New project completed-the Sneaker Sled

Cody Williams

Cody Williams

Well-known member
Hi guys, haven't posted much this summer-things have been so dang busy I haven't had the time! I have been working on some new boat-related projects, though and I thought I'd post up some photos of my newest idea-the Sneaker Sled. For the past few seasons I've been obsessed with trying to design and build the perfect waterfowling sled. I wanted something that would meet these design goals-light, concealable, able to carry a lot of weight, towable behind a boat, able to be used in snow, ice, mud, and shallow water, and able to be used as a blind when unloaded. After a few prototypes I settled on a design and got to building-here she is!

Specs- LOA 90" (cockpit 72"), Width 40" (cockpit 30"), depth 10", weight 30-35lbs

Built of 3/8" Divynycell marine foam core w/epoxy and fiberglass sheathing, keels sheathed with Dynel fabric for extra wear resistance-this was my first time working with Divynycell-it's awesome stuff! I've really enjoyed working with the Divynycell, it's light, very strong, and closed-cell so it won't absorb water if it gets exposed. I know it's not a "traditional" material, but I love trying out new stuff, and to be honest I can't wait to build more stuff with it! Combined with epoxy it makes a very strong, light, and durable structure. I've built 3 so far-1 wood prototype and 2 out of Divynycell, the foam ones are a good 25lbs lighter than the wood core while being just as strong and quicker to build.

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In the interest of using it as a blind, I had my wife help me make a removable blind cover-it is made of 1000D Cordura, and is held in place with a removable conduit bar and some heavy-duty snaps, with layout blind style doors-in the future I may add some grassing straps and some camo spray for use as a shallow-water layout. The reason for the skirt to overlap the sides so much is to have the blind material go into the water so there isn't a defined edge from the hull-it remains to be seen how well this works in practice!

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I can't wait to see how well they actually hunt-next week is our season opener and it can't get here fast enough!
 
Cody~

Excellent design and execution! I'd love to hear more about your experience with the foam core. If I ever built another 'glass duckboat, I would want to try sandwich construction.

All the best,

SJS
 
Needed this yesterday! water is up about 1' on a favorite slough..... 1' makes a big difference on the height of your chest waders. Have pulled small duck boats in, but it's too much of a haul given the weight and how often we don't use them. This little honey looks like the perfect rig for The Honey Hole.... nice work!

is the foam you used readily available, or is it something you found locally?
 
Thanks guys! Steve-overall I had a great experience with the foam core, the nice thing is that you can cut your panels out with a utility knife and then glass them. I also played around with pre-glassing a large panel and cutting parts out from it, either method seems to work well. Another nice thing is that there is no scarfing involved to join panels-just epoxy the butt joint together and glass over it and it will be nice and strong. Here's a photo of glassing the inside of the panels all at once-
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Rob-I had to order my foam in, but if you live in an area with marine distributors you shouldn't have a problem finding it as it's becoming a pretty common material.
 
Thanks, Cody~

Just a couple more questions:

Did you use polyester or epoxy to adhere the fabric to the foam?

What thickness foam?

What weight/how many layers of cloth (or woven roving)?

As you can see, those little wheels in my head are turning.....

SJS
 
Steve-I used all epoxy on this project, I have pretty much left polyester behind but I understand that some of the big commercial builders use this stuff with poly and it works fine. This foam was 3/8", a 4x8 sheet only weighs a little over 5lbs-seriously light stuff!
I skinned the insides with a single layer of 6oz, with a double layer on all the outside surfaces-some ended up with 3 layers where the glass from the undersides of the skirt lapped down the sides. I used a double layer of 6oz x 4" tape to join all the seams-it seems plenty strong but time will tell how well it hold up. I think if you were building a powered boat you may want to go a bit heavier, but for a non-powered sled I think it will be enough. Rich Scheffer was a great help to me as well, you may want to shoot him a PM as he knows a lot about working with this stuff!
 
checking online for it and it looks like it's about $50 a sheet (sans shipping)

It also appears to be the same material water sports boards are made of: knee boards, surf boards, etc. Gives me a bit more confidence as an occasional body floater. Have wondered about the viability of a paddle board for nothing more than straddling and paddling out since I don't have a pup to do that work for me any more :)
 
Rob, you'd be a brave man indeed to be on a paddle board late in duck season! I also saved a bit on shipping by having Jamestown distributors cut my foam into 4'x32" sections-they can ship it in a much smaller box that way and it's not a big deal to rejoin the sections as you're building.
 
