Feature: Tallon

Installing a Tallon accessory, with Paul Tuzson

Boat manufacturers generally anticipate boat operator's needs, like drinkholders and general storage compartments. Other handy features like rodholders and bait tables are also present on most boats intended for fishing. However, there are so many things you can do in a boat, that the completely customisable, adaptable Tallon system from Mercury Marine is welcome. Tallon allows different fittings to be attached, detached and moved around to suit. The beauty of the system is that installation is so easy almost anyone can do it.

Here's how...

To avoid damaging the surface of your boat, cover the area you'll be working in with masking tape.

Check that there's enough space behind (50mm) the desired mounting point for the receiver to fit without fouling on anything. The fuel filler tube is behind the desired position, but it's far enough away to not matter - if you protect the pipe from the drill.
Set the faceplate in the desired location (as shown in pic.2) and mark the position of one hole. Use a straight edge and ruler to measure the distance of the hole from the upper surface.
This is a twin faceplate installation so the other faceplate has to be perfectly level with the first one. Use the straight edge and ruler to make it the same as the first screw hole. Set your ruler against both marks and draw a line between them.
For twin-mount Tallon accessories, the faceplates must be exactly 300mm apart. In the example shown (pic.4), we've traced the outline of the first faceplate and found the centre of it. So, 300mm from this point will be the centre of the second faceplate.
The holes for the fixing screws aren't in the middle of the faceplate, but the hole for the receiver unit must be. Measure from top to bottom of the outline and find the halfway mark. It's actually 32.5mm from either the top or bottom edge. This is where you'll centre the hole saw.
Drill a small pilot hole for the relatively large pilot bit in the centre of the hole saw. Doing so minimizes the chance of the hole saw skating across the surface. Of course, the masking tape helps prevent this too.
Cut your holes with a 50mm hole saw (as shown in pic.7). You can see through the first hole that there's a bit of a 'lip' where the inner panel is turned up a bit for extra strength. This also had to be cut through.

Once your holes are cut, you can remove the protective masking tape. Of course, this also removes your alignment marks, but there's another method for aligning the receivers.
Set both receivers in place (as shown in pic.8). The Tallon installation video suggests holding the lock nut and turning the receiver to tighten it. However, you can also hold the receiver and turn the lock nut.
Just nip up the lock nuts so that they're firm, but so you can still turn the receivers. Use a straight edge to ensure all four holes for the mounting screws line up and then tighten the locking nut. They should only be hand tight.
Drill 3.5mm pilot holes through the receiver flanges, boat lining and locking nut flange. If you'd left your masking tape in place for marking and alignment purposes, you'd loosen both receivers just enough to remove the tape and then re-tighten the receivers so that the holes lined up once again.
Each faceplate comes with a rubber gasket. Stretch it around the faceplate (as shown in pic.11) and set the faceplate in position against the boat lining so that the screw holes line up.

Use a square driver bit to tighten the self-tapping screws supplied. Don't over tighten the screws and make sure you've fitted the square rubber seal before setting the faceplate in place.
The receivers take a number of different fittings. These connectors feature locking cams for added security. Note how the rubber protectors flip down out of the way. Attaching the various fittings is extremely easy. The connectors go from very loose to completely firm as they settle into place.
In this case a bait table is pushed onto the connectors. As the twin receivers are exactly 300mm apart, any of the Tallon dual connector accessories will fit.

Tallon faceplates come in 316 stainless steel white and black finishes. The range of products includes just about every sort of holder hook you could want. There are even powered receivers.

You can check out the full range and an installation video by visiting www.mercurymarine.com.au in the products section. There's also a list of distributors.

Feature: Tallon

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