With a bit of imagination and plenty of elbow grease, he transformed an old pontoon boat into a stable, comfortable gunning blind. But little did they know what I had in store for the boat. After 20 years of hunting out of small johnboats, canoes and other Pontoon Boat Blind Plans homemade contraptions, which often left me wet and cold, I felt it was finally time for me to be able to hunt in comfort and style.
The first order of business was stripping and painting the boat. Schneiderhan began the process by sanding all the aluminum surfaces with grit sandpaper. After all of the aluminum superstructure and hull components were sanded and cleaned of sanding dust, they were spray painted with a coating of aluminum etch primer.
My family's enthusiasm soon disappeared as the boat's shiny silver pontoons became marsh green. The boat's wooden steering console was rotten. Therefore it was removed, along with the side rails, the Bimini top and the carpeting. The console was equipped with halogen floor lights, a waterproof storage box, a gun rack, a new steering wheel and dash lights.
A coating of Bondo auto body compound was added to all of the corners and end grain surfaces to seal out moisture. Once the console construction was completed, it was also painted green. The aluminum Bimini top, which originally folded toward the back of the boat, was redesigned to fold along the length of the boat to allow unobstructed shooting from one side. After checking the price of having a new canopy made, I decided to build my own canopy because it was less expensive.
Schneiderhan made the new canopy top from a by foot canvas tarp. He attached strips of Velcro using pop rivets and fender washers, positioning the Velcro so it would attach to the aluminum poles on the underside of the Bimini top. The canvas was then painted with green spray paint and a piece of camouflage netting was fastened with zip ties to the grommets along the top of the canvas.
The next problem that needed to be resolved was providing a way for Schneiderhan's two-year-old Lab, Harley, to enter the boat after making retrieves. The first attempt at creating a folding ladder from one-inch PVC pipe, hinges and aluminum aircraft cable proved a total failure. The ramp was too narrow and not long enough to allow the dog to swim onto the boarding platform. A second design eliminated the cables and hinges and substituted copper plumbing pipe for PVC pipe.
It only took a few tries for Harley to figure out how to use the ramp. Now he swims right onto the ramp platform and a small step allows him to enter the boat from the platform. The decoy keels slide easily down the pipe, storing the decoys safely and securely.
Before the final assembly of all the new parts on the boat, the old carpeting was replaced. A storage box was added to the rear of one of the pontoons. The box holds four life jackets, a fire extinguisher, tools, flares and other gear and accessories. New wiring and halogen floodlights added to the bow and sides of the boat provide illumination for setting decoys. Then I used eight different colors of camouflage spray paint to create some natural appearing colors. The addition of artificial grass to break up the outline of the large shooting port helps hide the boat.
Artificial or natural vegetation is also added at other strategic places, allowing the large watercraft to disappear into the scenery. The motor was a model. It required minor adjustments including a carburetor tune-up and a new wiring harness. But otherwise, it worked out well and did not require replacing.
The entire project took approximately 40 hours of work to complete. The boat's draft is about 10 inches of water when it is loaded with four hunters, a dog and all necessary hunting gear. Schneiderhan said it is very easy to pole the boat into shallow water and the blind blends right in with any type of natural surroundings, especially with the addition of artificial grass along the sides and hanging from the top of the shooting opening.
As to what his pontoon boat blind cost to buy and build, Schneiderhan jokingly withheld that information. Costs for this type of work will vary greatly depending on the condition of the boat and its initial pri. He decided the best solution for a dual use watercraft was in building a removable blind that fit on top of his johnboat.
The blind had to be light enough in weight to add or remove easily. It also had to be watertight and provide protection from the elements. When the blind is removed, it is hung from rafters in the garage. The overhead storage makes it easy to lower the blind or raise it.
It takes only one man to do the job of lowering and attaching the blind in approximately 20 minutes. The complete conversion, including the addition of artificial grass and natural bull brushes, takes approximately one hour. The blind itself is a one-piece fiberglass top from a conversion van, which was discovered in a junkyard. The top was gutted of all the carpet, lights, cabinets, wiring and other non-necessities. The plywood base mates perfectly with the top of the boat.
