Somewhere around about 14 years ago, I bought a Mud Buddy blind. It really was a great blind, but it always bugged me that I'd paid THAT kind of money for basically some conduit, fabric, netting, and grass mats.
A couple of years ago, spring rolled around and it was time to take the blind off and store it,...but I didn't want to.
A guy at work wanted to buy it, and the grass was basically wore out anyway, so I used that as an opportunity to recoup some of that money knowing I could just build another one for waaaaaay less than what they sell for.
(I think the Mud Buddy blind is somewhere around $700 now!!!)
I hunted a couple of years without the blind, but I really missed the versatility of virtually being able to set up where ever I wanted, so I slooooooowly put together a new one in my down time these past couple of months.
So, I thought I'd do a little "blind build" thread here with the thought that it might help someone out...
Not wanting to spend the money on, or wanting to be "married to" the bimini connections, I just fabricated my own in much the same fashion that the original MB blind used.
These were just some steel angles that I'd drug home from work somewhere...Nothing fancy.
This is the front bracket that gets mounted on the center of the bow deck...
I used the same kind of scrap angle for the back bracket. I just cut off one side, then cut a "tab" in the middle. That way, when it's fastened to the transom it can be bent to be plumb instead of at the angle of the transom.
Bolts fastened to both of them that act as the hinge point...
No pics of this process, but I used 3/4" conduit for the frame, with 1/2" conduit ran inside the 3/4" at the center junction. Figuring out the length of the bend is just the measurement from the bracket bolt to the gunwhale. And the length is just from back of nut, to back of nut...pretty simple.
And then just some slight bends so it'll follow the gunwhale.
Mocked up...
