Painting my Duckboat with FME #28 from Lou Tisch

CGeminski

Well-known member
Many of you have been nice enough to share your ideas, tips & advice with me regarding all the work I am doing on my duckboat, thank you so much. Well, here she is... Built by Rick Vourne from Copaige, NY, the boat is called a "Marsh Hawk" and is 13ft long.

Over the next few weeks I will be adding photos as the boat progresses. Scroll down to see the progression of all the work I am doing on the boat.

Feel free to comment, the more ideas presented to me the better she will look in the end.

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Here she is with the cover which came with the boat, I made some modifications to it so it wouldn't slide off the hull.

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Here is a shot looking from behind the stern, notice the "grass wings" which fold over the cockpit.

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Here is a another shot showing the cockpit w/o the cover

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Here is a photo of the cedar floor boards my father and I have been working on. Put together with brass screws and a little Gorilla glue... I decided not to carry out the floor all the way to each side in order to save some vertical room. I am going to put strips of wood across the bottom so nothing can roll under the flooring like shotgun shells.

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That's exactly how I describe it to someone who has not seen it before.... A cross between a South Bay Duckboat and a TDB.
 
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The motor mount on the stern is made of welded aluminum in a "wedge" shape... Unfortunately, my 15hp Johnson outboard's clamps would not fit over the top. I even tried to slide the motor on from the side... no luck!

I had to cut away the aluminum in two places to accommodate the motor mount clamps, then my father and I ground down the edges to a smooth finish.


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Here I am sanding down the hull before painting as per Lou Tisch's instructions. Lou is a member of this site and owns Lock, Stock & Barrel... I purchased his #28 Dead Grass Green (FME) Flat Marine Enamel paint from him.

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Here she is on the trailer

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Nice boat it'll be a fun project, clock is ticking season will be here before ya know it.

Gene
 
Just picked up some new galvanized hinges today for the grass wings, one of them was pretty rusty and broke the other day so I am replacing all four. I also got some metal primer and big handles for the cockpit cover. Installation tomorrow...
 
Here are some photos of my duckboat as the painting progressed yesterday. I got a gallon of Flat Marine Enamel (FME) #28 Dead Grass Green from Lou Tisch at www.lockstockbarrell.com.
The paint is on the expensive side, but like they say... you get what you pay for. Lou has directions on his website that tell you how to roll, brush or spray the paint on both aluminum and fiberglass boats. He also told me it could be used on wood by thinning it down a bit. So far the paint looks great, has zero sheen and passed my scratch tests with flying colors after only the 1st coat.

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Above are photos after the 1st coat on top of the boat

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Here I am painting the grass "wings" which will attach and fold over the cockpit
 
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chirs the boat looks great.....no still same boat just got a brand new yammah 15 for it this week.... the last 08 2 cycle on long island...the boats gonna fly....i never got the other boat (marsh hawk) im still looking one tho...and hey if you kno anyone that wants that merc i got it fix a new water pump...
 
Matt... put that Merc up for sale on here and Craigslist, it will sell pretty quick most likely... I got a used Johnson 15hp 2 stroke in mint condition for my boat, I considered buying a Yamaha 15 2 stroke as I knew a few dealers who still had them, but the pricetag was half as much on the used motor.
You can also bring the motor to the SSWA duckboat show on Oct 24th to sell, I will be there... Dad and I have are bringing an older wood sneakbox for sale, so is my uncle.

Thanks for the compliments on the boat, working on it is a lot of fun. I still have a ton of work to do before the season. I am taking it upstate the first week of November to hunt up there, should be a blast... ducks & bucks!
 
Here I am sanding down the hull before painting as per Lou Tisch's instructions. Lou is a member of this site and owns Lock, Stock & Barrel... I purchased his #28 Dead Grass Green (FME) Flat Marine Enamel paint from him.


Chris,

Neat boat, but if that thing is 13 feet long, you must be about 7 feet 18 inches tall.

Chuck
 
That photo was taken with a wide angle lens so it does distort your perspective a little bit. The boat is 13ft, but yes.. I am tall, but quite short of 7ft 18in, ha ha and the boat still has a TON of room for me and another hunter....
 
Good luck with the pregnat Southbay as it has been called.
I believe they cut a soutbay added a foot to the center.
Then extended the top section to allow 2 hunter to sit sideways
and not have there boots hitting the bottom of the top deck.

While your in the rebuild mode have you thought of putting flap boards on the bow.
For decoy storage.
 
There are a few things I am considering doing with this boat... I am looking into a spray dodger similar to the BBSB boats, but would probably only keep it up when running or while hunting solo. If I do it, it would need to fold down flat against the deck.
For decoy storage I am planning on buying the slotted decoy bags and storing them in the interior of the boat in the bow or interior both sides. Another option is to hang the decoy bags on the side of the boat when running, similar to what some TDB guys do.
As always, I am open to any ideas or suggestions... that's what is so great about this website!

I havent heard the "pregnant southbay" reference yet, personally I think it looks like a cross between a southbay and a TDB with some of the best features of both....
 
I got a gallon of Flat Marine Enamel (FME) #28 Dead Grass Green from Lou Tisch at www.lockstockbarrell.com.
The paint is on the expensive side, but like they say... you get what you pay for. I've never seen someone complain when they paid a good price for a good product. Rarely will you ever have buyers remorse on a quality product. I've seen many bitch when they bought cheap and got exactly what they paid for (and deserved). Boat is coming along nicely. Are you going to camo it at well or just use natural vegetation?
 
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I am painting the entire boat, inside and out with the FME #28 Dead Grass Green. Once that is done, I have some stencils and some flat Parker spray paints in a variety of colors... I will then paint the entire outside of the boat in a camo reed pattern, right now I am testing the color combinations for an effective pattern on a separate piece of material. The inside will stay solid green. On top of that will go natural marsh grass to fully camo the boat.

I will continue to post photos of the entire process so everyone can see the paint progression as well as all the other work I am doing on the boat right up to the first hunt in early November!
 
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