BBSB Back on the Water

Gregg Kurz

Gregg Kurz

Active member
Hi all, long time no post eh? I bought this Bud Miles boat through Steve Sutton about 12 years ago. I think it was brought to the west coast by Louie Patenkok.


View attachment IMG_0140.jpegView attachment IMG_0141.jpeg

I hunted it for a couple years and tolerated the leaky polyester glass until I just couldn't take it anymore. I stripped all the poly glass off, which came off in huge sheets as it never really bonded, and then promptly got occupied with other ventures in life. The boat would sit in the shop and I'd putter away at doing little bits and pieces when other projects weren't at the forefront. It only took a little over a decade for me to finally get it finished my satisfaction.



View attachment IMG_1371.jpegView attachment IMG_1372.jpegView attachment IMG_1373.jpegView attachment IMG_1659.jpegView attachment IMG_1675.jpegView attachment IMG_1679.jpeg

I was little hesitant to put it in the water because it looked so nice with the perfect finish but hey, it's a duck boat so scratches and dings are part of the game. I made the first voyage a big one by taking my 7 mo. old pup Grizzly out for his first ever duck hunt. Griz did great with the boat ride, throwing out long lines and waiting patiently for birds to come in and got to make his first real duck retrieves on the Columbia.

As we sat there watching the decoys I was running through my catalog of memories of hunting with Steve from our little boats...bluebills and pintails on Padilla, brant at Willipa, mallards on Moses Lake and many many others. I remembered the retrieves of our dogs Buddy and Drake early on and Mike and Copper later. I remembered the conversations and laughter we shared and I couldn't help but smile. It was a good day for both old and new memories.



View attachment GLK_2962.jpegView attachment GLK_2972.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Looking good Gregg. Did you get the pup in state? I got one about the same time. Boat looks great. Got birds up there?
 
Hi Brad. Thanks!
Grizzly is the son of my 10 year old male Copper and a local friends titled female. I got to help deliver the pups and watch their personalities develop over those first seven weeks before taking my pick from the litter so I?m absolutely positive I picked the best one[whistle]. Working from home all year has definitely helped me keep his training program moving along.

I know Fred seems to be able to get into the birds every time he goes but it was pretty slow that day. A few ringers and wigeon but no cans or redheads came by. Now that I?ve got the boat back on the water I?m hoping that changes here in the last few weeks of the season.
 
Good morning, Gregg~


Congratulations on getting your Sneakbox back in action. Beautiful workmanship.



A few questions:


What weight is the new 'glass? Set in epoxy this time 'round?



It looks from her flat run that she's a semi-displacement hull - yes? What motor do you use - and how does it push her?



LOA ? Beam ?



Do you know where Bud Miles' shop was located?



All the best,


SJS

 
Good morning Steve.

I used 6 oz. cloth and System 3 products for the epoxy.

The hull is a semi-displacement. I?m running an older 15 hp Mariner that I also had to refurbish. With me, the dog, 2 dozen cork decoys, 2 dozen plastics, long line weights, anchors, 3 gallons of fuel, etc. (probably 400 lbs or so) the boat is almost on plane. If I ran a tiller extension I could probably scoot forward enough to make it jump up. If I have to throw off the anchors to chase down a cripple the boat really scoots along when mostly empty and responds extremely quickly to small movements of the tiller.

The measurements are pretty traditional. 12? long and around 48 wide. One piece of 60? wide cloth was wide enough to cover the hull.

I think Bud?sshop was in New Jerseybut I don?t know exactly where.
 
Last edited:
Gregg

Good to see your name on the forum again. I hope you have some time/interest to come around more. You did a superb job on your Bud Miles sneakbox. I'd say she's in better than new condition. Congrats on getting her back on the water.

Eric
 
Hey Greg,

VERY nice job on the boat. Glad to see that you have it out and about. I know that Steve loved those Bud Miles boats....we were going to use them down here on a few of the lakes once they opened them up for motors. They would be perfect tucked up into the cattails.

Grizzly is a good looking fella. Does he show inclinations to point?

Nice to see you here on the site again

Dani
 
Greg - Thanks for sharing the pictures of the Miles BBSB. I'll always remember seeing those in Steve's garage. I hope to make one off of similar lines one day and hunt it in the areas you mentioned (I'm also in WA). Thanks again!
 
Hey Dani,
Griz has shown some inclinations to point, especially on quail, but I don?t know that it?s going to develop into the real thing. We went to South Dakota at the end of October and he got to learn about prairie chickens and sharptail hunting with Copper. Unfortunately Copper blew out his shoulder on that trip and is now limited to hunting for an hour or so at most for the rest of his career so Griz is picking it up on his own now.


View attachment 52AF53E7-B43C-4552-975A-15DC2C6166BB.jpegView attachment 21964B1B-FC71-44DF-8D73-B0707DBAAE54.jpegView attachment A7541EF1-D74A-4462-97AB-E11D459B8569.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top