# How to Hold PVC to Boat



## letemfall (Apr 29, 2009)

I am thinking of making a blind on my boat this fall. I am going to make it out of pvc pipe for a frame. It would look somewhat like this one i found on the internet. 

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/waterfowl-hunting/149998-homemade-duck-blind.html

The problem is i want to be able to take the blind off my boat for fishing too. I do not know of a good way to secure the pvc to my boat. I have heard of certain clamps that could do it but i have not found anything online yet.

Thanks Z


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## ajmorell (Apr 27, 2007)

We used something similar to this:

http://www.directindustry.com/prod/norma-group/exhaust-pipe-clamp-15287-33925.html

except that it had a flat side on it which we screwed into the front seats. We found them at home depot, and they were cheap. In the back we had some brackets made by my uncle at his tool and die shop.


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## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

you pretty well got your head set on using PVC?

I find it gets brittle and too limber in the smaller diameter - forcing you to go much bigger than you need to.

let me see if I can find some pics of my old homemade blind we had on a 1448. worked (or should I say "works" - she's still in service, 20yrs later!) great.


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## lastflight (Aug 16, 2005)

Branta said:


> you pretty well got your head set on using PVC?
> 
> I find it gets brittle and too limber in the smaller diameter - forcing you to go much bigger than you need to.
> 
> let me see if I can find some pics of my old homemade blind we had on a 1448. worked (or should I say "works" - she's still in service, 20yrs later!) great.


The first boat blind I built was out of pvc, didn't last too long before we tore it off the boat. We were on a tight budget (still in college) at the time so we needed something cheap that worked well. 3/4 emt conduit was what we ended up going with. There are a lot of different fittings and joints available at places like lowes, home depot, etc. 
For the most part the blind worked well and did it's job. On my current boat I have the Avery quick set and I really like that blind, but they are quite a bit more expensive.


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## Fall Flight Punisher (Aug 14, 2008)

pvc is way to brittle. I built one out of 3/4 and 1/2 inch copper type m. P.M. me if you want the specs and cost. It was very inexpensive.


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

Branta said:


> you pretty well got your head set on using PVC?
> 
> I find it gets brittle and too limber in the smaller diameter - forcing you to go much bigger than you need to.
> 
> let me see if I can find some pics of my old homemade blind we had on a 1448. worked (or should I say "works" - she's still in service, 20yrs later!) great.


I agree, I would definitely not use PVC. 3/4" EMT (electrical conduit) is fairly cheap and will last much longer than PVC. 

You can use something like this to mount your blind:










Just put one of these on the end of your conduit/PVC:










These are mounting hardware for bimini tops, generally available from any marine parts shop, you can also get them in plastic.

Personally I was too cheap to spend the money on this stuff so I bought some small caster wheels from the local hardware store. Take the wheel off and use the bracket to hold the end of the conduit.

Not my boat, but here is a picture.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Like many others have said, my first boat blind was pvc as well, and it didn't last one season before joints were breaking. Yes, it gets brittle in cold weather. Save yourself a lot of headaches and do it right the first by time using conduit.


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## Ruger-44 (Apr 2, 2009)

*DON'T DO PVC!!!!* Trust me, I was dumb enough to think if I only went to a different size/type/brand/etc of PVC, it would work as a blind material. In the end, they all broke, flopped or just failed. If you're building a boat blind, use 3/4" EMT conduit. It's just as cheap as PVC and way more durable. There are a ton of plans on the net for good blinds made from EMT. All you need is a bender, a few fittings and you've got a great, cheap blind. Good luck.


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## DUCK LAB JAKE (Mar 6, 2004)

Wildfowl magazine has a blind in there issue with how to build it, they use 3/4" EMT and 1" EMT, look for there GIANT EQUIPMENT ISSUE


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## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

Front and side view: blind netting rolled up for trailering










(that bend towards the back of the boat is from an over zealous young lab. On the release command, he decided to HURDLE the blind by jumping out and over the shooting hole vs. going out the front of the boat! caught his hind leg on the cross support! not his most graceful entry ever.) :lol:


worked out on Sag Bay
that brown color to the net is actually a wind break material. absolutely essential in my opinion for hunter comfort and concealment. trust me on that.










I'd get a heavier, leafier camo netting than what's shown here - never liked that much, but it made a good base material to weave into. typically, we'd hang mats of fastgrass over this net (like curtain rod hooks - easy and comes off even easier.)

what I wanted to show you (and I think it's important) is to break up the shooting hole. we made wooden spacers notched out at both ends to grip the emt. staple netting to each side and you simply roll/unroll them to whatever length you want. two holes, three holes... worked great and really helps on concealment. the sticks remind me alot like my old gramps "jerkin sticks" he'd use for whitefish or think of it as a narrow version of long line spooler.










roughly done with my limited photoshop skills... w/o the spacers, the opening would be nearly 10-11' long and like this:










and the best part? it's soooo light! off season and you want to go bass fishing? I love DR's suggestion above, but we used simple U braces that clamped the emt in place. a screw gun and 2 minutes later, the blind if off the boat.

hope that helps 

this is one of the greatest benefits of forums like these - you get to learn from other peoples mistakes, trial runs without going through it yourself! I think you'd be very disappointed in a PVC blind, spend time and $$ putting it together to find out... shoulda went EMT! 

post up pics when you're done. I want to see how it turns out!


