Larry and Merrill Dougherty
Pic 5: So here's the technical stuff. We chose EMT conduit for the frame. It's weldable, strong, not bulky, and cheap. The roof is supported here by a parallel four-bar linkage, which generates a path that avoids the hunter's heads during the entire range of motion. Also the right half of the roof folds over onto the left to take up very little room above the gunnel. The roof has a bar suspended from it, near Merrill's head, from which the side netting is hung. This yields the consistent gap b/t the roof seen in Pic 1.
The bent bar on the opposite side of the boat suspends the other side's netting and falls simultaneously with the roof. Pic 6: One of the goals was not to drill into Larry's new boat. In conjunction with wanting the entire blind to fold out of the way when not in use, we came up with these four brackets. The pin with the ring is pulled out and the vertical piece can fold 90° towards the bow. The brackets are symmetric and allow the storage of the collapsed blind on the gunwale. The brackets grasp onto the round part of the gunnel with inner tube to damp out vibration and discourage wear of the soft aluminum. Other vibrational considerations include either the use of jam nuts on all bolts or welding to prevent loosening of fasteners.
Pic 7: The adjustable trigger assembly (stern)above is where the real action is. The two bars to the right (holding the roof)are spring loaded towards the right, the bar to the left just falls to the left, there is a welded stop(upper left). The white cord is the only trigger needed to collapse the entire blind!(the left bar is only supported at the stern) The action of the left bar falling pulls the brown cord through the eyelet releasing the roof latch. There is a similar eyelet/latch mechanism at the bow that provides the simultaneous release of the four-bar. The spring force is achieved with matching bungee cords, one at the bow and one at the stern.
Pic 8: The position of the blind when the pins are pulled from the brackets in Pic 6. The entire blind translates towards the bow and meets the gunnel. This action is skipped when getting cripples, the brackets are plenty sturdy to run with blind as seen in Pic 9.
Pic 9: Powered by "Duck-n-Rude", our rock and log bouncing 6hp pissed off pitchfork motor. The main motor is a 25 hp yamaha. The boat has random duck heads stenciled by Larry's mom. Recent additions include double burner propane stove with a vented hood for Merrill's kitchen in the bow. Hanging spice rack, cooler, and fold away prep table. It has also been hypothesized that sausage gravy and biscuits is better than a motion decoy. A toilet paper roll holder may be added if the need presents itself.
A Quick Dougherty Bio:
Larry and Merrill are cousins and next door neighbors separated by one year. They were brought up in hunting households in Havre de Grace, Maryland. This area has a deep hunting history, the "Decoy Capital of the World". Home to the Susquehanna Flats at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. Characterized by 12 sq. miles of hard sand bottom with an average depth of 3.5 feet, with an assortment of hunting from big water in the bay to swift rocky waters below the Conowingo Dam. The flats have seen the market gunning days of sculling, sink boxing, Lantern gunning, platform gunning, and body booting. All were hunting methods used by their parents. The only method passed down was body-booting. They still currently maintain a body-booting rig, and have good success. Body-booting is characterized by the wearing of Neoprene ice entry suits and standing directly on bottom at a sand bar on the flats. A chase boat waits outside the rig to retrieve and watch for ice and tidal changes. The gunners in the rig hide behind sillywets of geese on a pole with a shell box and gun rack on one side amongst Canadian blocks. Duck decoys are put out adjacent the Canadians.
Larry is a Civil Engineering student at University of Delaware with a graduation date of spring 2001. Merrill is a Mechanical Engineering student also at UD to graduate in spring 2002.