Boat blind ideas

Bob Collier

Active member
I am looking to improve my current blind. I attached
a pic to give you all an idea of what my current set up looks like. The long bunches of grass are loose and blow around in any strong wind.
I would like to rig up something to cover the “Black Hole” while still allowing good visibility to watch approaching birds. I also want to be able to roll it up when I store the blind and travel as the blind sides roll down and store along the sides of the boat which is very handy space wise.
Any thoughts?View attachment 2638CF8F-E231-45C5-A090-A18109BABDE5.jpeg
 
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I would say more vegetation on the hull.

As for the black hole... more vegetation.. but can you give more pictures of your blind?

Perhaps hang burlap where there isn't a hunter... and maybe attach grass to the burlap????
 
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I would also want the hull covered better if it was me. As for the black hole get some long raffia grass on the top and let it hangover in front of you. Then on the bottom portion trade out those tall clumps for salt hay (not sure that will be available where you are) or something similar that will stand up over the bottom blind rail
 
Will M said:
I would also want the hull covered better if it was me. As for the black hole get some long raffia grass on the top and let it hangover in front of you. Then on the bottom portion trade out those tall clumps for salt hay (not sure that will be available where you are) or something similar that will stand up over the bottom blind rail

No salt hay here in Mn. I could hang more long lengths of raffia to cover the hull, hard to se from the two pics but it would be hard to get the raffia to hang from the top as it would be in the way when trying to shoot.
Thanks
 
Do yoy stand to shoot or shoot from a seated position? If you stand to shoot you would easily just push through it when you stand to shoot
 
Bob Collier said:
Will M said:
I would also want the hull covered better if it was me. As for the black hole get some long raffia grass on the top and let it hangover in front of you. Then on the bottom portion trade out those tall clumps for salt hay (not sure that will be available where you are) or something similar that will stand up over the bottom blind rail

No salt hay here in Mn. I could hang more long lengths of raffia to cover the hull, hard to se from the two pics but it would be hard to get the raffia to hang from the top as it would be in the way when trying to shoot.
Thanks

Prairie Cordgrass is what I use. It is found in wet ditches
 
Prairie Cordgrass is what I use. It is found in wet ditches

Not sure what that looks like exactly but I will check around for.
 
Take bungee cord and strecth it between to point you want to cover. Zip tie raffla or some of her cover to it. When done it stores easily.

Where in Mn are you located? I’m in Woodbury. If you are close by come on over and I’ll share with you what I have done on a few boats.

Mark
 
Depends on where you hunt in MN but a lot of MN duck habitat involves cattails so I would cover the hull with fast grass mats. Also an outboard motor cover.

MarkW's idea with the bungee cords is excellent - I would expand it to say get a smaller bungee cargo net such as for a motorcycle and attach raffia or grass mats to that. I get them at Menards in the aisle with their bungees and tie down straps.

If you hunt northern MN, take a weed whip and cut some marsh sedge out of a bog. I think it's similar to prairie cordgrass and salt hay in regard to quality of camo and durability.
 
In addition to more vegetation, is there a way to run the boat into the phragmites rather than lay up against them? If I am in a flooded situation like that I like to give is some gas and slip right in there and put some veg between me and the decoys.
 
Grass the hull and cover the motor. And stick some cane in the bottom in front of the boat.
 
Basically, you want to hide in full sight. IF you don't and tuck deeper into that Phragmites sp. stand, you will likely have trouble picking birds up in the distance, allowing them to either fly by or be on you before you are prepared to shoot. I have the Classic TDB-17', which I picked-up to replace my TDB-14'. Two things I quickly discovered: the blind is easier to shoot out of than the one I had on the 14', because it is not quite as high; the boat's additional width alters the angle of the ambient light striking it, making grassing of the stern and foredeck areas far more important that it was with my TDB-14'.

