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Good morning, All~ We enjoyed a nice "first real snowfall" of the Winter a few days ago - about 8 inches of dry flakes. After cleaning up and preparing for a deeper dive by Mr. Mercury - spurred on by crystal clear skies under a very full moon.... ...my thoughts turned to the pursuit of a...

Good morning, All~ This is a long post about oarlock stanchions. I have restored and customized a bunch of South Bay Duckboats - and finally was asked to set one up for rowing. I was happy to do so - because I would not leave terra firma in any small vessel that did not have a truly reliable...

All~ I just completed the restoration and customizing - my "spa treatment" - for another South Bay Duckboat: One of the features I have added is an "underdeck storage tray" - which I have made for other South Bays where the owner placed the gas tank up forward, beneath the foredeck. This...

Good morning, All~ Member Ed L. is contemplating a sit-up blind for one of his gunning vessels - and asked me for some details. I cannot recall how much of the process I posted here previously - I did the work in late-2022 - but a search revealed just snippets. So, rather than a true...

Dave Diefenderfer et al~ Here are some beach rollers - like ones that I have used as long as I can remember. My Dad mostly used them for launching his Great South Bay Ice Scooter off the beach and onto the half-frozen bay, but I have used them many times where there was no ramp and for simply...

Good morning, All~ Dax Hinton recently asked me how difficult it would be to draw plans to build an existing gunning boat - specifically the sweet "Midwest Gunning Skiffs" (my term) he found recently in a museum (?). The short answer, I suppose, is very difficult. It is usually the province...

Good morning, All~ This post may be "NDR" - because my latest canoe (I am inching toward 20 such vessels....) may get the "yacht" treatment rather than my default gunning boat treatment. This was an impulse buy - which I came across on Facebook Marketplace. It was available about 10 miles...

Good morning, All~ This post probably belongs in the "Workbench" or Carvers Corner - but it's my usual mix of history and "how I do it". So, it's a bit of a hybrid - as are the stars of this tale. I recently purchased this pair - of what Herter's would call Bluebills and I would call...

Bob~ In light of your extensive knowledge of traditional canoes - and your geography - I thought of you when a friend brought over these old "raquettes"...... (As you can see, I should have put the right-footed shoe to starboard - and vicey-versey with the left footed litter-mate.) These...

All~ As many of you have no doubt learned, the life of a Duckboat Detective can be unpredictable.... Sometimes the “evidence” comes to you out of the blue. In classic noir detective stories, the clue would arrive “over the transom”…. Just last night I got an e-mail from an old...

All~ My Dad bought 7 Model Canada Bluebill decoys from Herter's right after WW II. These were Herter's oversize decoys with balsa bodies. After he replaced them with (dozens of) the foam-bodied Model 72s - for gunning Broadbill on Great South Bay - he asked me to convert them to Whistlers -...

All~ The last several days hereabout have been dominated by a visitor from Europe - a lone Taiga Bean Goose. I finally got to see it this morning. I have known about the Bean Goose for most of my adult life. Although we do not have any of the "Greylag complex" of geese - members of the genus...

All~ Some recent e-mails and other communications have put me in an especially reflective mood. I shake my head in wonder when I learn of the many connections that keep my life-long passion fully-nourished. Although I had truly anemic season hereabouts, I am in full swing preparing for the...

All~ As we continue to prepare for the March 8 Long Island Decoy Collectors Annual Show, I keep running into a few uncertainties. I have a bunch of old catalogs - running from ~1946 into the early '70s - but cannot nail down one particular decoy model. This is the bird in question. I cannot...

All (and especially Eric)~ Just yesterday morning I got a note from Eric that gave me a lead on a fine old decoy anchor made by D. C. Sanford Company of Bridgeport, CT. Eric thought I might like to add it to my "collection" of such anchors. I have about 80 decoy anchors - most of which I have...

All~ I have been in Berlin, Germany, with my daughter's family since before Christmas. Susan and I will be returning to the farm in a few days. So, I thought I'd give a brief update - on the tail end of 2024 and the start of 2025 - with respect to my world of waterfowl. I have been away from...

All~ I recently got an inquiry about the model number for a line of decoys that Herter's sold later in their long run as a maker/purveyor of gunning decoys. I recall this line from the 1970s and maybe 1980s, I think. Here's a Bluebill (Broadbill preferred!): Here's a Canada. Both were...

All~ I suppose I am known as an Old School fellow - and I cannot deny that characterization - even embrace it. Nevertheless, I try to keep an open mind and am always on the lookout for true improvements - or at least sound alternatives. Thus, I have put webbing on recent duckboat restorations...

Good morning, All~ The title of this thread came fom Jode Hillman at Tuckerton this year. I believe I had posted here about the merits of TrailerCoat - now RustLok - a Pettit brand paint originally made for galvanized trailers. I have been using it for over 30 years. I hauled the JAMES...

All~ Perhaps this post should be in Work Bench - but I thought I'd give a bit of back story along with this recent "chore" - accomplished recently in the midst of several duckboat restorations. American architect Louis Sullivan long ago stated a fundamental rule of good design: “It is the...