Big water Boat Blinds

J

Jay H

Active member
I have my 18 foot starcraft aluminum boat which I am going to use for a boat blind this year when my buddies and our dads come out, we will be hunting open bay for bbills and cans with an occasional trip along the marsh for some puddlers. I am wondering what type of blind should i use, grass, cloth with camo painted on it? I hunt barnegat bay in jersey where the salt hay dosent grow that high .Does anybody have any ideas and pics to help me out? Thanks guys,
Jay
 
I hunt out of a 16' Duranautic and hunt similar environments but up here in NE. I have a beavertail 1600 series blind on my boat and it works great in the salt marshes and out in the open water for sea ducks. I've had this blind for 4 or 5 years now and have been very happy with it. It not only works great on birds and is user friendly but it also helps keep the wind out on those cold days.

Here's a pic of my dad sitting in the boat in the marsh. This pic was taken during the late goose season and by that time of the year there is very little cover on the marsh.

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We hunt open water boat blinds for gadwalls, occasional wigeon and pintails & divers on Mobile Bay. It works well unless we don't get new birds often, then the gaddies get really spooky. Some advice:
Keep the blind as low as possible. The lower your profile the better. A lot of commercial blinds are too high my opinion.
Try to taper the ends to avoid looking like a box. Not many boxes in nature.
Cut some cane or other native vegetation like willows (we use phragmites & bamboo) to stick in the bottom around the boat to break up your outline even more. This will help hold the boat in place as well.
Last, build your own blind & save a pile of money. Why spend $400-600.00 on something you can make yourself for $100.00?
Here is my blind, a simple pull up design that uses cerex. Under a $100.00 in the whole thing. This picture is from when I first built it. I cut it down a little more. With an 18' boat, you will probably need a middle support. When I I trailer, I simply drop it off the support poles and use 3 small bungees per side to strap it down to the seats. Wish I had some better pics.
[inline cerexblinddiagram.JPG ]
[inline CerexBlindonWater.jpg ]

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CerexBlindonWater.jpg
 
Carl I like your blind idea. I just purchased that 16' Lowe we discussed on this forum.

My question is with regards to the cerex material. Found their web site. Didn't see any camo patterns. Do you paint this stuff up yourself ? Seems to be a nylon material that suggests it wouldn't hold paint. Please advise.

Thanks,
Bill
 
Bill,

Check Cabelas, BassPro, Academy, Gander Mountain & Walmart. They all have die cut camo cerex, in different brands & lots of different camo patterns. Some of it is tougher than others, the stuff from Academy is a little wimpy in my opinion.
 
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