The shell is completely fiber-glassed and is waterproof. The top was cut out, leaving an opening for shooting and comfort. This boat will hunt four people. But it is really the perfect size for two or three hunters and a dog. In the back of the blind, I made a dog door for my Lab, Mocha. The door is also fiber-glassed. The blind is equipped with built-in wrap-around shelves along the lower perimeter and easily seats two or three hunters with room to spare.
There is storage room for approximately 50 to 60 standard sized decoys beneath the front of the shell under the driver's position.
Two Mr. Heater heaters are used to keep hunters warm. The only place where water can enter is through the shooting port.
The boat has a removable rear swivel seat. The steering wheel is located beside the forward attached swivel seat, flat against the port side. The throttle is located against the starboard side. When in the hunting position, the seats are swiveled to face the side of the boat toward the decoys.
A one-piece top encloses the boat completely keeping out the weather. Dapson said he and his hunting partners have slept in the boat many times and been very comfortable in all weather conditions. The boat is extremely safe. After duck season is ended, Dapson simply backs his boat into his garage, attaches the Pontoon Boat Duck Blind Plans 00 blind to a hoist and lifts it up to the rafters for storage until the next hunting season. Miller's Hide-A-Way Blind Todd Miller of Rocky Point, North Carolina, designed and built a boat blind which folds down on top of his aluminum johnboat's gunwales rather than to the inside or outside as many blinds do.
It has bases with pivot points that attach to the supports and the gunwales to let the supports fold forward to allow the conduit blind frame to lay flat on top of the gunwales, completely out of the way. The frame is held in the erect position by a simple system of coated wire cables and snap hooks.
Turnbuckles are used to tighten or loosen the cable stays for adjusting the blind and keeping the tension in the framework as the cables stretch. Miller's Hide-A-Way Blind is built on a 17 feet long, 54 inches wide Phatbuoyz aluminum boat, which he has customized to run with a 25 horsepower Prodrive shallow drive mud motor.
The main type of hunting he does is for puddle ducks and ring-necked ducks in shallow water areas such as beaver ponds and swamps. But he also uses his boat blind on coastal tidal rivers. Such shallow-water use makes the overall weight of the boat and blind a major concern. A removable gun box was built into the boat in the event the boat became stuck and heavy gear had to be off-loaded to lighten the boat and free it.
The Bimini top bases were mounted to the longer top frame sections and support poles boat using screws. Next, Miller built two crossbars from conduit sections, which were cut to match the width of the boat between the two top frame sections.
The conduit ends were ground to fit into pipe elbows and then driven into the elbows. The other ends of the elbows were driven onto the ends of the top frame sections to forming a rectangle.
The crossbars were bent down into a modified "U" shape to keep them low enough for easy step-over access when the blind is folded down. Next, the top blind frame conduit sections were attached to the folding support poles by screwing them onto the Bimini top brackets. With the blind assembly in the collapsed position, the crossbars and all supports were adjusted so they would be out of the way, folding neatly into position and securely open once the blind was installed.
I cut the cable longer than actually necessary so I would be able to adjust it after it stretches and while I was positioning the blind. Then, I moved to the rear of the boat and drilled the rear crossbar to place an eyebolt on each side for attaching the rear cables.
The rear crossbar cables were attached to the blind frame crossbar eyebolts with cable clamps. A system of anchor chain shackles and cable clamps was used to attach the swivel snaps and turnbuckles so the snaps could be attached to the towing eyes on the outside of the stern for the rear of the blind and to the eyebolts installed on the forward deck to secure the front of the blind.
I started by loosening the turnbuckles as far as they would go out. Then I went to the front of the boat and pulled the cables tight and tightened the cable clamps. Then I moved to the rear of the boat, loosened the turnbuckles and repeated the process. Once each corner was even with the cables tightened, I was ready to add the camouflaging material.
Miller used Avery Fast Grass to camouflage the blind. To form the base for attaching the artificial grass, he used plastic fencing commonly used on construction sites. He said the plastic fencing can be purchased at any contractor supply or discount construction materials store. Fast Grass is much more user friendly and more flexible. My Hide-A-Way Blind now has four years of use and has been on two boats. It has performed very well in a wide range of hunting situations.
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