I also have a 14' boat and I built the floor then built a raised section that was level with the walls of the boat and wrapped it in carpet, I made a door so I could access underneath and stow the battery, drilled a hole under the foot pedal to hide wiring. I have a 47pd thrust motorguide with a 42'' shaft and it goes anywhere I want. I didn't mount my motor so that it sat center because I would've lost alot of floor space, the 42'' shaft sits nice and low I've never had problems with it being in my way Heres a pic to give you an idea of how I set this up. The motor isn't all the way down in the pic.