You can have a rectangle of Killer Weed-1 pattern Avery Duramax 900 material sew-up in a single length panel or multiple panels with some 1/4" Dacron solid braid piping sewn-in in a channel around the edge with U-shaped cut-outs in the panel's edge to expose the cord in four "windows" on the long axis edges of the panel(s). Spring clamps painted drab marsh colors or flat black can then be used to hold this to your blind frame tubing at each of the windows, allowing you to move this to accommodate the number of shooters you have on-board. These will also enable you to decrease wind-flow through the blind, making life sitting over decoys more comfortable.

I would recommend you purchase a multi-color kit of raffia grass from Avery or another vendor and use it to grass the entire boat in. You can either zip-tie hanks to your grassing rails and blind webbing, or purchase light netting to attach the raffia bundles to and then zip-tie the netting to the various blind panels. Raffia doesn't break down with constant roll-up and down of your blind ;it doesn't absorb water easily; it is light weight, keeping your blind panels manageable to breakdown and store;and it will last for years. If you want to hang hanks off the grassing rails via zip-ties that is workable, or you can buy a roll of jute cordage and cut this into hanks to hang off the grassing rails.

If you grass the boat in well, you can sit right on the edge of cover, enabling you to have good sight distance on large expanses of marsh. In smaller marshes this will serve you well, too! Birds will likely work-in high in back bays, oxbows, or small open water since they have to come in over adjacent terrestrial cover. I can't tell you how many times I have had birds that are approaching high flair when the picked up the "black hole" in the marsh. YES, it does matter.

I just use a length of 1/4" bungee cord and stitch it through the pull handles cleats and deck hardware in a criss-cross pattern and the knot the ends together; then weave vegetation through these. The bungee cord doesn't undergo UV degradation while left on the boat during the off season or between hunts.

View attachment Kessler+TDB.jpg

Here is Steve Sanford's friend and gunning partner's TDB-17' Classic grassed-in very well...
 
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Wow, lots of great ideas! Duck Boats never disappoints!

I like the bungee idea for grassing the hull, I hunt mostly southern Mn but also make a trip to the Mississippi and Nebraska on the Missouri ( which is where the photo was taken). As far as getting deeper into the cover, those phragrimites were very dense and not much water to get the boat to float into them! Here I can usually bury into the cattails pretty well. The blind base is cordura which is a good wind break, I bought a Ghillie Blanket and attached it and then zip tied raffia to it, I am thinking I could get another Ghillie and attach raffia plus incorporate the bungee concept,
I am still not sure how to approach the shooting hole? The top does flip up but most of the time we just shoot with it down from a seated position. It is nice when birds fly over as they can’t see directly down into the blind but when they are in front I think the “black hole” is an issue.
Thanks to all for the advice, it gives me a lot of ideas. Lots of time this winter to tie flies and tinker with the blind. I plan on making a much better motor cover as well. I am thinking the bungee with cord grass, cane or what ever may work if I run it across the top of the front panel and cut out shooting ports!
The wheels are turning.
 
For the bungee, buy the bungee ends at your local Home Depot type of store or hardware store. Bulk bungee by the foot you can find anywhere. Make the bungee to the length you need. Epoxy or bolt a couple of pad eyes to the bow and stern of the boat and stretch the cord between them. Then zip tie the raffia (or whatever). If you try to tie the raffia to the upstretched cord you will have holes.

As far as the black hole you mention, I don't thin kI would spend 1 minute worrying about it.

If you don't mind, where in Southern MN? Always interested to learn were others in the State hunt - in general terms.

Mark
 
View attachment TDB 17 new york.jpg

I think this is Craig Kessler's boat, again, on a brant hunt.

Working off your initial statement on a desire to break the blind down between trips the Ghillie Blankets are a good idea, essentially what you could achieve with bird netting and raffia hanks and some zip-ties.
View attachment DSC00371.JPGView attachment DSC00373.JPG

This is my boat blind, with modified rain roof panel re-installed via placement of two two-way zipper runs and some batten pockets sewn-in on the underside. I made some battens to insert in these to support the fabric run and provide a little "bow" to shed rain. I can unzip this panel from either end to provide room for the shooter either fore or aft, while still enclosing the "black hole". Steve Lewis kindly volunteered to substitute for Vanna White in this pic, who declined to show do to concerns about potential water damage to her gown...
 
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