Finally found a TDB-17, now the work begins

Perfect ... thanks for everything!

How was the hunt, birds moving a little better? My buddies gave it one last go up on Superior over the weekend, Goldeneyes and Bluebills were fairly solid, but just for the open water hunting ... the guys on the points didn't fare as well. Probably birds that have been around a bit.
 
Quick update ... snow has finally peeled back, and life has slowed a bit to allow me to start working on the TDB. Thank you for noticing I was short three support poles for the blind (I was). I ordered those direct from Olsen Marine so I could be sure of receiving the thick-walled tubes I needed. I also took Rick's advice, and ordered some of this to "clad" all the support poles:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Foot-to-100-Feet-1-70-HEAVY-DUTY-Adhesive-Lined-Heat-Shrink-Tubing-Marine-1FT/192118652846?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

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This made the poles a little larger than 1", so I had to take a rasp to the openings in the fiberglass to get them to go through smoothly. All went well, the blind is now complete! I need to get some more components for the rain roof if I want it functioning ... that'll happen as well. All in all, gonna be a nice rig for $2,600 original price. Since then I've also hung a Tohatsu 50HP tiller on the back. The price is going up, but that's what boats are for ... right?


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One other thing slowing me down a little ... say hello to "Banjo", he's all puppy, but should make a great duck dog if dad does everything right.


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Holy hell ... sorry, don't know how to make those smaller. Brings his foot size to real-life though, doesn't it? He's going to be a chunker.
 
Tom~


Everything looks great - and it seems Banjo approves!


I'm wondering what your current thinking is re covering the hull with camouflage. As an Old School guy brought up around grassboats of all kinds on Great South Bay, I have made many, many feet of conventional thatch rails over the years. However, with a vessel like yours - and not knowing what you use to hide it with - I would consider a system using heavy shock cord and strap eyes at regular intervals. If you will be lashing bundles of vegetation to the boat, 2 rows of 1/4-inch or 3/8-inch shock cord ( https://www.paracordplanet.com/coyote-brown-3-8-inch-shock-cord/ ) rove through brass or nylon eye straps every 12 to 18 inches would keep your hide intact - even at trailering speeds. (Of course, you could easily fashion "eye straps" with wood, too.)



All the best,


SJS





 
Congrats. On your find. I?m the proud owner of a 1989 classic 17. Bought it from L L Bean. Still looks and performs great So many great memories in the boat.
 
Just a note about motors. We had a 1997 17' TDB classic and it had a 50 HP Mercury 2 stroke with power trim and tilt. When we went to repower the boat (blew power trim and tilt unit) the only company that made a 50HP 4 stroke tiller with power trim and tilt was Honda. I don't know if this is still the case, but something to look into.
Pete
 
Thanks to Rick?s (RLLigman) advice progress has been made. Riveted and epoxied the aluminum awning track, bought some welt to fit, had an employee sew me up some new decoy curtains. Came out great. Went around and removed all the screws holding various fishing things (left the drink holders though). Took an entire small jar of MarineTex to fill all the holes, both new and old. Once that dries, it?s time to sand and repaint the interior. I?ll use Tuff Coat for that. Can?t figure out why the upload rotated the picture to landscape. Sorry gents

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Those are great Steve, I better not have that many drink holders mounted! I might make a few out of some composite decking we have in stock.

I've spent the last 2 nights doing other things, but did get a chance to pull off all the tape I put over the MarineTex hole repairs keeping things pretty flush. Just an FYI, brown packing tape is NOT the material to use ... it stuck to every last dollop. Plain masking tape did a great job. I'm forced to sand those packing-tape covered holes whether I wanted to or not, just to get the tape off!

Went around the deck seam with tan 3M 5200 last night. Oddly, there seems to be only a factory "seal" around the bow, and then again around the stern ... and only about 10" along the sides, with the rest unsealed. Not anymore, that deck/hull joint is now filled and smoothed. Found a few other misc. holes, sealed them up with 5200 as well (ran out of MarineTex).

There are sections of the interior floor (behind the new curtains) where I can actually see some glass fibers showing. A couple of coats of Tuff Coat should eliminate that, no? I guess a boat 30 years old that had zero upkeep will show it's age. Going to give the floor a light sanding, vacuum and tack cloth it, then get after the paint. Nights are getting cooler, running out of time! I've got 12 loggers cord of oak to deal with too ... and this darn pesky full-time job.
 
