Bankes...grass or leave as is ?

B

Bill Abbate

Active member
Just dropped off the 14' Bankes Dominator that I purchased in March at Salem Boat Exchange in Pennsville, NJ; at the suggestion of Michael Bankes. I'm having a new 40 hp Yamaha put on this week. I'm not sure if the boat should be grassed. I've seen quite a few and none were grassed. My Momarsh Fatboy DP is grassed and it hides well. Any thoughts on grassing the Bankes would be highly appreciated. Also, I guess that I have to try and paint the new engine to match the gel coat on the hull. any suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks in advance.
 
It all depends on what type of hunting you are doing.... If you are gunning sea ducks on open water, dont grass it. If you intend to use the boat to gun puddle ducks in the marsh, grassing it will allow the boat to blend in better.
 
Bill - Match the habitat you're hunting. If you're hunting marshy grassy areas, grass it. If you're hunting open water or dark shorelines, best to leave it alone.

Just my 2 cents. Hope you and Jen are well. Pat
 
When I painted my new boat i built 3 years ago i wanted to have a paint job that I could use on the open water and be able to brush it out for hunting shorelines,

As the others have said just match it to your surroundings, the banke's are great boats, I would have bought one several years ago but after meeting a retired boat builder from Alaska who had moved to Ellensburg,who then offered to help me build what I wanted in a duck boat I couldn't say no. You have one of the best duck boats ever made, there is no limit to what you can do with it as far as hiding it in the marsh

This year I added spring loaded flip lids to hide even better from the high flying puddle ducks.


Here is the "beaver hut" after paint



Grassed out

 
Bill~

If you're gunning LI waters, I would thatch it up with Cordgrass (the longer of the 2 main species of saltmarsh grasses thereabouts) for anything other than open bay/ocean gunning. It's the tall stuff in the background below - and it's LOTS faster to cut a bunch of Cordgrass than the finer Salt Hay.


SJSSneakboxBlind-gunningflapdown_zps95868947.jpg


I would much rather cover the engine than paint it. I used a white Johnson for many years. Because it was white, I made sure to cover it every time I got set to hunt. This cover shown here was burlap with bundles of Cordgrass lashed to it. I sewed up a new one last year from Sunbrella - because it'll last longer - but the idea is the same.

Although you can fool some birds some of the time, I prefer to play the percentages. I try try to cover every visible inch of the boat with hay. And, I think it's important to provide cover from above.

SJSSneakboxBlind-flapsup_zps5c427b54.jpg


When the shooting flap is up - in the hiding position - the grass almost meets overhead - so those circling Black Ducks cannot look right down into the cockpit.

Hope this helps!

SJS
 
I can shoot all the greater scaup I want with my 19 foot bankes just like it came from Michael's shop. I just need to make sure its up against a point or position so it doesn't have a background. But like Fred said, for decoying dabblers who are coming in high, you need to grass the boat or at least the cockpit so the birds aren't looking into a hole.
 
Don't paint the engine. God forbid you want to sell it. ask bankes to make a cover for it or go cheap w a couple peices of burlap. I have a TDB 17 and I grass it for everything except seaducks. I used to use 8 peices of fast grass to camo. The a couple of native veg to put in the top loops to cove the cockpit area.

Good luck w the boat.

Phil
 
If you are gunning the south shore I will skirt it and grass it.
The first year I only grassed the canvas and paid the price.
After a couple of outing I started covering the hole boat then started shooting birds.
What engine?
Did you get the power tilt and trim with electric start, and tiller?
 
A buddy of mine who hunts the Hamptons area told me they are painting their hull sides black to match the bank mud, makes sense!, now we just have to glue on a bunch of bank mussels and drill a lot of holes to mimick fiddler crab burrows. By the way, are there any bank mussels and fiddler crabs around any more? Rich
 
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I another running a Bankes boat, but I did decide to change my camo pattern on the boat to what you describe. The lower half is mud brown to match the banks and the upper portion is various colors of grass overlapping. The raffia from the sides hangs down off the gunwhale to break the profile. I am finding it is pretty effective.

Bill, I got our call. Thanks for getting back to me. I am at duck camp for the week. I will let you know how I make out.

Chad
 
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