OK, now I'm ready to build my boat blind...

[John Robinson]

I have posted pictures before of my buddies blind we built for his Snow Goose, but for the sake of discussion, here's a couple pics of Neil's boat w/ blind.

You can see it is a very simple take down blind. It is made of a natuaral color plastic snow fence material wire tied to 1 1/2" plastic conduit that has been heated and bent at an angle to close the blind in toward the top. just before our first hunt we cut rushes and weave them into the snow fence, then replenish as necessary during the season. I like this blind a lot except for one factor, it is rather bulky and hard to store while under way. Each side rolls up into a rather large roll that we tie to the foredeck where it offeres a bit of a dodger effect, but it also blocks the view of the driver.

I'm tempted to just copy Neil's idea and live with that issue, but I thought I would throw this out there for other ideas. I see a lot of guys like to keep a low profile and simply grass up their boats, and others go for more permanant rigid blinds with metal conduit. Anything out there similar to Neil's but maybe lighter and more compact? Or other even better ideas. BTW 90% of the time I hunt out of the boat it is with the boat pushed into cat tail rushes.

Thanks,
John

 

[Kevin T]

John:

To me it's a question of having a "high blind" as pictured in your post, or a "low blind" using a grassed up dodger. The answer lies with how you hunt and especially whether or not you need an upright chair to sit on. The low blind setup works with lounge type chairs that sit directly on the bottom of the boat. They're great to hunt from and very comfortable, but if you're old and/or big they can be a real pain to get up and out of. An upright chair is comfy too, but will have a much higher profile. Two hunters can be more difficult to accommodate with a low blind, but your boat looks big enough that you could both sit on the floor hunting sideways. Just my two cents. Great build.

Kevin T

 

[Ray]

I think what is making the blind bulky is the material used to grass it.

I built a similar system on my smaller BB3 but used panels that will lay flat on the bow. I bent 1/2" EMT to make four framed panels that are just wide enough to be placed onto the floor of the boat for trailering or on the bow for boating. There is a 14" gap between the panels on the side of the boat and this is where I place the dog step. At the stern there is about 3 feet of loose fence that I bungee to the motor. At the bow are two short pieces of EMT that hold about 2 feet of loose fence. The panels mount to the coaming using ABS plastic rod holder mounts. The ends of the 1/2" EMT fits into the rod holder mounts easily and I had to make a stop to keep it from slipping too far down. The mounts are through bolted and sealed with 5200.

When installed the panels are very similar to the blind you show. I used green poly garden fence and threaded long grass stems through it. It blends in well with the spots I hunt. Or used to hunt since the marsh lost so much water I could no longer get the boat into it.

The blind panels are just high enough that my head is above them when sitting. I stay crouched down when ducks are working. It worked the one time I tried to get into the marsh, just no ducks came close to shoot. The gaps on the side worked out well for the dog step and the dog was able to look out of both sides of the boat and keep on eye on things.

All my photos are on the home computer and if you want to see them I will post them up later tonight.

 

[Carl]

I think a couple of fastgrass-type bundles without the snow fence materials would be less bulky. Just stretch a line between the poles and attach it to that.