It's funny how duck boats come into our lives

David Palmer

David Palmer

Active member
It's funny how duck boats come into our lives. I built a Devlin Broadbill back in 2012 and loved hunting out of it solo. Now that I'm in my 50's, I no longer enjoy hunting alone, so I've been searching duckboats.net regularly for a bigger boat, specifically a Black Brant III.

Now most BBIIIs that come up for sale have been located far north of me, and since I live in North Alabama, a drive to New Jersey or Connecticut was pretty much out of the question. But earlier this spring, I came across a classified add for a BBIII that caught my attention. I looked to see where the boat was located, and to my surprise, it was in Gurley, Alabama. That's only a 25 minute drive from where I live in Huntsville, Alabama! So after contacting the seller, I took a short drive to this little town to look this boat over. It was easy to tell that she needed a little love, but after negotiating a price with the seller (and he was very generous towards me being a Devlin man too), I came home with a "new" boat!

A special "thanks" needs to go out to Eric Patterson who posted this boat for sale, for with his help, I was able to touch base with the original owner/builder of this Black Brant III and learn its history. I've been connected with her ever since.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, "Church Business II," coming soon to a marsh that's probably pretty far from most of you!

It's truly funny how these things happen. Grace and peace, everybody.



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Hi, Steve! The inspiration behind the boat's name is self-serving to say the least. I am a Presbyterian minister, and when I was building my Broadbill, I needed a name that my secretary could use to get me out of trouble. So if someone called to speak to me and it wasn't an emergency, the secretary could simply say that I was out on "Church Business" when I actually was out in the marsh hunting ducks!

I know that's awful, but it is effective. Lord, forgive us all ... especially duck hunters!

Grace and peace,

David
 
After taking a good look at the deck and seeing several places that probably needed attention, I decided I needed to sand through all of the paint, epoxy, and fiberglass layers to get a good look at what lurked underneath.

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Someone on duckboats.net suggested using a butane torch to remove the fiberglass layer, and after a little trial and error, I picked up the technique rather quickly.

Next, I removed all of the fillet joints around the cockpit combing. Using the butane torch also worked well in accomplishing this task.

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After sanding down the deck, I could see there were several soft spots along the fore and aft of the boat, specifically where the flotation compartments were located. I wondered if water had seeped into these compartments over the years, and my suspicion was correct. So I cut out 8" deck plate holes to access these places. The holes on the top deck were easy to cut. In one, I found a two-part foam mixture. In the other, I founds flat pieces of home insulation. The latter was relatively easy to cut out; the former, however, was not.

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The foam in each of the rear pods was completely soaked with water. Thank goodness the builder had epoxied each compartment with several layers of epoxy, so no wood rot was able to occur. I then moved to the bow of the boat to see if water had entered there as well. Cutting the access hole there was much harder than I had thought. I couldn't use my jig saw to make this cut because there wasn't enough room to get to the right angles, so I used my tiger saw instead. The cut wasn't pretty, but at least I could get to the compartment. This part of the boat was filled with two-part foam as well. I used a small hand saw to remove the foam, and after 12 hours of cutting, I finally had the bow cleaned out. It, too, was completely soaked with water, but no evidence of rot could be seen.

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After taking care of the flotation compartments, I moved to the flooring of the boat. There were some soft spots there too. So I repaired them with a mixture of epoxy and wood flour.

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I then sanded down all of the flooring and put new peanut butter joints where the flooring met the hull.



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David Palmer said:
Hi, Steve! The inspiration behind the boat's name is self-serving to say the least. I am a Presbyterian minister, and when I was building my Broadbill, I needed a name that my secretary could use to get me out of trouble. So if someone called to speak to me and it wasn't an emergency, the secretary could simply say that I was out on "Church Business" when I actually was out in the marsh hunting ducks!

I know that's awful, but it is effective. Lord, forgive us all ... especially duck hunters!

Grace and peace,

David
Click to expand...



David,

The reasoning behind the name of your duckboat is 100% legit, and IMO alright with The Lord. [smile]


" A PERSON CAN BE SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS. FOR MANY NATURE CAN BE A CHURCH." - Pope Francis


Best regards
Vince
 
Dave,
Nice to see you bring the old boat back to life. Looks like you did a 1st rate job and you're ready for season. What are you going to power it with?

Amazing how the foam picks up water over. Do you know if the boat was stored outside? Really wish folks had been talking about putting hatches in the floatation compartments when I built my boats. They have been inside for the most part, but have seen too much soggy foam on this forum lately.

