decoy mold question

L

LI Mike

Active member
ok with a lot of help from you guys i have successfully made a foam decoy thanks again. now i am in need of more help. i have the mold with the cup in the bottom like suck duck decoys. so should i fill the whole with foam or just keel it at the flat spots its a diver going to be used in the bay. thanks again for your help ...Mike
 
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Mike,

I made a bunch of EPS foam decoys. Using epoxy on foam seemed like way overkill, so I used a combination of polyurethane glue & Liquid Nails adhesive. Both worked well for attaching heads and keels, with the Liquid Nails working well to filling voids and blending seams. With respect to keels I used Rex Ruth's suggestion - concrete filled PVC tube. On my "Suc-Bottoms" I had to first use a wood spacer to mount the tube lower for self righting. If I had used larger tube (heavier), the spacer wouldn't have been necessary. The flat bottoms didn't need the spacer to self right.

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The plastic decking materials may work really well for keels. 10 -15 years ago I wasn't aware of them.

Scott
 
I used 4lb foam for the bodies and 8lb for the heads from uscomposits. The molds I got from r&r sports
 
You can run a 1 x3 on edge for the keel but in needs to be fitted and glued some even pin it.
That is how the allen decoys are made.
 
Gary, I made these over 10 years ago and I haven't a clue as to what the EPS beads go for now. I would probably want to work with the two part foam if I were to get back into it now. The big issue with two part foam is temperature. Working at temps of 75+F is best for full foam expansion. Here in CT that means summer or indoors only. Indoors you have the toxic vapors to deal with, got a hood? EPS on the other hand, if you have boiling water it's 212F (at least at sea level) and even if it's chilly outside you can boil up a batch. And there is the added benefit of no toxic vapors.

When I made them the was my cost estimate: "Neglecting the cost of the molds the average person should be able to make these decoys for between $4 & $6 each for ducks and $7 to $10 apiece for geese." This was based on 1# of beads/duck, 2#s/goose. Added costs were roughly 1#propane/decoy. I would make bout30 decoys in a day and burn 1-1/2 20# tanks. This was running 3 or more mold sets continuously. It also took a bit of vegetable oil and shortening, 3 SS screws and a SS fender washer for attaching the head and keel, a galvanized nail for bill reinforcement and the keel PVC & ready-mix concrete. I have no idea what these are at today's prices. I did have fun, especially the weekend Dr Steve came up and boiled decoys and smoked goose breasts with me.

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Damn we (Steve) were young!

Scott
 
All the molds I used were Decoys Unlimited. Some old flat bottomed and some suc bottoms. With Steve, I think we were running 6 molds, 2 mallard sucs, 3 divers (1 s, 2 flat), and a suc goose. In addition the heads, 3 diver, 2 mallard & 2 geese. The 55 gal drum limited us to 4 or 5 body molds at a time, heads fit in the cracks. By myself, 3 bodies and 3 heads keeps me running and may add to the over all time of each decoy but still resulted in additional decoys. By this I mean working 1 or 2 decoys I got a decoy out of each mold roughly every 30-40 min. Oil, fill, boil, cool, & remove decoy & head. Adding a 3rd mold stretched the time to 45-50 min each mold. Adding a fourth mold set to the rotation would not have resulted in increased production.

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Scott
 
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