Paint Color For A Lay-Out Boat

John Lane

John Lane

Active member
I have a Carsten's Canvasback and I would like to hunt out of it lay-out style in the open water (without attached vegetation) at times.

I plan to use a large camo cover with vegetation attached for other hunting situations.

I beleive it will need a new paint job to accomplish this.

What are the best color choices for lay-out hunting in open water?

Thanks!
 
John,

It depends on the color of the water... if it's clear, grey works very well, vary light and dark. If it's muddy, some type of brown.

For sea ducks here, any low profile boat works like a charm, the color never seems to matter.

Bill
 
Contact Lou Tisch at Lock, Stock & Barrell. He sells Flat Marine Enamel in a variety of colors and will even email you photos of boats painted in those colors so you can see how they would look. The paint wears like iron, great stuff.

http://lockstockbarrell.com/
 
I checked the Lou Tisch website and looked through things. I think I may have found the solution - "VISQUEEN"

It seems that the wind is the big issue - Well I would not be layout hunting in big wind - just on those days when it is fairly calm and the birds are loafing around in the mild of the big water areas on the lake.

Does anyone else have any experience using the Visqueen?
 
Lou seems to swear by it:

http://www.lockstockbarrell.com/PDF-08/LSB-VisqueenRevisited-09.pdf

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense... after all, the ducks are looking down at your boat on the water.
 
The Visqueen appears to make sense. Could it be that easy??? I am sure getting the visqueen to cooperate will take some figuring out...... I am definitely going to give it a try before I go to the effort to paint the boat. The existing color is just fine for marsh/shoreline hunting.
 
There's a reason most layout boats are painted battleship grey. Heck, there's a reason battleships are painted battleship grey. If your gunning open water on the lake and looking to shoot divers, a low profile, grey boat will disappear behind the decoys.

From what I've read about the use of Visqueen, you need to put some wt. on the corners so the edges will stay submerged. This apparently keeps the wind from getting under it and sending it across the lake. I read that it works well.
 
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Hi John,
Couple pics of some of our boats in our Open Water Camo. We use our #33 FME (Open Water Medium Gray) as a base coat and then overstripe with #32 (Open Water Light Gray) to give the impression of waves. You an add some black or dark color to give some shadows as well. There are a lot of shadows in the waves.
One thing to remember...you're trying to match what the DUCKS see and that is primarily the reflection of the sky in the water. That's often more important than the color of the water itself.
Holler with any questions and let me know how we can help.
Lou


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Many of the aerial photos I look at and when looking at the water from above, the water usually appears as the color of the sky.
I used Lou's visqueen trick maybe 7 years back along some ice on the edge of the river. Duck season was over, but the ducks really came in to the goose decoys right in front of the boat.
 
The Visqueen appears to make sense. Could it be that easy??? I am sure getting the visqueen to cooperate will take some figuring out...... I am definitely going to give it a try before I go to the effort to paint the boat. The existing color is just fine for marsh/shoreline hunting.
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No it is not that easy. The stuff doesn't stay in place by itself. You can not brush visqueen on. Although if you were really committed you could glue it on. Wind, waves, just moving around make visqueen a pain in the neck to deal with. It seems be always slipping out of place.
 
most of the time its not the color of the water that affects the color your bat needs to be its the reflection the sky shows on a clam day or a cloudy windy day one day you can need a blue grey when the skys are clear but when there cloudy you need a darker grey.
 
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Lou and Others - Thanks a bunch for the info. I will let you know what works. How long till duck season?? I am anxious to go!!
 
Scott,

You have been a member here for two whole days and made three posts/replies. Two of which are nothing more than a commercial advertisement for the motor you build and sell.

Not a good way to start your relationship with this forum and it's members. Please read the rules on posting ads.
 
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