Pond box for big guys

Shawn Linn

Shawn Linn

Active member
I have been poking around the inner web looking for ideas and plans for pond boxes. The only really informative page I found was Steve Sanford's published design. My real question are; is this box wide enough for me and will a box built with 1/4 inch plywood hold up to the abuse of a man weighing 260 lbs in his buck nakeds. I quess that would be close to 300lbs rigged to hunt. My plan is to mock up a box with cardboard and ducktape to get the feel for the dimensions and modify from there.

Has anyone towed one of these any distance?
 
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Hi, Shawn~

Your idea of mocking one up is a good one. You could sacrifice a piece of lauan underlayment for that purpose. I am within 20 pounds of you and still fit in my original design - but you won't know until you try. You could taper it less up forward for more shoulder room - or make it the full 8-feet and install the backrest a bit further aft near the wider beam.

Will you be dragging yours or towing in water? I have done lots of both. If dragging on land, the light weight is invaluable. I would commonly drag my first box - loaded with gun, shells and 6 cork Black Duck - a quarter mile over saltmarsh.

Quarter-inch ply (marine or a good AC) with 6-ounce 'glass on the bottom and sides (double the 'glass over the chines do NOT 'glass the inside as some have done) is very tough and will weigh around 30 pounds ready-to-hunt. Note, though, that because there is no framing across the bottom, it must be supported before you step into it. (Pretty much like a canoe or other light vessels.) I have mostly used mine on salt marsh bog or mudflat or in corn fields.

I have towed mine through some fairly rough weather for many miles. I ballast them with a bag or 2 of decoys (not guns or cameras or other valuables that should be kept dry) and tow them on a 40-foot line - to keep them back behind the wake. They tow very nicely and I had trouble only once - when trying to tow 2 in a big blow - probably the strongest wind (~ 60 knots) I in which I have ever used a boat. (The story is in http://stevenjaysanford.com/sanford-gunning-box-2/ )

All the best,

SJS
 
The real question is, "How much South Jersey mud do I need to stick in the pond box to glue you in?"

Chad A
 
ouch that south jersey mud is really hard to get off when it dries. My best guess is there won't be enough room left for the mud when JD and I sit in the box.
 
Steve, thanks for the information, helpful as always. Do you every hunt your pond box partially floating? One spot I hunt there is no level area to set box so it would be in about 8"of water with the back up against a steep bank. Did you ever try paddling it around in shallow ponds?
 
Shawn~

No to both. It should be beamier - about 6 inches - if you were going to try to paddle it.

You can hunt it in about 4 inches but, if fully afloat - as in 8" of water - it would not trim properly when you are down flat, hiding.

If you want to make it wider - it would be easy enough to draw the bottom wider. Only downside is that you'd need more than one sheet of plywood.

Best of luck,

SJS
 
Not the end of the world buying another sheet, will be making more than one box anyway. I think for comfort and hunting style it will make sense to go wider.
 
I have it in mind to build three of these too. I have been playing at the idea for a couple of years now. Maybe we can do a group order on fiberglass and resins.

I know I have some good ideas of where to use these this winter.

Is Connor going to build his own?
 
Shawn i got a box from the guy at the tuckerton show that makes them it fits me comfortably if you wanna look at it one day let me know
 
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Shawn~

No to both. It should be beamier - about 6 inches - if you were going to try to paddle it.

You can hunt it in about 4 inches but, if fully afloat - as in 8" of water - it would not trim properly when you are down flat, hiding.

If you want to make it wider - it would be easy enough to draw the bottom wider. Only downside is that you'd need more than one sheet of plywood.

Best of luck,

SJS
Click to expand...

Steve: So when you hunt these in an area with big tides, are you constantly moving the box? Or setting up high in the marsh so you don't exceed the 4" depth at the top of the tide?

I have both a salt marsh and a freshwater marsh spot where I think these would be really useful, but what I'd want is to be right at the water's edge--preferably just a little on the wet side of the edge--and it seems like I'd be in constant retreat on a rising tide, and constantly needing to advance on a falling one. I'm looking at 8-10 feet of tidal difference total, maybe half of that during the period I'd be hunting. At the peak of the tidal movement on spring tides, I might see 2 feet of tidal change in an hour, and a foot in an hour would be common.

Sounds like a layout boat small enough to drag might be necessary for how I'd like to hunt.
 
Chad, I will have to ask my friend with the golf course estate to see if he is in on the project, but it sounds like a plan.

Wesley, I will get in touch soon I would like to take a look at the box.
 
Nice pictures Wesley, do you tow your box with the sneak box? I am looking to run them off of the newly rehabed 16' starcraft I got for Connor, but I might do some towing behind the DB15 at times.
 
Jeff~

I mostly used my coffin to drag up into the interior of our big salt hay marshes to hunt little "potholes". I would place it in a low spot right near the edge of a pond. Most guys hunt from their boats around the edges of the marshes so I had little competition AND there was no tide unless a big storm inundated the entire marsh. When in the tidal waters themselves, I hunt from a grassboat/sneakbox. I would usually hunt the falling tide for 2 or 3 hours and usually could avoid moving the boat and rig. So, for your application, it sounds like you need a small grassboat.

Here is my Sneakbox: http://stevenjaysanford.com/sneakbox/

And here is a modified Sunfish that would work well for your purposes if thatched up: http://stevenjaysanford.com/gilgo-gunboat-sunfish-conversion-to-layout-boat/

Either could be rowed if that is practical in your areas - I used a motor (9.9 or 15) on my Sneakbox because usually I had to cover miles and run against strong currents and winds.

All the best,

SJS
 
Yes i tow it behind the sneakbox thinking about making another some time soon if i can find the time to tow behind my jon boat to hide better and not get wet instead of hunting the layout blinds
 
A 30" bottom won't float you safely in an emergency. I once had to cross several mosquito ditches on a storm tide to get back to the boat, it was a thrilling adventure!
Make the bottom 36", and the length at least 7 feet, more is better, this way you can center the cockpit more so you stay in trim better. Make the sides high enough to get your booted feet in and out easily, don't obsess over the lowest profile you can get. I made mine out of 1/4" luan with taped seams, but I'm cheap. the new luan is crap so go with real plywood, I've never used marine grade and got by fine.
I wouldn't dream of towing a box other then a short move, slide it into the boat and let it sit gunwale to gunwale. Be careful getting in and out, your standing on 1/4" ply! Make the cockpit at least 28"wide, but you'll like 30 better, make it at 36" long, if your not too flexible, make it longer. I put fore and aft "decks" and side washboards on mine to better keep water out, but most I've seen were just open boxes. Don't over think this, it's a box, make it as comfortable for you as you can.
 
would reply with your name normally, but don't know yours. I agree with you and Steve that the box should be wider and I will likely stcik to the seven foot length for mine. I do not initially plan to deck the top just a spray shield and some simple flip sides. I will be carrying them with the open boat normally, but like the idea of being able to tow up the creeks with my DB15 if I need to.
 
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Interesting thread. I built a Zack Tayler "coffin box" from plans in an unrememberable outdoor magazine in the early 1960s. A fine little thing for small waters but I almost did myself in trying to paddle out to make a retrieve on Saginaw Bay on a cold, windy, icey morning will no idea of what I could get into. Amazing the insight you can gain in one hell of a hurry.
 
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