Layout Boat

[outdoor ran]

Finally found time to post some pictures of the homemade layout boat. It worked good for us. The first bird shot out of it was a Canadian Goose. The only drawback is that its a tad bit heavy. So we might scrap it and build a new one this summer, we'll see. The guy in it is Wyldewal.

[Sartell Angler]

that is sweet man...are you on Lk. Superior? What / how many birds do you get on the average hunt?

SA/wdw

[outdoor ran]

It was really late in the season when we tried it out. most of the bills and mallards had all ready come threw here. Next year were going to try it out right away. I think we had it out 5 times and our best day was 9 birds. So far its taken a goose, goldeneyes, bills, 3 different kinds of fish ducks (good practice). Should of had some buffles, you would be surprised how hard it is to hit ducks laying in that thing. Its a blast, we can't wait to try it again this year. Were still learning and fine tuning. I think once we figure everything out and get way out there were in for some good hunting. Wyldewal was the mastermind behind it, he wants to build another one and have a double hunt too.

[bear204]

i thoufht you legally had to be in some kind of natural cover to take ducks didnt think you could be out in the middle of the lake

[Quackaddict9]

I think if your duck hunting for puddlers yeah I think you need to be in natrual grass, shore but for divers I dont think so? I might be wrong, I always am in the natural grass on the bogs with my duck boat so I'm not really sure what the rules are if youre hunting on open water with no natural cover?

[J. Browne]

What did you make your layout of?

If weight is a problem, make one out of foam!

http://www.conservationcafe.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/topic/49/1823.html?

I layout should be fairly stable. If that guy can stand in that narrow of a boat, then laying in one 3 times wider would work

great boat!

[outdoor ran]

I hunt in Wi. There are certain lakes that we can hunt that your allowed to hunt from open water has long as your so many feet from shore. We had 3 guys standing on the top of this boat and it hardly sinks. Its made out of wood and a fiberglass resin. The thing almost floats to well Next time were going to make it out of much smaller wood and mostly fiberglass. We'll keep working on it and get it down.

[FoolNFish]

FYI...layout boats are ILLEGAL in the state of Minnesota.

Personally, I think the dnr should legalize them. It would make it easier to get at those divers.

[outdoor ran]

I hunt in WISCONSIN. There legal here.

[mwktrapper]

There's a guy on Minnesota Waterfowler that builds like 4 or 5 of them every year. He seems like he knows what he's doing. You can use them in Minnesota if you're in cover. I've used them in really low rice before and just pounded the geese. The geese were working the middle of a lake that was thick rice beds - too thin to hide, too deep to stand - it was my only choice. Worked well.

[wyldewal]

The next layout boat is already being planed, it will be lighter and longer. I'm also setting up a tow boat for it, that should make setting up a little easier and faster.

[koWALLEYEski]

hey i am interested in building one of these. What materials does it take to build a nice one? Any way you could make one with 2 seats for hunters? How much does it cost to build? Do you anchor that sucker or how do you stay put?

[wyldewal]

I don't know what it takes to build a nice one but the one I made took about 5 sheets of plywood one 8 foot 2x10, two 8 foot 2x6, four or five eight foot 2x2, and about three or four gallons of fiberglass resin and chop. It ended up costing us a little over $200. That's still a lot cheaper than buying one for $2000. ha ha ha

We ancored it with two ancors, one in the back to position it with the wind at our backs and a lighter one in the front to keep it from swing to much in the wind.

Our original plan was to build one to seat two poeple but we decided to start simpler.

[koWALLEYEski]

Could you post some more pics of your boat so I can get a better idea. It looks sweet in your decoy spread!

[J. Browne]

http://www.marsh-monster.com/boatbuilding.htm

[koWALLEYEski]

thanks for the site!

[wyldewal]

Where was this site when we were making ours. It sure would have helped.

[Blake H]

Guys,

I looked at making mine too, but then I bought an Otter outdoors boat (final attack). Cover it with Avery grass and you have something better than a homebuilt, for half the price, which can get beatup and not feel bad when you dent it. It also can take a motor on the back.

[wyldewal]

Half the fun was building it. And the thrill of shooting that first duck/goose was incredible.