Duck Boat Building Thread-Updated 1-4-14-ON THE WATER!
- Thread starter Jon Yenulonis
- Start date
Jon Yenulonis
Well-known member
Got out the paintbrush over the last couple nights.
Went out to the local Big Box Store and had them mix a little paint for me. I got a quart of exterior house paint for the coming, and incidentals. Then the paint guru mixed a gallon of Deck and Concrete Restore for me in the same hue. That took a little coaxing. They have a series of manufacturer recommended color charts, but aren't really supposed to custom mix this stuff. So far, I think he did good. Looks pretty darn close to me. I really like this stuff for other uses but I'll have to see how it works for this application. It's VERY thick and a little difficult to work with. I think it's basically a thick paint with a lot of very fine silica sand mixed in. You pretty much HAVE to roll it on with a special roller. I tried brushing, but it doesn't work. However, after rolling, it looks like a bad hairdo. Then you can carefully "lay-it-out" with a brush to smooth it over. It still retains a lot of texture however. But I think I'll like it here.
The tools of the trade...
Bow piece. The "blotching" is actually some of the coating drying before the rest.
The whole lot-
One of the doors-
A little more painting yet to do, then on to the canvas, (Cordura), part of the project!
Jon
Went out to the local Big Box Store and had them mix a little paint for me. I got a quart of exterior house paint for the coming, and incidentals. Then the paint guru mixed a gallon of Deck and Concrete Restore for me in the same hue. That took a little coaxing. They have a series of manufacturer recommended color charts, but aren't really supposed to custom mix this stuff. So far, I think he did good. Looks pretty darn close to me. I really like this stuff for other uses but I'll have to see how it works for this application. It's VERY thick and a little difficult to work with. I think it's basically a thick paint with a lot of very fine silica sand mixed in. You pretty much HAVE to roll it on with a special roller. I tried brushing, but it doesn't work. However, after rolling, it looks like a bad hairdo. Then you can carefully "lay-it-out" with a brush to smooth it over. It still retains a lot of texture however. But I think I'll like it here.
The tools of the trade...
Bow piece. The "blotching" is actually some of the coating drying before the rest.
The whole lot-
One of the doors-
A little more painting yet to do, then on to the canvas, (Cordura), part of the project!
Jon
Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Jon~
Now you're just teasing us! Can't wait to see all those parts - with their great color - put together.
Standing by,
SJS
Now you're just teasing us! Can't wait to see all those parts - with their great color - put together.
Standing by,
SJS
Wesley Bouchelle
Active member
Looks great!!!!
Allen Doubles
New member
WOW Looks great!!!
MLBob Furia
Well-known member
Thanks for taking the time to record and post all that, Jon.
Looks like a great setup.
Looks like a great setup.
Troy Fields
Well-known member
Looking forward to the end results.
Jon Yenulonis
Well-known member
Since the weather around these parts just pretty much sucks as of late, I have had some time to continue the work on my rig.
It is actually starting to look like something now! I can't believe how much work I have in this thing with plenty to go yet.
When I originally started this project, the plan was to start with what I had on hand to keep costs at a minimum. I've been saving pieces and parts for this project for years. I've been saving plastic "quick disconnect" buckles for instance. I have been collecting up hardware, wood, some of the aluminum, and misc. incidentals. Well, as of right now, much to my Wife's dismay, I will have pretty close to $1000 in just the deck/blind combination.
I figured I'd post up a couple new pics of her so far...
Here is a shot of the vertical poles after laying them out. Of note, I am getting in a time crunch. Eventually these will have aluminum brackets for strength. While I am doing 99.9% of this work myself, there are a couple things I will have to farm out. One will be the brackets for the poles.
Finally- a couple pieces of Cordura!. Another note-I sewed these particular side pieces at home after taking careful measurements. I must've done something right. They fit almost too perfect. They're pretty tight. Not much wiggle room.
Here is the bow canvas. This is the only part that is pretty much finished so far.
A couple more shots.
Thanks for looking.
Until next time...
Jon
It is actually starting to look like something now! I can't believe how much work I have in this thing with plenty to go yet.
