Already posted some pics in the HH, but want to start my own boat thread to keep it all organized in case people would want to emulate it in the future. (Pretty lofty thinking there, but regardless.) I know I used a lot of people's ideas and support so I figured I'd show off what I came up with so far so in the future people can improve on what I did. Anyway, special thanks to Rob Robertson, John Oneal, ShootnGoose and Bayou Boy. And I'm sure many others I'm forgetting.
First I started off with a Carsten's Pintail I bought used for 300 bucks.
For a seat I just bought the MoMarsh Layout seat. It folds completely flat so when I am paddling to my spot I can lay it flat under my knees and then when I get there I can cant it and lay up against it. I thought about making my own seat, but it would have taken time to find the foam and the finish just wouldnt have been as good as the seat so I figured I wouldnt reinvent the wheel.
Next I decided on what type of camo I wanted. I hunt a couple different areas so I wanted some Marsh Grass (Cabelas) and something a little darker I could blind into on the shoreline and out in the open in the trees of the big lakes I could stack driftwood on. I just laid the two over the boat for a rough estimate.
Next since I decided I wanted to be able to swap camos out and be able to scout in the boat without any camo on, I wanted it to be removable. I liked Rob Robertson's idea of ziptie-ing the camo to a mesh background attached to the boat, but the mesh he used was expensive and was a little troublesome to acquire and this backing I felt made it a little more rigid and easy to take off.
However, the green was a little too noticeable... So just a can of flat black
Now some ziptie work
At this point I was running out of Zipties and it was midnight so I decided to take a break and come back the next morning after a home depot run.
I have been trying to decide how I want to do the doors. I havent really found a hinge idea I like. I know I want to use metal piping and not wood for the doors. So I purchased some 1/2 inch conduit and did a mock up of what I want door wise. Now this is all just a mock-up. There is extra door frame extending past the hinges. None of that will be there in real life. I am also working on securing an actual conduit bender so I can get smooth edges.
Now for hinges here is what I used:
Here is the front of the boat and it's connection. The nail is only there to hold it for now. I will drill a hole in the conduit and thread a quick release pin bordered by a rubber oring on each side between the joint.
Here is the back: this is the nice part about the back rail just coming straight off the side. I dont have to drill a hole and basically just have to find a more permanant solution than the nail i have in there to hold it's place.
At this point the Ziptie-ing is complete and the mockup of the doors is complete.
My future plans are
1. To order a second sheet of camo netting to put on the first sheet. It's a little more transparent than I want it to be. So I'll just ziptie it on top of the camo netting thats already there.
2. Finish the door frame
3. Install buckle clips onto the green fencing material to serve as quick disconnect points to the boat. I will construct a similar camo sheet made of marsh grass on top of a second green fence cut out with the buckles so i can interchange them.
4. Paint my paddle
5. Construct a mojo pole holder (John Oneals Idea)
6. Install a jerk string puller similar to Rob Robertson's
Anyway thanks for looking I will keep this thread updated as I progress....
