Take a look at Brad's photos below, from first boat to Best of Show awards and Wildfowl Magazine articles, then click his link to visit Toller Boatworks.
If you really want a top-notch Duckhunter, but are sure you can't manage building one yourself, forward your plans to Brad for a unique and detailed boat.
Henry,
I have completed my Duckhunter and let me tell you that thing looks AWESOME!
I just wanted to mail out the pictures I've taken since I started til
completion. I teach school, so building a Duckhunter was my summer project.
My wife would have killed me if I tried to build this in our carport so I
used a rental storage unit and completed it in only a month. This boat was
fun to build, however, duck season can't get here fast enough now. I added a
few extras; the stern storage is completely dry, hence the raised lid, I
installed "driving" lights on the front, LED lights under the gunwales and
in the storage compartment, and a bilge pump, all controlled by a rocker
panel in the rear bulkhead. The exterior is finished with epoxy and 6 oz.
fiberglass. I also coated the interior floor to slightly above the chine
with roll on bedliner and added an extra set of grass rails at the stern of
the boat. I did the camo job myself just using spray paint and overspraying
leaves, etc... All I need now is some pictures of ducks laid across the
deck!!
Thanks,
B. Taylor
NC
Just thought I'd drop these pictures over to you. I had my first true duck hunt out of the Duckhunter this morning, previously we had only goose hunted and opening day of duck season I took my boat but we hunted out of my buddy's 1860 with a fixed blind, stove and heaters ;) Anyway, the ducks never knew what hit them. Thanks again for such great plans. Also I think the new BBS boards will really help your builders.
Brad
I made a few modifications plus added some extras. I used
vinyl coated shelving as flapper boards. They will serve as decoy storage on
the way out and once grassed make for a nice blind. The camo on this boat
has to be one of my favorites.
Modifications included an extra knee on the interior that allowed me to add
push pole racks under the gunwales as well as gun racks on each side. The
floors were coated with 2 part epoxy bedliner. I also sectioned off the
front and rear compartment so I could add foam for floatation. The front
storage area is completely dry. I also created an area to mount the
battery tray to keep the battery level. The areas that contain foam are
completely sealed, I installed flexible conduit to run the wiring through.
I also vented the front compartment so that it would vent off any hydrogen
gas from charging the battery. There are 6 LED strip lights mounted
throughout the boat. 5 in the cockpit (one under the front deck, four under
the gunwales spaced evenly down the boat, and one in the front compartment)
You can see the auxiliary plug mounted at the front of the cockpit in the
picture below as well as the LED mounted to the bulkhead.
Thanks again for such sweet plans.
Brad Taylor
Salisbury, NC
Henry,
I've finally finished the Duckhunter. It was basically built per the plans,
however I did make a couple of slight modifications; The doors to the bow
and stern compartments are flush for smoother lines and I also ran a piece
of 3/4" PVC conduit under the deck at the rub rail junction from the bow
compartment to the stern compartment. This will enable me to run a gas line
on one side and wiring on the other from the gas tank and battery which are
in the bow --- this is an attempt at better weight distribution.
All seams as well as bottom and sides were glassed with 6oz cloth and 8oz
tape and the entire boat ( interior and exterior ) got three coats of epoxy.
The final coat of paint went on last weekend and I plan to put it in the
water for the first time this weekend. I'm going to try a 20hp motor
initially and I suspect that it will be plenty. I'll give you another report
after "sea trials".
It has been a very enjoyable project-- I'll probably be
looking for more plans shortly.
Graves Vann
N.C.
Forum Member: Andy
Kernersville, NC
Forum Member:
Baydog
Port Deposit, MD
Forum Member:
dstruve
Forum Member:
Big Jim
Harbor, CA
Forum Member: Duckman
Jackson, MS
Forum Member: Goatkisser
Mississippi
Forum Member:
Josh
Forum Member: Jay
Marblehead, MA
Forum Member: Kent
Long Lake, WA
Forum Member:
Lorax
Ogden, UT
Baton Rouge, LA
-Mark also built a very nice Gator, be sure to check it out on the Gator Model photo page. Henry
Kansas City
Forum Member:
Mistagain
NJ
Forum Member:
Tony
Forum Member:
VTDuckhunter
Forum Member:
WI
Sincerely,
Rob Rowan
Westport, MA
I have attached some photos of the Duckhunter that my kids and I built (there is a photo of my boatbuilding crew included). We were all very pleased with how it turned out. We did not finish the boat in time for last duck season but plan on giving it a workout this coming season. We have had a chance to take it out several times this summer fishing and just riding around and it works out well for those kinds of activities too.
The boat rides great and is incredibly stable even without any added flotation. I get a lot of stares and a lot of compliments when people see the boat and everyone is usually amazed when I tell them we built it ourselves.
I built the boat pretty much exactly to plan. The only alterations are that I made the opening for the front compartment larger than suggested, I built and installed 2 seats in middle and back of the boat and I added some gun racks under the decking on the starboard side (see photo). I also built a top to cover the cockpit when stored outside. I am running it with a 6 horse motor right now because I already owned it but intend to find a bigger motor ASAP. The 6 horse is sufficient for now but it is too slow for permanent use.
