Sneakbox Bow Decoy Bag

Griffin Williford

Griffin Williford

Member
I have recently been contemplating what the best means of decoy storage was on my BBIII. I started by thinking about how clustered most cockpits can become between dogs, bags, decoys etc and the value of space on a sneakbox.

I initialy considered adding decoy racks, but wanted to find a solution that allowed me to trailer from Point A to Point B without the concern of catapulting decoys into the road from a pot hole or blowing out traveling on the highway.

My next thought was to add a fixed decoy box in the cockpit, but that contradicted my entire goal of freeing up cockpits space.

I have opted to have a fixed decoy bag constructed to fill the void between the front of the dodger and the bow. Per my conversations with Diane, I believe that we have a fairly solid design.

The design will include the following:
-Ribs to keep it vertical
-Grassing straps on each side
-Drainable Mesh Bottom
-Zippered lid
-28 6"x6" Slots

I know that I had brought this up in another thread regarding Diane's custom bags, but was still curious if anyone has a similar set up or suggestions on the design. She plans to start on it within the next two weeks +/- so any modifications that I would like to make need to be in to her soon. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
 
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I use 12 slot decoy bags on the front of my marsh/layout boat, and while not perfect, it seems to be the best compromise. I have a rope harness that I use to tie down the decoys while motoring. Stow the decoys in my truck on the road. I don't carry a lot of decoys, so it works for me. Keeps the cockpit floor area open, and less cluttered.

So it sounds like you are proposing a similar solution.

Miller
 
I do the same, two zippered 12 slot bags on the fore-deck, tied down under way and removed to the truck or cockpit when on the road. Bags get stashed up under the deck when emptied.

Scott
 
Looks great! I recently ordered some fabric for a winter project to do the same thing for couple of my boats. It's helpful to see a finished product,
 
Griffin, great design. I usually hunt 6-8 decoys. This would be great when hunting larger water where I need more decoys. If possible could I get the plans?
 
A cautionary tale. I used to carry a ten decoy bag against the spray while and then a six slot bag in front of that. My boat is a modified planing hull so has a deeper how than yours. Worked great except this one time, in a rally bad wind where the extra weight on the bow kept it from lifting as high as normal and a wave broke over the bow immediately filling the bags with water causing
The bow to sink even deeper into the water. These were Diane's bags and they had the open bottomed slots and a limited number of grommets. As the boat listed the open slots let the water shift to the side and since the grommets were on the deck not much draining was happening.

I solved the immediate problem by reaching over the hood and dragging both bags off the deck into the water. Immediate problem safely escaped I made a big circle and retrieved the loose floating decoys and the bags.

It's a great idea just be aware that it takes away a good bit of the built in rough water handling characteristics of the hull and could cause real issues. I'd suggests that if you didn't build them with a mesh bottom and individual pockets seen to the bottom that you consider that


Steve
 
Cool idea,

I try to be a little more organized than that! lol
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Would love to get a copy of those plans -- looking at a similar solution for the forward deck of our South Bay boats. Nice grassing job, too. Thanks!
 
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