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## Quack Wacker (Dec 20, 2006)

Use electrical coduit. That is what I did with mine. If you are going to be hunting just open water you would be fine with that blind design, but if you are going to be trying to hunt the marsh you will want to look at a sissor blind setup. I built mine and it works great. I used c-clamps that I bought at home depot and I remove it for when I want to go fishing.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Hey Branta,

Your pictures got me thinking about my own boat blind, which I re-camo'ed last summer with windskirt covered with camo netting. Got tired of dealing with Fast grass flying all over the place when trailering, and just downright unruly to deal with...but that's a whole other story. What I'm wondering is how did you (do you?) keep the camo netting from blowing from the bottom up, and flying up from the water surface in a decent wind? Last fall was the first year I'd used the new covering, and several times on the bay we had pretty good wind, and it kept blowing up, even though it hangs in the water like in your picture. What I tried was hanging some long-line end weights from the bottom of the net, and it worked okay. But it was kind of a pain. And I just now thought about it...I need to deal with that somehow before season. Any ideas??

Oh, and sorry guys for hijacking the thread a bit :evilsmile


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## GoneFishin (Jan 11, 2001)

Have a blind frame similar to Branta's but fabricated outta sq. aluminum tubing and welded (would cost a fortune now-a-days but wasn't too bad back in the 70's, yes I've been using it all those years). 

To shape shooting holes in the top we use bungee cords stretched across the top rails and netting/die cut camo held in place with clip on clothes pins. 

I agree with the above PVC is not durable enough for a boat blind, people inadvertantly lean on the frame, there's a lot of stress (air pressure and vibration) on the frame hauling it down the road, and it becomes brittle in cold weather.


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

just ducky said:


> What I tried was hanging some long-line end weights from the bottom of the net, and it worked okay. But it was kind of a pain. And I just now thought about it...I need to deal with that somehow before season. Any ideas??
> 
> Oh, and sorry guys for hijacking the thread a bit :evilsmile


 JD, I use burlap and die-cut material for my blind, no fast-grass, and I had the same issue. I also tried adding weights to the bottom, but on a windy day the material would still pull up off the waterline. What I did last year was get some clips like this one, and use them to clip the blind material to the gunnel of the boat from the inside. I just kept them in the boat and used them when needed, usually 2 per side would do the trick. Kind of a pain, but it worked.










Also for the record the blind I have on my boat is a "scissor" style, it is not fixed like the one Branta posted. If you are building a fixed style blind the hardware I posted above may not be the best choice as it is meant to allow the conduit to pivot.


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## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

scissor blind would be an excellent suggestion as well.

(don't think that style was on our radar way back when!) 


JD, we used those fishing weights that are about an inch long, cylindrical sphere (is that a shape?! - shaped like a drop tank on a WWII fighter!) with the rubber/friction line stopper.

remove line stopper, slide weight onto bottom of netting and then pinched it tight with pliers.


end result is something like a baitfish throwing net.


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## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

I don't recall it being an issue after we added the weights around. then again, we had alot of material hanging into the water as well which might've helped.

hard to talk yourself out of a scissor type - so easy to go up/take down.

I did appreciate the shooting holes aspect of this style though. I'm sure you could work up something for a scissor blind as well.


~~~ 
I could never ask my dad to change this though. we built it, it's lasted forever and there's just something nostalgic about hunting out of it with Pops now. (we thought we were sooooo clever way back when!) ; )


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## WoodchuckSniper (Feb 23, 2002)

Should you decide against the PVC and go with conduit or other tubing and build a scissor blind, check out my post on this thread for pictures of my blind. It is real easy to take off the boat for summer. You might get an idea or two.

The thread >>>> http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296638


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Duckman Racing said:


> JD, I use burlap and die-cut material for my blind, no fast-grass, and I had the same issue. I also tried adding weights to the bottom, but on a windy day the material would still pull up off the waterline. What I did last year was get some clips like this one, and use them to clip the blind material to the gunnel of the boat from the inside. I just kept them in the boat and used them when needed, usually 2 per side would do the trick. Kind of a pain, but it worked.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


For the record, mine is also a scissor style. Our M-S brother Kevlar fabricated it for me in his shop...helluva guy Kev.

I have a bunch of those plastic clamps sitting right on my work bench...never thought of that. I'll give it a try.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Branta said:


> scissor blind would be an excellent suggestion as well.
> 
> (don't think that style was on our radar way back when!)
> 
> ...


I first tried some old strap anchors...the thin strips of lead about 8" -10" long...and wrapped those around the bottom of the die cut stuff. Acted exactly like you describe...casting minnow net. Wasn't heavy enough in a strong wind. So then I started hanging a couple of my long line end weights, which are old window sash weights with a clip on one end that I acquired from our M-S brother Lwingwatcher. They work, but they're really too heavy, I only have so many, and I usually am using them on long lines. So I'm looking for better ideas.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

WoodchuckSniper said:


> Should you decide against the PVC and go with conduit or other tubing and build a scissor blind, check out my post on this thread for pictures of my blind. It is real easy to take off the boat for summer. You might get an idea or two.
> 
> The thread >>>> http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296638


very similar to my blind, right down to using big C-clamps on the ends to attach it to the boat. I can have the frame of my blind off of my boat in less that 5 minutes by myself...probably 2 if someone is helping me.


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