COMPLETED Boat blind build's First hunt. Pic Heavy

C

Cheech Kehoe

Active member
Many years ago I had an 18' seaark and while it did not have the greatest ride, it did have a great blind and it hunted very well, even in open water. A few years back I picked up an 18' Lund Alaskan and I decided to put an avery quick set on it. I liked the Avery and it hunted well, but not as well as the old blind. Plus the old blind was a fixed blind and with the Boys wanting to go hunting now, a fixed blind will work better for keeping them in the boat. With my birthday creeping up my wife asked me what I wanted...You guessed it. NEW BOAT BLIND!
So far it is just getting started but I will keep the pics coming as we build the Blind. The first couple pics show the aluminum truck cap clamps attached to the gunnels. They will be the attachment points for the uprights that will come up off the gunnel 16" at a 90 degrees to the floor of the boat.
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Here is a string line set up for test fitting the dimensions for useability.

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And here is one of the two reasons why I am building it.
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Looks like a great start to your project! Looking forward to seeing how it comes out Cheech. Still hoping to trade a hunt someday, GE for Brant and Sea Ducks! My little guy is only a few months old, but I cant wait for the day he joins me in the duck blind!
 
Maybe next year! The wife is letting me go to Montana to hunt deer in November, but no other trips for me this fall.... only local hunts.
 
Cheech~

I really like the temporary posts, string and level to check dimensions. I think I have built my boat blinds so that the "sill" was 34" from the floor (so you can shoot while sitting on a spackle bucket seat), then the flaps were 12" or 15" up from there. I'm looking forward to the next phase.

BTW: Our family camp is right across the Lake from you, just south of Port Kent.

All the best,

SJS
 
Steven,

I Didn't know Cambridge was big enough to have a South Cambrige...I grew up in Corinth and Saratoga. Small world. I don't intend on shooting from the sitting position. The top of the port rail (the side we shoot over) is 42" off the floor and the Starboard rail is 52" which will let us tuck in under when its raining. We are looking right at Port Kent when we are hunting Colchester point. You ever get to hunt the Hudson or Saratoga lake? I miss hitting the Hudson when the first ice skims over Saratoga Lake. Those were fun days. The Blind is in a holding pattern right now. The first guy was too busy to take a small job like my blind so I am off the meet the second guy right now. Wish me luck.

Cheech
 
Picked up the Aluminum Stock today. 1x1x1/8 for the uprights and the cross pieces to be welded to the truck cap clamps. 2x2x1/8 for the shooting corridor down the center of the boat. and 1" thin wall to bend along the contour of the gunnels. My buddy is getting the welder all set up for next week. Saaa weeet!

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Looks like you're off to a good start Cheech. The hard blind is nice with kids (and antsy dogs), and one less thing you've got to monkey with while on the water.

It's great that you're having someone weld the frame for you. What will you be covering it with? If you use aluminum sheeting, keep in mind that you can only flex it so much to fit the contours of the frame. I had a heck of a time getting the sheeting to fit the bow section of my boat, it kept wanting to buckle. Adding extra cross members in that area so that I could've used four pieces of sheeting instead of two would've helped.

Looking forward to seeing your progress. Have fun with it!
 
John,

Funny you should ask. When I got home today, the ups guy had left me a nice surprise. 15 yards of 60 inch 1000 denier Cordura and a 60'x36" roll of Fastgrass. I love Ebay! After I have the frame all welded up, I will zip screw the cordura to the aluminum frame. On every zip screw there will be an electrical wire harness. The ones that you can wrap agound the wire and then screw the harness to the wall (I don't know their real name). That way I will have a ton of attachment points for the zip ties. I used the cordura on the previous boat blind and I was very happy with it. Its a lot easier to work with than metal sheeting and is pretty light.

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At the end of day one, here is what we have. Not bad considering we spent half the day getting set up and getting the welder dialed in.

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The uprights come up off the gunnels 16" and then they are topped with a 1" piece of square stock that pretty much follows the contour of the Gunnels. We should be mostly finished with the welding by end of day Wednesday. A big Thank you to Jude. Without him, all I would have is a stack of aluminum.

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My assessment of potential progress may have been optimistic. When you run out of Argon...it slows down the welding process. Here is a shot of the Aluminum Truck Cap clamps with the uprights welded on.
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This is the port side. Almost all done with the welding. With any luck, we will be this far along on the starboard side by the end of Thursday.

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Looking good. What are you guys using to persuade the square stock into the same curve as your gunwales?
 
If your going to cover the blind with the cordura I would suggest you round all the edges on the tubing and smooth out all your welds so when your traveling the Cordura doesn't get worn.
 
CAnderson,
We used pure will to bend the square stock! No, we Just bent it to match the curve of the gunnel a little a t a time until it matched. We would put a 1.5 inch wood spacer where we needed the bend and push. We are using 1/8 inch stock everywhere but along the actual gunnels where we are using a thinner wall 062 or 082, I cant remember which it is. The thin wall is pretty bendable.
 
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If your going to cover the blind with the cordura I would suggest you round all the edges on the tubing and smooth out all your welds so when your traveling the Cordura doesn't get worn.
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We will definately be doing some grinding!
 
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So, no pics today, but you haven't lived until you melt a cooling line on a big Welder. Boy does that smoke. Anyway, Port side is all welded up in spite of an extra trip to the welding supply store to pick up a new cooling line and having to take the welder apart. It is actually very cool how the current is inside a tube along with the coolant that circulates...I know less than nothing about welding, but I am getting quite the education during this build. Maybe he will let me do one weld before we are done. I will get some pics up next week.
 
If your going to cover the blind with the cordura I would suggest you round all the edges on the tubing and smooth out all your welds so when your traveling the Cordura doesn't get worn.
Click to expand...
We will definately be doing some grinding!
Click to expand...

Frank, maybe get a roll of webbing and tape it to the frame as a cushion for the canvas?
 
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