This is a a Duckboat site, Lets see 'em....

This is my '49 Grumman Sport Boat. She's a great craft for hunting and fishing. I've since camo'ed the Nissan - she sips gas and gets on plane with two guys, gear and my AWS. Alec

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Craig,

Greatly appreciated. I'm working on a mudmotor version that is going to be that cat's meow. I'll post a few pictures before too long, dang hunting season getting in the way of building boats :)

Brad
 
Gene, love the ezy-glide steering on your tdb! i've contemplated putting it on mine as well. I'd have to get another motor though. How does it handle? Can you put the lid on your boat?

Larry
 
Brad and All That Have Built Their Own Boats:

How long did/does it take you to make a boat??

Brad, looking forward to seeing your "mudmotor" boat, even if it after hunting season! You do deserve a break I imagine...
 
"Gene, love the ezy-glide steering on your tdb! i've contemplated putting it on mine as well." Larry, Go for it! Made a huge difference to me. " I'd have to get another motor though." -I just had to buy the control unit to convert the motor, mine was a tiller when I started out as well. "How does it handle?" - It handles better than with the tiller, my weight (240lbs) at the front makes the most difference. MUCH better than an extension handle. MUCH SAFER as well. It's great to be able to see where I'm going! "Can you put the lid on your boat?" -Yes, that is why it is mounted on the deck the way it is. I have to turn it most of the way either direction to put the lid on. Looking back: I got my mind set on the ez-glide and made it work, regular steering would work as well as long as you can install the lid. I put the PTT on at the same time, hard to say as what made the most difference. Both were a great upgrade and moved this little boat into a whole new class! As with any small boat, putting 10lb of SH*t in a 5lb bag is never easy. I'll have to add more pics, I now have my lighted compass, gps, and depth finder mounter as well. All are mounted to the inside of the opening and fold down inside to install the lid. I'd be glad to help any way I can. Gene
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Craig....

Just depends on the model and if I've built one before, also the amount of time I've got to spend on it. I teach school so I have my summers off, when this is the case it takes me about 3 weeks from start to finish on a standard DH. Of course I have templates out of luan for boats that I've already built which saves an enormous amount of time. When I built the Hellcat, I only had my design roughed out on paper and was only working after school in the evenings and weekends. I started in late October and finished the last weekend of Jan. The mudmotor version I'm working on right now is a similar situation. I'm only working on it a couple of evenings a week and have no real plans other than those I've drawn up. I really hope to be done with this boat by Christmas.

Brad
 
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Whoa! That's amazing. It would take me a year (or more) to build one. You certainly have a great skill going.

Where do you hunt with the big gray Hellcat? Big open waters?

CS
 
We have a house that I'm in on down on the Pamlico sound here in NC. We hunt public waters there on the intercoastal and various areas around there. Its still a flat bottom boat, but many people down here run Jone's Brothers and the like which are flat bottom as well. There are many places in the sound that are less than a 1' deep while there are areas that are 25' deep as well. With that being said, I wanted a boat that would let me feel comfortable going out when it was rough (within reason) but still let me get back up in the coves. We were out the other weekend red fishing and it was blowing 10-15 and the waves were 1-3 at times, we didn't take on any spray but it was a little bone jarring heading out running about 25-30 mph :) It will also serve as the tender for our layout down at the coast as well as around here on the local reservoirs and lakes.

Brad
 
Thanks for the explanation Brad. That makes sense. It is interesting to learn of the different habitats and environments that fellow waterfowlers hunt in and the boats and methods used to hunt in those environments.

Been on those trips out and back in where the teeth rattle. Hope you had some good fishin!

What motivated you to build your own boats?
 
Hi John, I'm interested in trying to sail my duck boat. A few questions please - How do you step the mast? Can you buy the sail rig somewhere? How about the rudder? Do you use daggerboards? Will she sail upwind? Does the sheet run to a pulley in the rear of the cockpit? Is she stable or tippy? Any other advice? Thanks a lot!

Dave
 
Just liked the look of the Duckhunter back in 2002 so I bought the plans, I set on them for a year before deciding to build one. I teach, so I had the summer to build it. Actually to my amazement I built my first one in a month. Of course I had motivation, I was building in a 10x20 rental storage unit with an adapter screwed into the light bulb for power. The place had a special, $20 for the first month and $100 a month after that :)

The next summer rolled around and I wanted to build another boat, but knew building one for myself was out. So I thought, "hey I'll try and sell one", ended up with 2 sold when I only wanted to do one. The next summer I ended up with 3 instead of 2. It has just blossomed from there. I met with a mold builder the other week and hope to be producing several models out of fiberglass in the next couple of years.

Brad
 
Hello Dave,

I'll do my best to answer.

I made my mast out of two spruce 2x4s.
[inline mast.jpg]

Had a sewing lesson with my mother n law for the sail.
[inline sail 2.jpg]

Made the daggerboard and rudder using old scale BBSB drawing.
[inline daggerboard.jpg]

Here is a good look at the rigging.
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A good daggerboard will help you sail upwind and she is very stable.
sail.jpg

The mast is stepped in a mahogany block mounted to the hull and passes through another mahogany block attached to the ribs just under the deck. I only know of David Clark and a Nathaniel Wilson in Boothbay if you want to buy a sail rig.

Hope that helps.

DAGGERBOARD.jpg
sail 2.JPG
mast.JPG
 
I just finished repainting it and still have to add some more camo, should I stay with the black or should I also use a lighter tan. This is Lou's Starcraft paint.


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There are some amazing rigs on this thread. You all have some real talent. Here is a pic of my boat. Nothing fancy for sure but it's gotten the job done the last 33 years.

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