My boat blind pictures

**smashdn** · 11-17-2008, 07:27 PM

Here are some pictures of one side of my homemade boat blind. Wings cupped and feet down I hope that this helps you out on what you want to do.

One of the pictures is blurry but in it you ccan see the little elastic loops that are sewn onto the fabric that hold the raffia bundles. There are some extra loops that are between the raffia loops lower down the blind that i stuff with native vegetabletations when i get to my spot.

The frame is just 3/4 EMT and some bimini fittings that I picked up at bass pro. All said and done I might have 275 dollars in the whole thing. The bulk of the cost was the camo cordura fabric that I purchased from www.snydercreek.com. Check out the formal fabrics while you are there.

Hope this helps out some folks.

http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...dclosedup1.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...framefront.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...ndframeleg.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...blindhinge.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...lindsideup.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...grassstrap.jpg

**Fakout** · 11-17-2008, 07:46 PM

The dog looks pissed!! You'ed better give him back his chew toy!!!

The blind looks great!

**quackrstackr** · 11-17-2008, 07:53 PM

Looks good.

Do you have anything down the center or is it just open in the top?

**870** · 11-17-2008, 08:20 PM

Looks good, need to camo that white fire ext.

**bandchaser** · 11-17-2008, 08:41 PM

That looks great!! How much fabric did you use? And could you post up a pic with the entire blind up? Fantastic looking blind and design!!!!!!

**Wings cupped and feet dow** · 11-18-2008, 09:09 AM

Looks awsome. Thanks for the pictures. I'm definatley going to go this route. Did you sew the velcro on yourself?

**Mallard Man** · 11-18-2008, 10:17 AM

Nice lookin set up.

**smashdn** · 11-18-2008, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by Wings cupped and feet dow

Looks awsome. Thanks for the pictures. I'm definatley going to go this route. Did you sew the velcro on yourself?

Yeah, I just used some really heavy brown thread and a sewing machine. Heming the ends was easy. Sewing the soft fuzzy side of the velcro was relatively easy. Sewing the prickly side of the velcro strips was a pain. The thread kept wanting to either ball up of would be shredded by the velcro.

Originally Posted by bandchaser

How much fabric did you use? And could you post up a pic with the entire blind up?

I don't recall exactly how much fabric I ordered. The boat is 16 foot long so maybe I got 16 yards. I had enough left over to make a motor cover too and then still had just a little bit left after that. I will try and get a few more pics. I will also pull it out from under the carport to take them of the full blind.

Originally Posted by quackrstackr

Do you have anything down the center or is it just open in the top?

The sides pull up and I keep the opening just big enough to get my head out of, like less than a foot. If it is just me and the dog I will take a decoy bag and cover the opening on the end of the boat I am not hunting from. I hold the two sides up and together with a piece of shoestring that I put a little slip knot in that I can tug and the sides fall down to shoot. The stiffness of the fabric kind of holds the sides up a little so they don't coming slaming down. I usually just put the blind down easy and stand up and shoot.

Plus keep in mind that I don't hunt out of it with just the raffia on it, I usually cover the entire outside with bushy cane poles and smartweed and cattails or other reeds. If I am gonna hunt up against a wooded shore I will cut some branches and poke into the velcro loops too. The only time that I don't put a bunch of stuff on it is when I hunt at a draw down lake. I don't want to look like a big pile of grass then. The brown in the fabric looks close enough like the rocks and mud on the shoreline that I can get by with just using one or two pieces of driftwood at each end of the boat.

Here are some more pictures. You can see that the fabric is attached to the frame by using long parrallel strips of the velcro to make a "sleeve" to go over the tubing.

As for the dog. He is always right at my side. He didn't understand why I wanted him to sit in front of the boat. He also may have been mad that I was fussing with the boat but not going hunting or fishing.

http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...dtopclosed.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...lcrosleeve.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...lcrotoboat.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t...fiabundles.jpg

**Hammer** · 11-20-2008, 11:41 AM

very nice! That boat looks familiar!

**smashdn** · 11-20-2008, 03:12 PM

Hammer,

The boat has been great! Only thing I wish is that it was bigger. The first couple times trying to get it on the trailer with the stick steering took some time but I am an ace at it now. By far the best money I have ever spent.