Question on a David Clark boat

Ed L.

Ed L.

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I have a 1240 flat bottom with a small mud motor on it. I have found a place id like to access which requires a trip across open water from 1000 to 1200 yards on the Mississippi river where waves can whip up in a heart beat. I'm going to build a deck on my boat similar to how David Clark builds his Garveys. Has anyone seen the frame work he uses for his canvas like in this photo.
 

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Be careful Ed, you could make a 1240 top heavy real quick by adding structure.
 
It uses curved aluminum tubing with bimini hardware. I'll have to see if I have any old pictures of that blind setup as that's my boat in the pictures. There was no easy way to drop the canvas, which made picking up decoys a bit difficult, but otherwise that rig was great. It was a modified Devlin cackler built by Dave.
 
Carl said:
Be careful Ed, you could make a 1240 top heavy real quick by adding structure.
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Thanks Carl. Good thought. I wouldn't use cedar boards like David does. Probably more along the lines if 1x2 or 1x3 Douglas fir with the 1/4" waterproof underlayment that Menards sells. Then sealed and painted.
 
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Craig F said:
It uses curved aluminum tubing with bimini hardware. I'll have to see if I have any old pictures of that blind setup as that's my boat in the pictures. There was no easy way to drop the canvas, which made picking up decoys a bit difficult, but otherwise that rig was great. It was a modified Devlin cackler built by Dave.
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Thanks Craig. Leaning over picking up decoys was in my thoughts. I was thinking about a Flyways Specialty style frame where they connect in the middle so you could drop a side for access. Just worried about a broad side wave and the structure being stout enough to take it.
 
Craig F said:
Here's one picture I found, you can see how sturdy the canvas was:

View attachment 52968
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I have no way of sewing canvas so it wouldn't fit that tight but have planned to add snaps around the cockpit. There is a custom sewing guy around here and have been thinking of getting a quote to have him sew a loop like you see in curtains to accept a piece of tubing. That looks good. Do you still have the boat?
 
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Ed L. said:
Thanks Craig. Leaning over picking up decoys was in my thoughts. I was thinking about a Flyways Specialty style frame where they connect in the middle so you could drop a side for access. Just worried about a broad side wave and the structure being stout enough to take it.
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Carry a commercial Watermans pot hook in boat for grabbing decoy lines. That will solve the not being able to reach decoys by blind side height issue. If you pick up dead birds by boat a fishing net does the trick. You can get the pot hooks in up to 8' lengths and made of aluminum tubing/sealed at ends they'll actually float if dropped overboard and weight almost nothing.
 
90 percent of the time, I pick up my decoys using my duck foot push pole. A sweep under the decoy, hooks the line just above the connection between the duck foot and the pole. Easy to reach over my blind or out the ends of the boat.
full

I very rarely leave the boat to set or pickup decoys.
 
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roy brewington said:
Carry a commercial Watermans pot hook in boat for grabbing decoy lines. That will solve the not being able to reach decoys by blind side height issue. If you pick up dead birds by boat a fishing net does the trick. You can get the pot hooks in up to 8' lengths and made of aluminum tubing/sealed at ends they'll actually float if dropped overboard and weight almost nothing.
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Thanks Roy. I do have a telescoping dip net that I use in the canoe. It folds as well for storage.
 
Huntindave McCann said:
90 percent of the time, I pick up my decoys using my duck foot push pole. A sweep under the decoy, hooks the line just above the connection between the duck foot and the pole. Easy to reach over my blind or out the ends of the boat.
full

I very rarely leave the boat to set or pickup decoys.
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I bought one of those telescoping hooks for decoys. It's more of a pain in the butt. I have used my push pole as well. Thanks Dave.
 
I don't have the boat any longer, I sold it a long time ago. I think in the last year or so Dave had reacquired it and touched it up and sold it. I debated if I wanted to buy it back, but I have too many boats!

Poles and nets work great, but for my style of hunting I like to be able to drop the canvas completely while picking up or setting decoys by hand as it gives me better control as well as reduces the wind factor on the boat itself as we're often gunning in breezy conditions. I'm also rarely running more than a dozen or so decoys.
 
Craig F said:
I don't have the boat any longer, I sold it a long time ago. I think in the last year or so Dave had reacquired it and touched it up and sold it. I debated if I wanted to buy it back, but I have too many boats!

Poles and nets work great, but for my style of hunting I like to be able to drop the canvas completely while picking up or setting decoys by hand as it gives me better control as well as reduces the wind factor on the boat itself as we're often gunning in breezy conditions. I'm also rarely running more than a dozen or so decoys.
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I haven't drawn a duck blind in our area since returning from Florida 10 years ago. I'm hunting smaller waters now and only use 1 doz and a half duck decoys and a 1/2 doz goose floaters. Using a mud motor can make it interesting on a breezy day so most of the time I like a 8' kayak paddle in my small boat. I sometimes use that for picking up decoys but with rounded edges it can be a struggle.
 
Eric Patterson said:
You NJ guys get all the breaks...
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We run 12-14 decoys because that's about the largest group of ducks we see most of the time lol.

Mud, tides, wind, pressured birds, are all the norm here.

In all honesty though, our public land access and overall hunting regs for waterfowl are pretty open.
 
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