This turned out to be a great father and children project. Thanks for creating these plans, for making them available to us and for all your help along the way.
Dennis McGinnis and crew (Daniel, Colleen and Blayne)
-Dennis and his crew also built a nice pirogue skiff, check out their photos on our pirogue photos page - Henry
This is an update shot of Dennis' Duckhunter with a new 13hp Scavenger, a lot of you have asked questions about it, looks to be a good fit. - Henry
Hello, Guys.
I wanted to say thanks for the plans. I changed them quite a bit as you can
see. It is 11' 10" One thing I did was to use 1/2" AC for the top. It is
very stiff. I weigh 270lbs and it does not move.
The plans are really easy to follow. Even If I did not. They are very
flexible in their design. You can change them very easily. I can't wait till the
fall to be able to use the boat for ducks.
Thanks again
Tom Heath
Finished building the boat on time for a Father's Day launch, my sons helped me with it as a winter project, had one problem with the bow but as you say, you can fix any mistake you made and modify plans to fit your taste. We decided to try a different finish and used photo camo cloth (Mossy Oak Swamp) and used fiberglass resin over top of it 2 coats, while this did add weight it made the boat even more durable and strong. I think the camo effect came out professional looking and you would not believe the number of hunters that asked where I bought the boat. It carried 3 of us out duck hunting with no problem at all the 9.9 Hp pushed us along at a good speed. I installed the seats for fishing and can remove them when hunting. Thanks for the great plans and I'm sure that we will enjoy the boats for many seasons. We call the boat the Whistler.
Bob Strachan
Here are
some construction pictures in progress. The boat was simple to assemble and
the plans were easy to understand. I made sure to review the plans a couple
of days beforehand so that I may foresee the problem areas. The only
problems that I occurred were self inflicted. If you stick to the plan
everything should go well. I put 10 gallons of resin with angel hair
fiberglass on the exterior. I also put 2 gallons of marine paint inside and
out to give it long life. I used the marine goop in a tube from Home Depot
to glue everything together. I went a little over my budget but I wanted the
boat to last so that I may pass it on to my 8 year old son. All in all I
spent a little over $500. Thanks again it is a wonderful boat and will get
plenty of use.
Still have a little left to do. Want to camo it and install the running
lights. I come from a long line of trappers and hunters. You should see the
look on all the old timers faces. They can't wait too see it run. I am going
to put a small 9.5 horse power on it for the first run but next month I am
going to look at mud motors. I will send you some of the first run and
launch. Have a great day.
T.Luscy
Henry,
After a little work and a small amount of trimming I finally got my new
Duckhunter running and tracking properly. I can’t say enough good things
about the design. I spent the entire weekend on the river putting the boat
through the paces.
Saturday was spent abusing the boat. I wanted to see what kind of handling
qualities she had along with the stability of the design. I plan on hunting
out of the boat with my seven-year-old son and I wanted no surprises this
coming season in freezing water. I felt that if there were going to be any
surprises I wanted them to happen in a controlled environment. I know that
this is not a high speed design, but I wanted to test the design
limitations. Encountering chop was no problem and high-speed slides and
turns did not have any tipping tendency. I added stringers to the floor and
glassed them in to eliminate floor flexing. After this past weekend in the
water I have to say it was a great addition to a wonderfully stable boat.
With me, my best friend, a 115lb motor, 6 full gals of fuel, battery, and 2-
60lb bags of sand to represent gear, the boat would still jump onto a plane
and run great. In all I
was happy with the way the design balanced and handled the weight. I can’t
imagine any problems with weight.
Sunday was spent scouting for some new duck holes in newly flooded areas
along the river. I took the boat into some shallow areas that required me to
move about the boat pushing it along with a pole. Standing up, shifting
weight, and walking on and about the boat presented no problem whatsoever.
The boat had no tendency to tip or become shaky. I love the inherent
stability of the design. I have no fear of my son moving about and loosing
his balance while hunting aboard.
While I haven‘t build a blind around the boat or tried to cover it, I don‘t
think the shape of the boat is going to hamper conceal ability. It looks
great shoved into cattails, and blends right in. I have worked the dog out
of the boat and he has no problems getting in or out due to the low profile
and upward sweeping sides.
The boat catches stares, and I can count on someone asking about it wherever
it goes. Most can’t believe that it is homebuilt. It gives you a proud
feeling to know that you did in fact, build it yourself. I think it is a
great looking, great handling boat that is very stable; and I for one am a
proud owner. Thank you for offering a great plan and wonderful design. It
has been a pleasure.
Thanks!! Chad White
UPDATE:
Henry,
I hunted out of the Duckhunter all season long. The boat is great, and
we had a fairly decent season. Unfortunately, we never had a large
migration and the birds were few and far between. I didn't get too many
pics of the boat with birds.
The boat handled everything I threw at it. We hunted anywhere from one
to three people from it with no problems. Three is tight, but it can
be done if you're not going very far. We carried anywhere from one to
six dozen dekes at a time. I have already started making modifications
for next season.
I have had an
explosion of interest in this boat over the past few days. I have
replied to several e-mails asking about the boat. You must be selling
hundreds of these plans. Hope all is well.
Chad White
