Building an open water layout?

Tony.
it's not rocket science.

lowering the foot area while slightly narrowing it, keeping the displacement the same is not going to destabalilize a large layout.

I have not been in a ufo but most oversize layouts seem to be designed for 350 lb hunters wearing size 10 sneakers.

The original post said he would like to build a layout himself and i see it as an opportunity to "custom fit" the boat to the owner.
 
No rough weather ability.
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Say what?
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I am not going to cross large bays or open water on a lake ( lake of the woods, lake Mille lacs, lake pepin. Some of our only legal layout hunting lakes) that produces 4 ft waves on the regular with 60 to 120 decoys in a sneak box with a 15hp. I already use my devlin bluebill on my local lakes.
 
Tony.
it's not rocket science.

lowering the foot area while slightly narrowing it, keeping the displacement the same is not going to destabalilize a large layout.

I have not been in a ufo but most oversize layouts seem to be designed for 350 lb hunters wearing size 10 sneakers.

The original post said he would like to build a layout himself and i see it as an opportunity to "custom fit" the boat to the owner.
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I agree, I will probably end up looking to buy the two man plans, i do think it would be fun to run two guys when applicable.
 
Tony.
it's not rocket science.

lowering the foot area while slightly narrowing it, keeping the displacement the same is not going to destabalilize a large layout.

I have not been in a ufo but most oversize layouts seem to be designed for 350 lb hunters wearing size 10 sneakers.

The original post said he would like to build a layout himself and i see it as an opportunity to "custom fit" the boat to the owner.
Click to expand...

Mike as long as the builder makes the apropriate changes throughout the hull design your correct. Narrowing the box in the foot area will achieve the goal but it also will change the angle of the boxfrom front to back where those changed will be important. Ofcourse it can be achieved but it will require a little thinking and not just adding a deeper box on the bottom like many do. I have seen guys do crazy things to get more room in them. I saw one a guy built that was so deep it would be considered a sink box and illegal and the boat floated 6" to high then they filled it with concrete to make it float level. Most layouts are designed for right at 250lbs with just a few that reach above those limits to 350-400lbs due to the need to keep a low profile still.
 
Two man boats are great, many people prefer the companionship and get bored alone in a boat. You'll have plenty of volunteers after word gets out.

I didn't mean to imply that you can't hunt one solo, I spent most of last week hunting solo in an mlb I I kevlar when most of my crew canceled when the weather got cold.

my point is that hunting solo in a two man boat introduces some of the problems Tony talks about in an Ill designed boat.
stability won't be a problem, you can get up and walk around if it's calm.
but boat wary ducks will see the large cockpit and the shadow at the waterline where the boat is floating too high on the water.
that being said you can often get away with it, I had one of my best weeks in 35 years hunting mostly solo in an mIbII.
 
Two man boats are great, many people prefer the companionship and get bored alone in a boat. You'll have plenty of volunteers after word gets out.

I didn't mean to imply that you can't hunt one solo, I spent most of last week hunting solo in an mlb I I kevlar when most of my crew canceled when the weather got cold.

my point is that hunting solo in a two man boat introduces some of the problems Tony talks about in an Ill designed boat.
stability won't be a problem, you can get up and walk around if it's calm.
but boat wary ducks will see the large cockpit and the shadow at the waterline where the boat is floating too high on the water.
that being said you can often get away with it, I had one of my best weeks in 35 years hunting mostly solo in an mIbII.
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Mike,
The shadow under the boat is nothing to worry about. Every wave has a shadow in it.
If you need foot room, change the deck a bit and then cover it with visqueen if you think it's too high.
On my website, www.lockstockbarrell.com , scroll down to "Visqueen as Camo" and see the effect of covering a boat with translucent plastic. Also notice all the shadows in the waves.
Lou
 
Lou
I'm going to have to disagree with you about the shadow, sure in windy days its not noticable but if you can zoom into my profile picture you will see the front of the boat clearly outlined by the the shadow caused by the hunter sitting too far to the rear and raising the bow of the boat.

Put a 150 lb hunter in this boat designed for 300+ pounds and the boat is clearly visible as a 3/4 round shadow to any ducks coming in to decoy.
Sometimes they flare, sometimes not. Cant say for sure what is causing it but the whole reason for using a layout boat is to make it as nearly invisible to the ducks as possible.

I do think a reflective coating is the way to go for layouts and have friends using it.
 
Mike,
It would appear that you haven't taken a look at the pdf file on Visqueen as Camo.
We've been using this successfully for too long to debate it. ;)
Movement is more critical.
Lou



Lou
I'm going to have to disagree with you about the shadow, sure in windy days its not noticable but if you can zoom into my profile picture you will see the front of the boat clearly outlined by the the shadow caused by the hunter sitting too far to the rear and raising the bow of the boat.

Put a 150 lb hunter in this boat designed for 300+ pounds and the boat is clearly visible as a 3/4 round shadow to any ducks coming in to decoy.
Sometimes they flare, sometimes not. Cant say for sure what is causing it but the whole reason for using a layout boat is to make it as nearly invisible to the ducks as possible.

I do think a reflective coating is the way to go for layouts and have friends using it.
 
If you have a two man... you can have a dog in there with you... but that brings up another set of issues and concerns. especially if you longline.
I have only layout hunted out of a two man 1 time. . while it was nice to be able to talk to someone when it got slow, had either us been any bigger, it would have been crowded. I also don't like that s the shooter you can not shoot off both sides. This is why I like my MLB.
 
Mike,
It would appear that you haven't taken a look at the pdf file on Visqueen as Camo.
We've been using this successfully for too long to debate it. ;mo)
Movement is more critical.
Lou



Lou
I looked at it and accept that it works for you.
just looks way to complicated for my taste.
Wind, current, rain and Visqueen blowing around.
Not for me.

Phil
I have a classic and think it's the best designed layout I've seen.
just wish I could squeeze myself into it safely.
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It wouldn't not be too hard to make the Busick style longer, but making it wider and deep not so easy. I would think you would also want more foot room. My knees can not take two minutes of the shallow box.

On the one I built, I made the foot box deeper. I made it to follow the bend at my knees. then narrow to my feet. Cardboard worked well to mock it up. then the cardboard became the pattern.
 
I have to say, I have never had any of those concerns in my MLB classic
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Place a 300lb hunter in a standard (not the supermag) MLB layot boat, let him hunt out of it for a couple hours, then get him back in the tender boat. When you are finished, we'll se if you can still make this statment honestly.
 
Not sure a true 300lb person would even fit. let along be able to move if they did somehow get in one. I know they won't fit in an Erie(former busick). And if they do they have easily surpassed the max capacity by 50lbs or more once they grab a gun and gear.
 
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