Update ... weather cooled off, and with all the other side-projects I let the repaint get away from me. Luckily, we had two days of warm weather ... so I took them off and got it mostly done. Sanded the entire boat, bought the FME from Lou as recommended here, and also decided a coat of Tuff Coat on the combing, the bow/stern, and the floor would be a good idea (Lake Superior is no body of water to slip and fall into in October). Taped off the areas, applied the 2-part epoxy primer, let it dry overnight.

Got after it yesterday ... and was disappointed in the color of Tuff Coat I chose (Sand). Found out the FME wouldn't work on top of it, so had a gallon of exterior latex mixed up ... and topcoated the Tuff Coat with that. Pretty close in color, I like the way it turned out. Interior needs more paint, but that'll have to wait until next summer ... as it's chilling off again. This weekend = rewiring, then a trial run!



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Warm-up! Spent the weekend rewiring everything brand new, through conduit ... running lights, interior lights, bilge pump, and ran a line up to the bow for a future light bar for running the sloughs (full of deadheads). All terminating at a new waterproof switch with USB chargers (I'm inching towards the 21st century, I guess). Took it for a spin on Sunday with Banjo, he approved. Glad I went one pitch less, the 17 Classic hops on plane in what seems like 2-3 seconds ... gobs of power. That'll come in handy full of decoys. Sunday afternoon it was so nice I decided to old-school camo paint, freehand. I did look at some old F-4 Phantom paint jobs for inspiration. I've got a quart of flat black, but I think I'm leaving it as is.



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edit: forgot Banjo pic!
 
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Looks great! I and rebuilding the circuit board, adding a master switch, and upgrading the old charging ports to have USBs as well. Growing up on boats it seems foreign to me, but it is a nice touch. Glad to see im not the only one moving (slowly) into the future.
 
Looks great!!!! I always wanted one of those.. but could never find one in my price range.. so I made one.

Where on Superior are you?
 
Good morning, Tom~


Fabulous job on the camouflage paint! Breaking up one big form into several large blocks of different tones makes real sense to my eye.


Congratulations!


SJS

 
You have done an amazing job refreshing this boat.

The paint scheme really breaks up the lines. I would not presume to tell anyone how to name their boat, but if she was mine I would christen her after her inspiration- "Phantom".

I wish you many safe and enjoyable hours aboard her.
I
The only boat I think I would enjoy more than my TDB 14 Classic is a 17 Classic but I have never encountered any on the market here in Ontario.
 
Thanks fellas, it's been fun ... can't wait to hunt out of it! I've got some blind modifications to do, and waiting on a dog ladder to reconfigure to fit, so it's looking like a scratch for opening weekend, but it should be actively pursuing waterfowl the weekend after.

Nick, begrudgingly so. May have been born about 25 years too late.

Phil, we've got a shack out in Chequamegon Bay ... can only access by boat, gas lights and fridge, small woodstove. Pretty special place full of memories, and never/ever any TV. I believe if we tracked all the aluminum we've recycled and the Brandy we've consumed throughout the years ... it would be a mixture of pride and shame. A duck shack is no place for either of those things, so we leave them behind each trip.

SJS, high praise hearing that from you ... thank you, I admire every last thing you do, so that means a lot.

Kim, I like it ... Phantom it is!
 
Tom, you did a really nice job setting the tracks for the decoy curtain fabrication, actually better than the Maine builds. I also really like the camo paint pattern as well, both the design and execution.. Olsen uses a too green gelcoat on their new boats. If you order a dog ladder via Olsen Marine I would encourage you to apply the aluminum core trim that lines the outside edge of the hard-top cover...just a little added protection against getting a nasty nick or cut on your retriever's feet or legs as they attempt to find solid footing. I put some closed cell pipe insulation on the pads that rest against the boat. I hang mine up forward off the gap between the side and bow blind panels so the dog can move from there to the forward retriever pad via ingress. This enables you to drain some water back over the side, rather than add to the water build-up inside.

From what we have seen thus far, the migration hasn't even started yet. Geese and cranes are moving well. Thursday PM was the big pulse for geese sliding down the Lake Michigan coast into Wisconsin.

Tom Kondrk used a Tohatsu on his personal TDB, did this one come with the boat, or did you pick it up.
 
RLLigman said:
Tom, you did a really nice job setting the tracks for the decoy curtain fabrication, actually better than the Maine builds. I also really like the camo paint pattern as well, both the design and execution.. Olsen uses a too green gelcoat on their new boats. If you order a dog ladder via Olsen Marine I would encourage you to apply the aluminum core trim that lines the outside edge of the hard-top cover...just a little added protection against getting a nasty nick or cut on your retriever's feet or legs as they attempt to find solid footing. I put some closed cell pipe insulation on the pads that rest against the boat. I hang mine up forward off the gap between the side and bow blind panels so the dog can move from there to the forward retriever pad via ingress. This enables you to drain some water back over the side, rather than add to the water build-up inside.