When I originally started this project, the plan was to start with what I had on hand to keep costs at a minimum. I've been saving pieces and parts for this project for years. I've been saving plastic "quick disconnect" buckles for instance. I have been collecting up hardware, wood, some of the aluminum, and misc. incidentals. Well, as of right now, much to my Wife's dismay, I will have pretty close to $1000 in just the deck/blind combination.
I figured I'd post up a couple new pics of her so far...
Here is a shot of the vertical poles after laying them out. Of note, I am getting in a time crunch. Eventually these will have aluminum brackets for strength. While I am doing 99.9% of this work myself, there are a couple things I will have to farm out. One will be the brackets for the poles.
Finally- a couple pieces of Cordura!. Another note-I sewed these particular side pieces at home after taking careful measurements. I must've done something right. They fit almost too perfect. They're pretty tight. Not much wiggle room.
Here is the bow canvas. This is the only part that is pretty much finished so far.
A couple more shots.
Thanks for looking.
Until next time...
Jon
Jon Yenulonis
Well-known member
I managed to get all of the canvas completed, lights wired, cover hatch semi-completed and even though she needs a few little "punch list" items, I took her home Friday night around 9:30 pm. We were to leave for Virginia around 5 am Saturday! Spent the next hour at the house loading the rig up for our much anticipated annual trip to Virginia's Eastern Shore to visit, relax, eat some terrific seafood, and HUNT!
Unfortunately for me, the Ducks weren't where I was on this trip. We only managed a few out of her. My first Duck was a beautiful drake Surf Scoter. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of that bird. Oh well, I think there will be many more. Or at least I hope so.
I thought I would post a couple pics of the relatively finished product.
Here she is travelling- here you can see the hatch. It offers a bit of security, protection from the weather, and most of all, keeps all of the gear safely inside the boat while traveling down the road. Even though I don't believe I've ever lost anything from blowing out of the boat, I've always had that fear.
Here we are hunting a favorite point in the Bay. This is high tide, VERY high tide. Normally at high, this point is still about 6-8 inches out of water. Not to worry, about an hour after I snapped this, it was a foot out of water.
And it wouldn't be a duck hunting trip without a fresh, hot meal!
On the agenda for the "off-season" is to add a rub rail, grassing strips of some sort on the canvas, paint the poles, beef up the vertical pole points, and a few incidentals. Overall I, and the guys I hunted with, are very happy with the way things turned out. I LOVE MY NEW BOAT!
Thanks for following along,
Jon
Unfortunately for me, the Ducks weren't where I was on this trip. We only managed a few out of her. My first Duck was a beautiful drake Surf Scoter. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of that bird. Oh well, I think there will be many more. Or at least I hope so.
I thought I would post a couple pics of the relatively finished product.
Here she is travelling- here you can see the hatch. It offers a bit of security, protection from the weather, and most of all, keeps all of the gear safely inside the boat while traveling down the road. Even though I don't believe I've ever lost anything from blowing out of the boat, I've always had that fear.
Here we are hunting a favorite point in the Bay. This is high tide, VERY high tide. Normally at high, this point is still about 6-8 inches out of water. Not to worry, about an hour after I snapped this, it was a foot out of water.
And it wouldn't be a duck hunting trip without a fresh, hot meal!
On the agenda for the "off-season" is to add a rub rail, grassing strips of some sort on the canvas, paint the poles, beef up the vertical pole points, and a few incidentals. Overall I, and the guys I hunted with, are very happy with the way things turned out. I LOVE MY NEW BOAT!
Thanks for following along,
Jon
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Steve Steffy
Well-known member
Looking good Jon...all that hard work finally got to pay off. I know that spot in your picture. You'll have to haul the boat over for the summer duckboat/decoy get together. I think we need to get boats wet this year.
Steve
Steve
KThompson
Active member
Good looking blind and thanks for the build tutorial!
