Pond Box/Coffin Blind

D

Douglas Petro

New member
Looking for plans for a small pond box/coffin blind that can be paddle across small channels or can paddle out to retrieve a duck if needed. Need extremely light weight. Not looking for canoe or kayak, have them. Looking for like 6'6" to 8 foot, under 40 lbs.
 
I built three of what I think you might be looking for maybe 10 years ago. I have them in storage and can maybe get some pictures for you this weekend. I don't remember the name and not sure I can find the plans. Very simple design. I will see what I can dig up. Sorry don't have a better recall. I'm not sure where you are located but I would be happy to part with one. Never used. I quit hunting where I was planning to use them.
 
that bump of raffia grass where my feet are is a dog blind i was repositioning. Not usually there.
 
Douglas, don't think the pond box is made to row or retreive birds. I have two, they are ment to tow or wade to a spot and set up on shore. Don't reaaly think they are that stable. Any one else use it to retrieve birds?
 
not a boat . that pic above is in 1 inch of sheetwater. I pull it behind me while wading, put me shotgun and blind bag in there that's about it.
 
All~


Indeed! I distinguish between a Pond Box and a Gunning Coffin. The former IS a small boat that can be used very carefully in protected waters. Zack Taylor in SUCCESSFUL WATERFOWLING (one of my favorites) describes one and shows how to build one. I will try to scan the pages later today.


(I owned one long ago. I never used it for hunting - just to row out to my moored sailboat.)


My Gunning Coffin (aka Coffin Box, Meadow Box, et cetera) is NOT A BOAT. It is built like a boat so it'll drag and tow nicely, but will quickly dunk you if you try to use it in water over an inch or 2 deep. It is a blind that allows you to lay down and hide in wet habitats without getting wet. Bob's use of it is as I had intended. I used mine mostly on the saltmarsh - to get back in to little potholes where a boat could not reach. I would drag it with 6 or 8 decoys, my gun and some bullets. I have also used it hereabouts in cornfields, both dry and flooded.

Fishman dragging Coffin.jpg


NOTE - The coffin in the above photo is NOT one of mine. It was built like a shoebox and neither drags nor tows easily.


The coffins tow nicely (with a few decoys in them for ballast) but more than one LI gunner crosses the big water with a coffin or two in his garvey (or other large open vessel), then drags the coffin(s) in once safely in shoals or at saltmarsh.


Hope this helps!


SJS




 
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May not be exactly what you are looking for, but I built this boat a few years ago for hunting some areas with no launches for my bigger boat.

Built from the Hybrid NL plans that were floating around on another message board a few years ago. 8ft long by 42" wide. Made from 3/4" ply frames and skinned in 1/4". Then coated inside and out in fiberglass. Weighs closer to 60 lbs. than 40, but mine was built to run a small out board. Could very easily go thinner with the ply and save some weight.
Hybrid.jpg
 
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Bill~


Nice little craft!



Interesting that your vessel's beam is 42 inches. I have often concluded that 42 inches is a minimum for shooting. Even with a dead flat bottom, 36 inches can send your reeling when you let go a broadside with a 12 gauge (and I shoot those Old School 2-3/4-inch shells.....)



All the best,


SJS






 
Here are the images from SUCCESSFUL WATERFOWLER


The plans. I'd make the cockpit much longer - for getting in and out.



Pond Box plans - Zack Taylor.jpg



Under tow.


Pond Box - Zack Taylor towing.jpg





All the best,


SJS

 
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