Another South Bay Duckboat - ready to hunt!

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
All~




In 2015 and again in 2016, I did lots of custom work on a South Bay Duckboat. Bill Abbate brought me his boat in very good condition but wanted numerous upgrades and new features. In addition to new floorboards and the usual motor board, I raised his spray shield, added some thatch rails, added hardware, and sewed some custom canvas work. The story is here on duckboats.net at:


http://www.duckboats.net/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=272548;do=post_view;search_string=spa%20treatment#p272548

- and the images will be available until Photobucket sweeps them away sometime in the near future.


I have posted the full tale on my website - and am just giving you a taste here.


https://stevenjaysanford.com/another-south-bay-duckboat-ready-to-hunt/


PLEASE NOTE: I'm not trying to give this site short shrift. With about 100 photos, it took me over 10 hours to post this on my site - and would take almost as much to reproduce it here. I need to be out in the shop with Christmas carvings in my hands.


Late summer this year, Greg Nalbone brought me his "barn find". Greg and his gunning partner had watched this abandoned vessel on their way to hunting deer and turkeys in the Catskills for many years. Two years ago, Greg acquired it and hauled it back to Long Island. I met Greg at the South Shore Waterfowlers Association's Duckboat Show at Cedar Beach in 2016.

The South Bay Duckboat was the brainchild of John "Red" Magnus and Ray Miluk. They built them in West Sayville - several miles east of where I grew up - beginning in the 1980s. I wish I knew more of the history. I used to enjoy seeing Red at the various shows on Long Island. He now lives in western New York and I hope he is doing well. And, I hope he would approve of my attempts at getting his boats back in shape, ready-to-hunt.

The "bones" of this vessel were sound. The floor reinforcements were intact and only some "fracturing" on the deck was cause for concern. Because the boat sat outside for many years, the wooden parts all needed replacing. The motor board and thatch rails were crumbling. The floorboards were warped and perforated and were not worth salvaging. The flap boards showed signs of hard use - and the deck blocks had some rot in them. The only hardware was a pad eye on the underside of the bow - but nothing on deck. The spray shield was fine - as was the cockpit cover. Greg hauled it to Pencil Brook Farm on a brand new Load-Rite trailer - a perfect match for this boat.

CLICK on any photo to enlarge.

This heavy s/s U-bolt replaces a too-small pad eye beneath the bow.

View attachment Bow 05 - new U-bolt and backer.JPG

There were no punctures through the body - but a bunch of fractures on the deck needed grinding and reinforcing.

View attachment Hull 04 - graphite.JPG

The new thatch rails were made from Mahogany.

View attachment Thatch Rails 03 - full rails.JPG

The spray shield was made taller by several inches.

View attachment Spray Shield 03 - trimming.JPG

New flap boards were fabricated and installed.

View attachment Flap Boards 06 - finished stanchions and hinges.JPG

The floorboards were replaced.

View attachment Floorboards 10 - paint.JPG

The new motor board and central (aft) thatch rail can be seen here.

View attachment Motor Board 10 - installed and painted.JPG

Here she is in final paint - FME from Lou Tisch at Lock, Stock & Barrell.




View attachment Hull - painted 03.JPG



Every gunning boat needs a hood ornament....



View attachment Bow Handle 08 - outside.JPG





Wish I could be there for the sea trials.....


All the best,


SJS



 
Always enjoy seeing your posts Steve. I'll have to take some time and read through the full post on your site, but I did have to laugh when I saw this image on your page:

intake-d-south-bay-brochure.jpg


That just so happens to be my dad's original southbay... and we've shot quite a few birds over the years in that same spot the photo was taken way back when.
 
Craig~

Great coincidence!

Any chance you know the hull number? or when your Dad bought it?

All the best,

SJS
 
I'll find out. I know he and his twin brother had two of the first (if not THE first) south bay boats in NJ. It was definitely in the early 80s. He and most of his gunning friends all had south bays, I have some good pics of them down in Absecon and Leeds Point as they used to rent a house down that way the week of shotgun deer season to duck hunt the coast.

I have the originals from that photo shoot floating around somewhere as well.
 
Steve
Great work as always.

WHEN CAN I DROP MY SOUTH BAY OFF FOR A SPA TREATMENT ?????????

Best
Bob
 
I love the spa treatment phrase
As for the hull numbers. I spoke to Red or Ray several years ago.
They used telephone pole numbers, they did not keep records of the sales.
My hull was 108 when I asked if that was the hundred and eighth boat, he laughed
as said that was just numbers they had on hand.
The canvas hoop was made out of telephone pole cable.
Wonder what there full time job was?
 
Steve,I always enjoy seeing your “projects”, excellent job! The Magnus family lived literally around the corner from me here in West Sayville.
 
Good morning, RL~

As with many little bits - where I want the cross-grain strength of plywood, I used AC plywood. It is sealed with 2 coats of epoxy - with a bit of graphite in it.

The graphite is not truly necessary - but it provides UV protection and makes the cured epoxy easier to sand.

All the best,

SJS
 
but it provides UV protection


Steve, how is an additive in the epoxy providing this protection? I was always under the impression that the epoxy must be coated to protect it from UV.
 
What I find impressive about the SBDB is that someone who knows nothing about duck hunting or duck boats could look at the SBDB and say "I don't even know what that is, but it's cool!".....the pic of the boat floating in the barn either head on, or of the transom is case and point.
 
Steve

As usual, your work is first rate and the attention to detail inspiring. I like the simplicity of your thatch rails and may borrow them on a future build. Thanks so much for sharing.

Eric
 
Dave~

You are correct - I would never use epoxy + graphite as the ONLY UV protection. As I did on my roof rack earlier this fall - and on the decks on the South Bay - my thinking is that it would help protect the lower strata of straight resin within the matrix. Both got at least two coats of opaque paint over the epoxy + graphite.

I imagine it keeps UV away from the pure resin - but also from those resin molecules beneath the outermost skin. No data to back this up - just my usual seat-of-the-pants "engineering". It's kinda like the "wind tunnel testing" the R&D staff here at Pencil Brook Boatworks World Headquarters performed for the taller spray shield.....

(We biologists always have a way of rattling you engineers!)

BTW: How was Champlain?

All the best,

SJS
 
Good morning, Ron~

Thanks for the kind words.

I brushed the paint on. This certainly would have been a good use of my spray gun, but...I am not really set up for spraying - no spray booth or other dedicated space - and too cold outside right now.

All the best,

SJS
 
Good morning, All~

I just received these "in-use" photos from Greg Nalbone.. Greg reports that the vessel served him well over the past season - just a minor carb problem on his engine.

This might have been the Inaugural Hunt.

View attachment Nalbone - Brant and Blacks on foredeck.jpg

This Black Duck double was on the last day of the Long Island season.

View attachment Nalbone - Black Duck Double on foredeck.jpg

South Bays begin to pair up late in the season - so a new "brood" of South Bays will be ready for next Fall...

View attachment Nalbone - Pair of South Bays.jpg

...and, yet another South Bay migrated north to Pencil Brook Boatworks earlier this week for its own "spa treatment".

All the best,

SJS

 
Steve, Reading the posts and seeing work on the South Bay Duckboats is putting me in a good mood this a.m.! Far better than reading the Providence Journal. I seldom get around to complimenting you on your projects; mostly because other members beat me to it! I don't want to be redundant; maybe I should find a ditto emoji and reply that way! Anyway your hard work is noticed and appreciated "big time"!
 
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