Any Advice.

[Guest]

First off let me say thanks to all you that have posted replys to my previous questions (River Hunting, At what age). Here's my next one I recently purchased a 10ft Jon boat. It has been painted and the only seat that remains is the back seat. Which is great it just gives my dog more room. Anyhow my boat was painted a light brown and I would like to completly repaint the boat and fit it for a wooden floor. Any helpful advice would be great. Should I purchase a Camo kit or just try to mix and match my own pattern and paint. Is there a way to have the wood fit the shape of the bottom of the boat? Like I said any helpful hints or advice would be apreciated.

Thanks DBJJC

[Fisher Dave]

The easiest way to fit a piece of wood to your floor is to make a pattern out of cardboard, from there transfer the pattern to wood and it will pop right in considering your cardboard fits exactly as you want it to.

As for painting, be sure to sand off any old loose paint before doing any painting, and wipe all dust off and be sure its very clean and dry. From there paint it with a base coat in a color you feel best suited for your hunting situation(I use marsh tan). After your done painting the boat a solid color (couple coats at least) pick a couple of the large *grass blade* shaped leaves off your wifes plant along the house, possibly a fern or 2, and a cattail with a nice head on it from your local swamp.. now you have stencils. I generally use the fern on the next step .. some grey, and some brown scattered throughout the boat. The next step I go to the cattail with brown here and there (whatever looks right). Last but not least I get the *grass* leaf and start to go nuts with olive drab making a pattern similar to cattails at various angles, crossing them here and there .. whatever looks right.

In the end it looks very good. be sure to wear long rubber gloves for holding the stencils.

[icehousebob]

Dave got it right on the way to paint it up. One step to add to it. after sanding and cleaning, wash it with tri-sodium phosphate. There are several commercial trade names for it. Its supposed prep the surface to help the paint stick better. One thing to watch with the removed front seat. They often are part of the side supports. A friend took out one of the seats of an old boat for decoy room and said the sides bend in when its in the water.
I like Dave's fern idea for a painting stencil. All I used was a handful of cat tail leaves. Be sure and camo the inside too. Birds flying over can sometimes get a look inside. If its shiny or off-color, paint it.

[WALLEYENUTZ]

When painting the inside, I like to paint the bottom of the boat black. If you think about looking down in the water from above it is usaully very dark(shadows). something to think about.