It's the challenge of the "one spot".... I think it was Sanford that had the "lost canoe" story, where they built one for a specific beaver pond.....

There is submergent vegetation half way across the widest part of this slough, which is about 100 yards wide. This Veg, on the just not quite windy enough day causes the birds to get hung up drifting across. Enough wave action, if they are too deep, they drift across and I pick them up. But a bird stuck in that one spot is about 20-25 yards for 360 degrees.... it's the sort of thing that makes a paddle board seem viable ;-)

I've seen some other foamer boats, but those freaked me out a bit. Your build seems like just the ticket, and might even fit in the trunk of the car with the back seats down ;-)

I'm working on a unit to be a car topper, but it will end up double the weight of your build there, but it's designed to carry a motor. For a drag in and occasional retrieve, that sled would be supreme, at least for that "one spot"!

Funny how much we are willing to go through customizing for one location.
 
I hear what you're saying, Rob. It's a lot of fun to have a tool that works for just one job! I used to shape and glass surfboards and it wasn't unusual for guys to design boards for not only just one spot but a particularly sized wave at a single spot!
 
Interesting build. How low does it float when you are laying in it? I'm curious because at 10 inches of cockpit depth it could be close to being considered a sink box by wardens. Is your body below the surface of the water when you are in it?
 
Brad-with me in it (about 225lbs in full hunting gear) there is about an inch of freeboard between the water and the bottom of the deck edge. It's not really intended for open water use, more like shallow flooded grass and cattails, although I suppose you could use it on calm open water that isn't more than wading depth deep. I don't think it could be called a sinkbox, as it's essentially the same as a coffin blind, but I've never really been too clear on what the law actually defines as a sinkbox. I guess that in a true layout boat your body is somewhat below the water's surface, isn't it?
 
Cody

I remembered that you were a bigger duck hunter, but was generally just interested if you considered that issue when you built it and since someone was bound to ask, so why not me first? I have no idea how a warden might interpret or misinterpret the "low floating device that affords the hunter concealment of his body under the surface of the water" definition. I know many commercial layout boat hunters have taken their boats to LE and asked if it met or didn't met the definition. I don't know if anyone gets a clear answer or a consitent definition. The regulation reads: From or by means, aid, or use of a sinkbox or any other type of low floating device, having a
depression affording the hunter a means of concealment beneath the surface of the water.
 
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Very nice.

Maybe I don't understand completely, but it would only be possibly considered a sink box if it was floating and completely surrounded by water?

It is pretty sweet, but I wouldn't use it for that purpose myself by the freeboard description.
 
It is an interesting question, guys. I think that if you encountered a warden who was looking for a reason to write a ticket then it could possibly be called a sinkbox, although I think the spirit of that law is more to prevent things like battery outfits. I don't know if it varies from state to state but if your blind is touching the bottom it isn't considered a sinkbox in Utah. The main purpose of this rig is to hunt shallow flooded grass flats, so hopefully I won't have to get into the specifics of a legal definition with anyone!
 
Cool "boat". This is now competing with Steve Sanford's pond box for me to build for a particular spot where in late season the rice is too thin to hide in, the tree line too far from where the ducks want to be, the water too shallow to hide in the sculler and permanent blinds are not allowed. Love the light weight.

. If your blind is touching the bottom it isn't considered a sinkbox in Utah.
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Somewhere in there is a loophole an "enterprising" hunter can exploit. I guess Nova Scotia duck tubs would be out, but I can think of lots of battery designs that would touch bottom.
 
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