That is an awesome find! Not that I hunt duck or geese but I understand a good find! I personally think hunting videos off of it would be great! Thanks for sharing, John.
1/4 inch plywood 4ft tall from the pontoon up would stiffen and cover the bottom walls well and use the metal mesh to cover the rest with your straw or sticks at the top.
Watch the weight. Treated lumber, the metal grid work, rushes grass and cat tails, 4 hunters with gear and a dog or two. Keep it safe! Hunting is generally the safest sport, until you bring boats and water or deer stands into the mix.
I'd get a lil electric trolling moter and that way if ya have to go out in water to get your kill ya can ..allso get so foliage for it to keep it like a duck blind .put it in water keep it close to land so looks like a part of the land and do your thing .so it's deff a good find .godbless
I had talked with my buddy about getting one of those and doing the exact same thing with it a number of times. congratulations. don't make it too heavy to tow, had somebody do that with one that they built in their driveway. I was thinking to try coroplast (that stuff they make politcal campaign yard posters and for sale signs out of/most hunters use for target practice) for a solid siding that will keep the weight down, but you will need to find a good way to get paint to stick to it- maybe a sign shop could take care of that for you, even do the camo pattern for another 20 a sheet, I have no idea, never looked into it. but I do know you can buy white at home depot for $22 a 4x8 sheet. I have no idea how long that will last out in the weather or being trailered but some button cap nails should hold it down pretty well unless you can think of something better like furring strips. for the shooting holes, maybe try some of the plastic "straw" they sell for pit blind tops that you can step through and shoot. I would do something solid for part of the roof if not all of it, enough so you can sit out of the rain. leave enough of a hole to see behind you up in the air or just leave a slot at the top of the back wall there. Make sure your camo matches the surrounding area, a big cedar bush in a bunch of reeds sticks out like a sore thumb, do it right and none of those other hunters will ever even notice it is there. Have you ever seen one of those blinds built to look like a giant beaver lodge? layers and depth is the key to good camo, I bought some raffia grass mats from Hobby Lobby of all places, that was 1/3 the price of a smaller bag of the same stuff at hunting stores. Shhh, about that for those of you reading this or you make it hard to get. Plus you can buy the stuff to dye it there while you are at it if you want to add some different colors to the pallet. Where you going to tie a boat to it/hide the boat/get in the blind? build some steps or make a fold down hide for the boat that you can take off quick enough to go catch some birds that decided to drop 200 yards away in the water and start swimming off/floating away. That also means you need a doorway somewhere, getting in/out off the front or back is easy in knee deep water with waders on; not so easy in 6 foot deep water from another boat. I would try the side with the cooking bench. Anchor all 4 corners to position the boat, make them adjustable for the wind but maybe your spot will only work well for a certain wind so you got me there, you be the judge. that is it for ideas for off the top of my head, good luck with your project.
I would check with an attorney to see what type of Liability issues you may encounter leaving the vessel unattended and open to the public. You may be better off haning No Tresspassing signs on it to protect your self. Cool find though.
That is an awesome find! Not that I hunt duck or geese but I understand a good find! I personally think hunting videos off of it would be great! Thanks for sharing, John.
stellar weekend john nice family night and a nice new toy who’s better than you!!!!!
You should check your pontoons for water in them cuz if they froze over winter they might leak,nothin jb weld wont fix
1/4 inch plywood 4ft tall from the pontoon up would stiffen and cover the bottom walls well and use the metal mesh to cover the rest with your straw or sticks at the top.
Looks good
Watch the weight. Treated lumber, the metal grid work, rushes grass and cat tails, 4 hunters with gear and a dog or two. Keep it safe! Hunting is generally the safest sport, until you bring boats and water or deer stands into the mix.
GREAT PONTOON FOR DEER AN ALL FISHING TO
Great going
I'd get a lil electric trolling moter and that way if ya have to go out in water to get your kill ya can ..allso get so foliage for it to keep it like a duck blind .put it in water keep it close to land so looks like a part of the land and do your thing .so it's deff a good find .godbless
I had talked with my buddy about getting one of those and doing the exact same thing with it a number of times. congratulations. don't make it too heavy to tow, had somebody do that with one that they built in their driveway. I was thinking to try coroplast (that stuff they make politcal campaign yard posters and for sale signs out of/most hunters use for target practice) for a solid siding that will keep the weight down, but you will need to find a good way to get paint to stick to it- maybe a sign shop could take care of that for you, even do the camo pattern for another 20 a sheet, I have no idea, never looked into it. but I do know you can buy white at home depot for $22 a 4x8 sheet. I have no idea how long that will last out in the weather or being trailered but some button cap nails should hold it down pretty well unless you can think of something better like furring strips.
for the shooting holes, maybe try some of the plastic "straw" they sell for pit blind tops that you can step through and shoot.
I would do something solid for part of the roof if not all of it, enough so you can sit out of the rain. leave enough of a hole to see behind you up in the air or just leave a slot at the top of the back wall there.
Make sure your camo matches the surrounding area, a big cedar bush in a bunch of reeds sticks out like a sore thumb, do it right and none of those other hunters will ever even notice it is there. Have you ever seen one of those blinds built to look like a giant beaver lodge?
layers and depth is the key to good camo, I bought some raffia grass mats from Hobby Lobby of all places, that was 1/3 the price of a smaller bag of the same stuff at hunting stores. Shhh, about that for those of you reading this or you make it hard to get. Plus you can buy the stuff to dye it there while you are at it if you want to add some different colors to the pallet.
Where you going to tie a boat to it/hide the boat/get in the blind? build some steps or make a fold down hide for the boat that you can take off quick enough to go catch some birds that decided to drop 200 yards away in the water and start swimming off/floating away.
That also means you need a doorway somewhere, getting in/out off the front or back is easy in knee deep water with waders on; not so easy in 6 foot deep water from another boat. I would try the side with the cooking bench.
Anchor all 4 corners to position the boat, make them adjustable for the wind but maybe your spot will only work well for a certain wind so you got me there, you be the judge.
that is it for ideas for off the top of my head, good luck with your project.
Make some rebuild videos of this project
John... it needs a lot of T L C .....
Good find have fun
GREAT IDEA, I WOULD REPLACE ALL THAT IS ROTTED WITH PRESERTREATED LUMBER.
Cover it in SS chicken wire, then you can actually gate it off with locks.
If it's on public water in Illinois you're not allowed to lock it, if you're not there others are allowed to hunt your blind
Just enjoy it and be safe ☺️
I would check with an attorney to see what type of Liability issues you may encounter leaving the vessel unattended and open to the public.
You may be better off haning No Tresspassing signs on it to protect your self.
Cool find though.
On a lake near me that’s all people do is have floating blinds like this or with the things docks float on
If it's on public water, it's a kinda enter at own risk