From what we have seen thus far, the migration hasn't even started yet. Geese and cranes are moving well. Thursday PM was the big pulse for geese sliding down the Lake Michigan coast into Wisconsin.

Tom Kondrk used a Tohatsu on his personal TDB, did this one come with the boat, or did you pick it up.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rick, I couldn't have done any of this without your insight ... both in these pages and via PM. I ended up retrofitting an Avery Truck ramp for the dog boarding ladder. It has a small piece of aluminum angle at the top that mates perfectly with the anchor chock on the starboard stern. A bungee around the ramp, secured by the grab handle and the outboard trim pin holes and it's locked in place pretty solidly. The legs (bottom) will sink into the muck pretty well I figure. Bonus - folds up flat and stores in the front compartment perfectly!. In all my searching for "TDB dog ladder", I haven't found anything that comes close to working this good, with storage options taken care of. Banjo has been flying up and down it ... he's all puppy, but a tank (70# at 7 months) ... ramp hold up well to his exuberance. I'll get a pic or two posted with it in place soon. Here's a couple stock images:





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It came with an old POS 2-stroke that didn't run, and had the power trim/tilt removed. Compression check was poor, so I bought the Tohatsu after a lot of research. Basically all Merc 4-strokes 50hp and less are rebadged Tohatsu's. Same with Evinrudes 15hp and less. Tohatsu is popular everywhere in the world except here. The fact that it's $2K less than a Honda, and $1.3k less than a Yammy sold me on it. I think it'll be a great motor ... gobs of power.

I got myself up in that bow storage section and drilled/mounted a SS eye-bolt. From there I hog-ringed three separate sections of 1/4" shock cord. On the rail at the front of the storage area, I added three shock cord buttons:


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then stretched the shock cord a little, hog-ringed loops in the ends. Works great for holding down the chairs, dog ramp, empty decoy bags.

I've got a friend sewing/modifying a blind panel so I can have a good rain/cover roof permanently. I've got the front, back & one side of the blind grassed in good with killerweed. I should get the blind/roof back tonight, so I'll start the last section then. Waiting on some 1" OD aluminum rod, and some jaw slides and outside ends ... this will have the extended roof come up 17" in the back before I take it over the top of the blind. My 6'3" height is all torso, and I stick out the top of the blind like a pecker in a ... well, I stick out. At 17" up I'll have a pocket for the aluminum tube, and will anchor it to the "top" of the blind with the jaw slide/outside ends ... and 16" pieces of 1" tubing each end. I'm thinking I'll be able to rotate these connections to make a nice angle in the back so it's not so squared off. From there, I'll be modifying Mr. Furia's design for a flip top with PVC. Except I'll space two crossbars across the top instead of the one for a 14' TDB.

Everything sounds good on paper. Just need the bar stock to get after it!
 
Yes storage of the TDB style dog ladder is an issue. I ended-up setting two fiberglass dowels in an offset 2x4" mounted to an old maple cutting board as a base; keeps the dog ladder upright during transport and accessible, but is useless when the ladder is in use. Oddly, space is at a premium. This weekend we towed Steve's Hoefgen back across a little under a mile and a half of open water to the mainland during a wind shift. We had the cockpit loaded with 8 dozen duck decoys and 15 goose floaters.


I discovered that I could shoot in a better, more efficient arc in the 17' compared to the TDB-14' I had earlier. I added two-way zippers to the standard rainroof TDB now makes for the blind and sewed batten pockets on the underside and some velcro pads to enable me to adhere the open sections to the blind roof underside and get them out of the way for the dog to move around more freely. i am the same height as you. With a facemask on I have fewer birds flaring that I did on the 14' even though"the dark hole is larger"; the gunning opening is not as narrow so you don't have to stand with your gun held tightly to your chest prior moving it to your shoulder.

One thing I would encourage you to consider https://www.duckworks.com/product-p/rl-261-s.htmadding: i mounted four of these near the blind panel seams. i generally hunt from the stern starboard side and have my two anchor lines mounted in the port cam cleats with the rode end knotted so I can't lose the whole run if it pops loose. A very easy means of adjusting the boat's position relative the decoys when hunting open water on the Great Lakes.

Hopefully your quarantine interval endpoint will put you in a position to take advantage of this weekend's forecast and the bird movement that will likely ensue.
 
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