As a side note/tangent, I find it interesting to see how people across the country set decoys and place boats/blinds on different bodies of water. Primarily when seeing pics from folks "up North" I notice that many of yall don't need to conceal your boats as much as we do in AL and MS to get birds to work on public waters. Referencing your last photo, there's no way I could get a duck within 150 yards of our setup without using a layout blind or laying in that grass covered with camo material... then I'd have to walk the boat at least 150yds away and cover it with netting/material next to the bank. Like I said... complete tangent.
As a side note/tangent, I find it interesting to see how people across the country set decoys and place boats/blinds on different bodies of water. Primarily when seeing pics from folks "up North" I notice that many of yall don't need to conceal your boats as much as we do in AL and MS to get birds to work on public waters. Referencing your last photo, there's no way I could get a duck within 150 yards of our setup without using a layout blind or laying in that grass covered with camo material... then I'd have to walk the boat at least 150yds away and cover it with netting/material next to the bank. Like I said... complete tangent.
Jon, looks like you had a good view of the causeway. That can be a good spot, but there havent been many brant around at all. I take it you were here for the duckwater get together? One of those guys pulled up to a ramp on the Chesapeake with a 25ft boat pushed by a 225hp. Dont know who he was but he thought highly of himself tp put it nicely. We had just pulled our 16ft rig out of the water. Granted the wind was blowing pretty hard. This guy made it 100yds from the dock, took a couple good sprays over the bow and came back white as a ghost. Welcome to the bay!!!!
Not to knock Jon's rig as he's done a fine job but typically we wouldnt hunt a blind like that here for anything other than brant and dippers. Especially late season the puddle ducks and geese are going to pick that apart. Not saying it wont kill birds ever but its no different than further down south.
Not to knock Jon's rig as he's done a fine job but typically we wouldnt hunt a blind like that here for anything other than brant and dippers. Especially late season the puddle ducks and geese are going to pick that apart. Not saying it wont kill birds ever but its no different than further down south.
Jon Yenulonis
Well-known member
Actually, I wasn't there for the Duckwater Jamboree. I didn't find out about it until I saw all of the DW boats rolling in. I know the Manufacturer pretty well and rang him up. I've attended others. It's too bad I didn't know. Overall, most of them are a pretty good group of guys, all passionate about a common cause.
You are certainly correct about the Brant. We saw very few. Non within shooting range. We didn't even see may Dippers. At least not like years past.
And while people may argue, my old boat looked very similar, just a little smaller. And while one may shoot a bird or two more in places where I cannot get into, we've never had a problem killing Canada Geese, Black Ducks, Mallards or any other kind of "smart Duck" out of her, on the Island or anywhere else. We just had zero opportunities this trip. As I stated above though, I am planning on attaching some grassing rails to both the deck and canvas this off-season to help with hiding her.
Thanks for your thoughts. I do this all for fun.
Jon
You are certainly correct about the Brant. We saw very few. Non within shooting range. We didn't even see may Dippers. At least not like years past.
And while people may argue, my old boat looked very similar, just a little smaller. And while one may shoot a bird or two more in places where I cannot get into, we've never had a problem killing Canada Geese, Black Ducks, Mallards or any other kind of "smart Duck" out of her, on the Island or anywhere else. We just had zero opportunities this trip. As I stated above though, I am planning on attaching some grassing rails to both the deck and canvas this off-season to help with hiding her.
Thanks for your thoughts. I do this all for fun.
Jon
Capt. Frank Miller
Active member
Great job very impressive.
Kevin Puls
Well-known member
I had the good fortune to hunt out of this boat this winter in VA. I have a new boat myself but it is Sanford and son compared to this rig. Stable, seaworthy, and fast.
I of course broke a part of it on the first day. I saw a part of Johns heart wither and die a little when it happened.
It was a shame about the brant. I didn't see one within 800 yards myself. John is definitely a craftsman. Everyone owes it to themselves to check out the aluminum work if they can.
I of course broke a part of it on the first day. I saw a part of Johns heart wither and die a little when it happened.
It was a shame about the brant. I didn't see one within 800 yards myself. John is definitely a craftsman. Everyone owes it to themselves to check out the aluminum work if they can.