The board is slightly over 8" wide I think. I would need to measure to be sure. I just used the chunk of unfinished marine ply for the lower portion of the motor to mount to. I am going to replace it with a machined aluminum plate this spring. The transom boards are finished with 11 coats of spar varnish, nothing special, just varnish, shiny and flexible. I can take measurements or trace the old boards on paper if I can't find the paper templates I used. I bought a really pretty piece of highly-figured, quarter-sawn white oak for the dash cover. It will replace the varnished marine ply dash plate I made to cover all the drilled out mess that previous owners, and the dealership I had install the hydraulic steering had made of the original dash. The ICON Pro guage in my dash is multifunction, tach, speed, fuel level, fuel economy, all in one, so I won't have to drill any more holes. I still haven't decided how the interior is to be laid out. I am leaning towards a couple coolers with seat tops behind the front seat towers, and two removable pedestal captains chairs with flush mounted mounts for the back. The other thing I did do when I had the interior out is paint every seam and rivet with gluvit. The whole hull is sealed just in case. I have no idea if it leaked before, but I did it anyway. I'm very happy with it so far, it will see the Mississippi at least four days a week when it warms up, that's when the fine tuning starts.