Good luck this season!

v/r
Bill
 
David

Thanks for updating us on the project. I've been wondering how the refurb project was going.

Did you find any evidence of how the water is getting in the compartments? One day I might just drill a hole to see if mine have suffered the same fate.

Eric
 
Hey, Bill! I'm currently running a 1977 Johnson 35hp on my boat. It's in the shop right now with some issues with the clutch dog assembly, so I've been looking at newer 25hp motors on Facebook. What are you using to power your Black Brant?

As far as I can tell, this boat has spent most of its life outside. I like to keep my boats under some kind of cover, but sometimes I run out of space. Sure wish I had a big pole barn in my back yard, but I think my neighbors might complain.

Grace and peace,

David
 
Good morning, Eric. I think most of the water seeped into my flotation compartments through the navigation light inserts. I also think some came in through where the grass rails were attached to the boat and where the fillet joints met the bottom of the side clamps. With a new layer of fiberglass on the deck, I'm hoping to rectify all of these issues.

I'm thinking I might use some air bladders to fill my flotation compartments like white water canoeists use. Or perhaps some old tennis balls or pool noodles. Any suggestions?

Grace and peace,

David
 
David,


Nice job on what you have done. Your question as to HP; I have a BBIII which I run a 2010 Yamaha 25hp two stroke. With an 11 1/4 pitch prop I get 20mph loaded for hunting and 24mph when in fishing mode.


You may wish to trim the inside corners of the motor well if you anticipate running your motor in shallow water drive.

Before;


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After;


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I also extended the cowling on around the cockpit to include across the rear deck and up as close to the motor as possible.


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In this last photo, note the added exterior splash guard around the lower unit. This was a prototype and has since been replaced exactly as shown except the clips were removed and the plywood cutout was epoxied and glassed in place.


Good luck in your continued progress.
 
David,
Your name for your boat is hilarious. As a Lutheran minister I too had a name when I was out fishing or hunting. I simply said I was studying, "natural theology."

People knew exactly what I was doing but they were cool with it.

Best of luck on your Church Business III and in your ministry.

Larry
 
David,
I'm running a late model (and popular, I might add) Yamaha 25 2-stroke on the BB2. At 105lbs in short shaft, they used to be one of the lightest, and are definitely strong running. Yamaha quit selling them in the U.S. around 2010, but I believe they still sell the same model oversees and new parts are plentiful.

Understand the space issue, somehow we always find stuff to fill it up!

Thake care,
Bill
 
Here's a picture Jamie Day (the original builder of my BBIII) shared with me from several years ago. He was hunting the Tennessee River when he came across two other Devlin boats on the river. What's the chance of that happening these days!

Grace and peace!

David

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David

That was taken at the ramp at Long Island Creek. The other two boats are mine and Jeff Smith's. Maybe the only time in history three Black Brants on the same creek at the same time. Mine and Jeff's are BBIIs and Jaime's (yours) a BBIII.

Eric
 
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Eric Patterson said:
David

That was taken at the ramp at Long Island Creek. The other two boats are mine and Jeff Smith's. Maybe the only time in history three Black Brants on the same creek at the same time. Mine and Jeff's are BBIIs and Jaime's (yours) a BBIII.

Eric
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Here's my newly refurbished BBIII. Lots of hard work and elbow grease. Thanks to everyone on this site who has helped a fella like me get back on the water! More improvements to come, like installing a dodger and some low-profile flapper boards for a blind. Suggestions are always welcomed.

Grace and peace,

David



Before


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After


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David,
Nice job fixing up the old girl. I have a boat project in mind for the summer and have been thinking of using air bladders instead of foam to save on some weight. Here is a link to what I'm looking at using, maybe the will be of help to you.

https://www.coastwatersports.com/crewsaver-buoyancy-bag-p-6414.html?currency=USD&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0rSABhDlARIsAJtjfCdKAZvQJmFS0PTma60pR7oMrk4PjpBUTbb7yeWVBO0uCzIF_TRoq6oaAtBPEALw_wcB

Zane
 
David

Congrats on the restoration and having her ready this season. Hopefully we bump into each other on the water and can recreate 2/3rds of that three brant picture.

Eric
 
Good morning, Zane~


Thanks for that link - which I have bookmarked. I can see lots of applications - especially for traditional wooden vessels where either air chambers or foam could cause rot. mildew, etc.


All the best,


SJS

 
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