.