I recently acquired some burlap covered foam decoys. How can I repair these? Most are worn and the metal weight in the keels are rusting through. The heads are loose on most too. I decided I don't need goldeneye decoys, but could use eider, or scoter. Is this repair and transformation possible, or even worth the efforts? I guess I'll need to find new heads?
Thanks Mike






Oxford, CT

Does the burlap peel away easily? If so, strip it all off and then re-burlap. It a messy but easy process once you get the hang of it.
Just need burlap, tile mastic and some good rubber gloves.
Tricky part is cutting your burlap patterns. And smoothing out the folds.

Replace the steel/iron keep weight with a lead one. Might have to make a couple of wooden molds and melt some lead. Or get some of those narrow 4oz strap weights.

For the heads, you might just need a squirt of 5200 up in the bolt hole on the head before you screw in the new stainless bolts & washers.

---

Carl
Mobile, AL
DHBP Member since 1998

"Life is too short to drink bad beer."
Disclaimer: This post and/or report is not a substantiation of or reflection on the true accuracy of the present surveying methods. It is only a report on or comment concerning local observation and/or results. Your results and observation may vary based on your location, local water conditions, food supply, weather conditions and migratory patterns "

The burlap doesn't pull away at all. It is on good. A few have rust showing on the keel, and a few have the burlap wearing on the keel, but none have loose burlap. What kind of mastic is used?
Maybe I could cut out and replace the keel weight and patch the keel?





Oxford, CT

Mike,
I wonder if you could Restle coat over burlap? I have a bunch of 72's that are original foam that I coated one this summer with latex and fine sawdust as an experiment. It held up great. Repair the keels as you suggested and coat one. I made one drake Goldeneye with a urethane foam head. Then followed the Sanford paint process as well as I could with my limited paint skills. Good luck with your rehab.

RVZ

Given that the burlap is well adhered, cutting out & replacing just the keel weight is probably the best approach. Then slap some burlap and mastic on.

I used the leftovers of a pre-mixed bucket of tile mastic when I did burlaped foamers. Not sure the brand, got it from HD.

---

Carl
Mobile, AL
DHBP Member since 1998

"Life is too short to drink bad beer."
Disclaimer: This post and/or report is not a substantiation of or reflection on the true accuracy of the present surveying methods. It is only a report on or comment concerning local observation and/or results. Your results and observation may vary based on your location, local water conditions, food supply, weather conditions and migratory patterns "

Good morning, Mike~


Last Summer, another duckboats.net member approached me about a similar project - converting low value non-Eider stool to make an Eider rig. My advice was to "do it once, do it right" - and have an Eider rig that would be a pleasure to gun over - then could someday be sold if needed. So, he bought some Homer Eiders - with the s/s hardware. I coated them and painted them. They are a nice big decoy. Homer has both Eider heads and Scoter heads to work with their Super Magnum bodies. (Pay no attention to the puddlers in the foreground.....)







Here is my Eider painting approach:


https://stevenjaysanford.com/tutorial-painting-homer-eiders/


And the Homer Super Magnums:



https://homerdecoys.com/product/super-magnum-decoy-kit/#iLightbox[product-gallery]/0


All the best,


SJS











Steven Jay Sanford
Pencil Brook Farm
South Cambridge, NY
http://www.stevenjaysanford.com

Thank you Steve,
I decided to give these away to another member to possibly convert to scaup for himself. I will use my time on projects I'm more skilled for.
Mike





Oxford, CT