duck boat construction questions

[carpshooterdeluxe]

i have a 16 foot fishing boat that i would like to construct a waterfowl hunting boat out of but am short on knowledge and ideas. so far i have blasted the old paint off and layed down a base coat of "marsh" brown on the outside and inside. i would like to have some type of blind material on the sides, as well as maybe a raised floor so when the dog goes in from the water our feet arent sitting in a puddle. is there any good websites available or anybody with some good plans or know how that can give me some ideas/pointers?

[J. Browne]

For the floors, rubber mats work well(the ones cashiers stand on)

- Man from St. Peter, MN He has some very good couplers and other hardware to make a good blind. It might be a little spendy, but his stuff is the best. I also purchased plastic netting for the back of the blind. It is VERY durable stuff compared to some stuff you will find at Home Depot and Menards.

I used 1/2 inch conduit for my blinds. Holds up fairly well. Cheap. A range of $2-3 for a 10 footer.

The Game fair is a good place to purchase your fastgrass and cordura if you plan on going that route.In my opinion, the original "fastgrass" is the best. The color is right. Walking down the dock on a rainy day, you can REALLY tell the fastgrass blends in near perfect compared to quick grass which was still the light tan color.

Just keep the blind as low as you can, and you will be better hid

[carpshooterdeluxe]

as far as the framing for the blind goes...ive got that all covered as i am an electrician and have a big pile of scrap conduit and fittings around. i have seen some duck boats on tv shows that had shelves built behind the blind where they stored the shotguns, ammo, and decoys...has anybody tried a setup like that? is it adding too much weight? im not sure how crazy i want to get with my setup but i really want a boat worthy of taking down to the missouri by yankton for those awesome late season mallards and geese.

[FOOT]

Carpshooter, this won't be too much help to you but I just thought I'd let you in on a rig I saw in SW Iowa one year.

Several of us Minnesotans were down by Shenendoah Iowa doing a combined Duck/Pheasant/Quail hunt. Myself and nother decided to go Pheasant/Quail hunting one afternoon. Late afternoon we were back at the boat launch area waiting for our friends. John looked at me and said "is that a vacuum I hear".

Sure enough someone was vacuuming out their duck boat. We walked over and found it was a local who does a little guiding on the side.

He has a 22 foot modified V flat bottom boat with a 75hp Evinrude. The boat was equiped with a "piano blind", 3 bunks, a 10 gallon container of fresh water, a Honda Generator, space for 300 decoys (under the bunks), TV, video camera, and an oven/stove.

He charged $200 per day per man. You could have yourself filmed shoot a duck, he would clean it and pop it in the oven, then when it was ready you could eat the duck. He would sell the video to you for $25.

Heck of a rig, but I'd prefer somethig a little more basic. The Tv si just way over the top.

[J. Browne]

I wouldnt put shelves on the frame itself. I am sure you know, conduit isnt that strong, compared to steel and alum. You already have all the weight of the fastgrass or material your going to use

Heres what i did with my boat.

i put a shelf on the left(front view) where i put my guns shell bags and whatnot. The boat is 69" wide, so i have plenty of space to put shelves in, and still have a comfortable shooting space. its an 8 foot 3/4" pine board sealed a few times. My decoys usually stay at the bow of the boat, and corkers in custom bags.

If you watch Take Em 4, Barnie goes through his boat and how he made it.

[simcox282]

I have built blinds ot conduit in the past was always having to tinker with them at the joints. Not saying it is bad just I wanted somwthing with a little more. It is a copy of somehting I saw. But anyways--- use 3/4 or 1/2 square tubing. Cut one piece that goes across the back and one piece that goes across the front. Buy four clamps attach the clamps to the cross bars. Next measure out the height you want the blind and the spacing between the sides. That will tell you where on the cross bar to attach the arm. The arm will fold out for travel and up for hunting. To the arm you attach the cross bar. IT does add a little weight but for me it is worth it. You can get the steel from discount steel for 11$ for 24 feet. One of the only good ideas I've had was to place a dry box somewhere in the boat. One thing to remember it does not take much to be strong when you are talking about a boat floor. I made that mistake and used to thick of plywood-- really adds the weight quick.

[HEUY]

Check out DUCKHUNTER.NET. It will have a lot of good ideas. Look under boats & blinds and do a search if needed.