Hey all,

I am not new to mud motors, as I have a 6.5, 24 and 35 longtails. Its all fun and all, but I figured I would share my latest project. The Swantoon! I picked up this 24' pontoon just as a party barge. But as the season came closer, I gave in to all the ideas that brewed while drinking those flavored beverages on it.

To my knowledge, this is the first fully collapseable blind on a pontoon. After a few cases, I came up with this design that literally sets up in 26 seconds. No poles. No straps. No pins. And it folds down to 30" tall (4" taller than the original rails) Why? Well when I have 3-500 decoys to pick up, I don't need a 18' windsail to contend with.

The frame was built out of 315' of 1x1x.062 aluminum tubing, 72' of aluminum hinges, 1,500 rivets.

The grassing is not finished yet, but I already have 130' of Fast Grass. Bay the time I am done I am guessing I will have 180'.

180 sq ft of 1200 Denier cordura. 150 grommets. Lost count of zip ties after 1,000.

I designed and waterjetted custom hinges on the back side along with machining custom slider pins for the back side of the blind which lock into place and hold the weight of the top panel of the rear side. The front side I double hinged in order to make the (6) 30" shooter flaps. Both the front and rear bottom panels were designed to pinch onto the mounting tubes which enabled me to not have any support poles.

On the rear, I sheeted one section and the rest is cordura except for the shooter flaps. With the shooter flaps, I stretched the fast grass so you could still see thru as this is a fully concealed blind.

As of right now, I am still running a 35 hp console outboard so I made a drivers hatch which will enable be to still drive if the blind is fully setup.

Another feature I included in the design is a 26" walkway. When all the shooter flaps are open, I have a 26" wide walkway so you can easily walk from the front to back without having to crawl under the blind.

I don't have any updated pictures, but the front deck is also concealed with hinged, collapesable flaps. I fabbed my own dog ramp and the front deck is dedicated to storage/ dogs. The dogs will be completely concealed, out of the weather and can be locked out of the main blind so everything stays dry in the main section. I am in the process of installing a 4 burner stove/oven as well as a padded bunk to serve as dry storage also.

This year is a test run. Next year I plan on moving the console and running a Prodrive.

frame shooter flaps open

cordura

full blind

one shooter flap open

fully collapsed

I machined out my own console panel

the old wooden steering wheel hub was rotten, so I machined out something a little more fitting

"How to display you're a badass" ^^^

Btw, nice blind build

He may not. The outline may be broken up enough that ducks won't pay any attention as long as there's no movement. I do suggest (unless you've already done it, I glossed over the writeup) welding on some sort of spud mounts and some spud poles to keep the boat from moving like it would if it was just tied off or anchored. It'll lessen the wave action and ripples from movement in the boat.

And to think about how many arguments have been on MMT saying a 1748 is easier to hide than an 1860 etc...

The bigger the better, they'll think it's an island instead of a boat.

If it's well brushed the size of the boat dont matter most of the time. Alot of guys use pontoon floaters as permanent blinds around here and they kill ducks just fine.

that thing is badassed!!!

Frog, think he needs some gator glide for going through the cattails?

Used to have a pontoon that was very similar to yours that we hunted. Diver slaying machine that's for sure. Saw a guy once who had a fake tree in the middle of his pontoon that you would crank up and down. It added more camo and looked like an island with a tree in the middle.

Ever worry about the hieght of the boat flaring birds? I've always like the pontoon concept, but worried about the high profile.

Nice build with a lot of hard work put in. I'd like to see it on the water brushed out.

Also, did I read that correctly that you want to put a pro drive on it?

Do they make a stage7 pd??

Thats what your going to need hahahah

Nice pictures!

Here is one we hunt off of, really works for us.

Are you guys driving these in and out every day or tying/staking them off and leaving them as permanent blinds?

We stage ours in the area, and move it as needed with our mud rigs, or wade it in for different wind directions. It will float in about a foot of water, and tows nice, behind one of our rigs.

I know all the ones ive hunted from stay put for the season. 4 - 4x4 posts with 4 small tires attached to the blind so it can raise and lower with the changing water levels. Reason I ask is it seems counter productive (for me anyways) to build up a pontoon blind just to drive it in and out, especially if you set it up like a layout setup. To me if your gonna pack it in and out every day and not be able to stand you may as well hunt from a boat blind. Everyone's hunting conditions are different though so I dont know.

Only places i would have a use for one would be the lakes where there isnt any cover or the water is to deep to get out in (where the birds normally are) areas i dont ever hunt because i have no means of hunting it. Boat blinds are functional in shallow areas where its easy in and out but a bigger boat with alot of room to move around in and pick up and put out decoys in deep water would be the ticket. Also, I dont think it would be all that hard to rig up something to swing down and hang between the pontoons to go just below the water level that woukd snag decoys and you just run them over and pic them up like a vacuum cleaner lol. Its like a big permanent blind but you have the ability to move it where ever the ducks are.