Trailering Grassed Boats

Nick Zito

Active member
Curious how y'all handle grasses boats while trailering. My DW15 blinds (newly restored) is very convenient To just roll up for trailering. Also is nice for ingress and egress on the boat with the blind down as the boats shrinks a lot when the blind is up. When I purchased the boat. The previous owner had rolls of fast grass with pvc pipe hangers zip tied to them for easy attachment. Basically they just hook into the nylon webbing sewn all around the blind. Problem is I need 7 rolls to grass in the boat (including the rain cover). What I've been doing is rolling them all up and bungeeing them in the motor well, but it's a real pain in the rear to set them up every time, especially when I'm hunting with someone who doesn't know Exactly how the setup works. Even getting the blind up with someone else proves difficult at times. Also, the fast grass doesn't quite blend in with my hunting spots. Looks more like cattails you me and we either have spartina or phrag in most of our spots.

My question is, I have nylon webbing everywhere on the blind. Is cramming the webbing full of spartina enough for trailering? There's a good number of days we trailer on 95 (albeit I'm probably only going 60mph on it). I'm not sure if the spartina would handle rolling up well without breaking, and the rolling would be against the grain of the grass, if you catch my drift. Also, yay or nay to the rain cover? The webbing is the same direction on the rain cover, which also rolls up separately and clips to the side of the blind (or unzips completely).

Photos for fun and what I'm working with, rain cover and not. Note, resident geese are great to hunt where you can go out in a t shirt and they don't care about lack of camo like me in the last photo.



View attachment F355DFA2-D6AB-438C-9E0D-D7572B4E624F.jpegView attachment 2645FBBB-95DD-4192-9ADB-9293767EA6BF.jpegView attachment 91344CD8-BA1A-4B3C-BD6E-F00DB3DBA322.jpeg
 
tod osier said:
I still have those youth waders.

Ah yes I need to snag those from you. Took the girls out for the first time yesterday, if i could post a video I would. Youngest was beating oldest with a broom made of cattails. It was quite entertaining. Didn't get anything but saw lots and shot a few times for effect. They enjoyed it. I'll give you a buzz this week when I'm running around.
 
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Nick Zito said:
tod osier said:
I still have those youth waders.

Ah yes I need to snag those from you. Took the girls out for the first time yesterday, if i could post a video I would. Youngest was beating oldest with a broom made of cattails. It was quite entertaining. Didn't get anything but saw lots and shot a few times for effect. They enjoyed it. I'll give you a buzz this week when I'm running around.

No rush, I just wanted to reinforce that the offer stands.
 
Goes down the road at 65mph on many days. I'll sometimes zip tie grass that is stuffed under the canvas loops or stuff it under multiple loops, usually the latter. The grass tucked under the grassing rails need to be packed tight. I take the butt ends, fold them back upon themselves about 8 inches before pulling/pushing the doubled over portion, under the grassing rail. I have a 3/4 inch gap, so doubling helps fill that gap.

View attachment 018.jpgView attachment 20161029_133206.jpgView attachment grassed 2015.jpg
 
I also have the quick release straps, just didn't know what would blend in well enough And also have roll-ability. I assumed salt hay would just break and fall apart. Raffia would work for sure, though not sure if it would blend in with spartina
 
Being a Midwesterner I am embarrassed to say I don?t know what Salt Hay or Spartina is. I would think if you went on the J Sterns website you could find some raffia that would match the color you need.
Good luck.
 
Nick~


I would be tempted to lash small bundles of grass (Spartina or anything else) to your nylon straps. Here is how I do it on my gunning coffins:


View attachment 24. Tie a square knot over each lashing - do this another 100 times and you're done!.jpg



I tie square knots in twine - and not zip ties - so it's biodegradable when I need to replace the grass.


My thatch rails on my boats have a 3/16-inch space between the rail and the deck. Packed tight, they have always traveled well at highway speeds.


All the best,


SJS


 
Ok
Googled it, does it turn more brown in the fall? I can see why you are concerned that raffia may not have the same ?look? as the grass but I think you could get close in color and vary the shades of raffia to give it depth.
 
Hanks of Rafia can be dyed with Rit dyes if j. Stern doesn,t have a color to your liking. All i use on my rollup cordura blinds . Stuff as many hanks as you can into Turkey fryer pot full of at least 140 degree water and let hanks soak for at least hlf. hr. Dark Brown mixed in with taupe 50/50 will give you those fall marsh grass color your after. First pot load will always be darkest on either color so you can actually get variation within the same dye mix to an extent. Mix together all your color batchs when dry.
 
Steve Sanford said:
Nick~


I would be tempted to lash small bundles of grass (Spartina or anything else) to your nylon straps. Here is how I do it on my gunning coffins:






I tie square knots in twine - and not zip ties - so it's biodegradable when I need to replace the grass.


My thatch rails on my boats have a 3/16-inch space between the rail and the deck. Packed tight, they have always traveled well at highway speeds.


All the best,


SJS


Steve,

I love the idea of using twine. Is that just regular garden Jute twine? How well does it hold up during the course of a season?

Thanks
 
good to know. Thanks Phil. I didnt see this before. Also didnt realize some garden stores sell baled salt hay. A lot easier than harvesting it. Will just have to toss some of the taller spartina when i get to the shooting spot.
 
I use sisal, manila, and hemp twines. Add more every year. I use zip ties to tie bundles to grassing rails, cordora blind, motor cover, just getting splotches of different colors and patterns to break up the outline. I have only had to replace bundles when zip ties break or come unfastened or those bundles on grassing rails along the water line. They get beat up over the course of the season. Those too far aft tend to throw spray.
 
Sometimes pre-assembly is a necessity. I used aviary netting fastened to pad eyes secured in with stainless steel blind rivets. The aviary netting is ultra tough. I take my raffia, pull out a handful. Bend it in half, cut with scissors so the length is halved. Then I pull it through the aviary netting and tie a tight overhand knot. Raffia is unbelievably tough. If you wrap a thick strand around your finger and pull, you will cut your finger before it breaks. In a few weeks I will throw on some salt hay. That gets zip tied on. Both raffia and hay are tough. Raffia can go 4-5 years and hay usually goes 2. Spartina does not hold up but looks nice early season to add some green to your boat. Spartina I am lucky if I get a season. Trailering pretty much destroys it.

This is my Duck Invader 13 minus the flaps. I store the flaps in the bed of my truck and put them on when I get to the ramp. They go on with pins and clips. All the grass you see around the gunnels is raffia. It eventually gets matted down and I patch in a little hear and there. Otherwise, very low maintenance and VERY tough.
View attachment DU13.jpg
 
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I wouldnt worry about the trailering. On my DB15 I have used spartina for the last 6 years zip tied to the grassing loops on the hull and blind. I trailer that boat around 7000 miles a season and yes, I definitely loose grass throughout the year but I also keep a good supply on hand. What I have found really helps with loosing grass is to make sure you have a thin layer or salt hay or raffia beneath the spartina.

My roy boat is the same, only spartina but zip tied to aviary netting. I kept a very thing layer of some raffia beneath just to mix in for longevity.

In a perfect world I would go all rafia and do as mentioned by Jay k. Cut to length and tie tight half hitch to either aviary netting or grassing rails, but truthfully myself I have never been able to have a realistic looking color out of raffia and I always end up putting on natural spartina anyways. I know there are a lot of guys out there that have had better color luck or will die their own raffia or fast grass, but I am just not artistic enough to make my own. A few minutes on the marsh with a 20v hedge trimmer makes quick work for me to grass up 4 boats each season and personally dont feel you can beat the look of real grass.
 
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