Our Boat
When our TDB failed in the beginning of January 2026, we scrambled to try and find a replacement to salvage the season. Unfortunately, the stars did not align, and we were toast for the 25/26 season. What this did afford us was an opportunity to build one of the coolest duck boats I have ever seen.
At first glance many may think “That's too big” or “How will you hide that” but we are a very unique habitat for waterfowl. A lot of thought was put into the color scheme and believe it or not it blends in better than the previous boat. We will also be hunting from the shore a little bit more, and we will be going longer distances into bigger water where most people cannot get to.
One of the biggest issues with the predecessor of this boat was its complete inability to deal with any sort of change in weather, the boat was not self-bailing, it did not take a swell without putting 200 gallons of water in the boat, it pounded...bad and had no maneuverability. We wanted a boat that would do it all and we nailed it.
We started with a 2005 Hydrasport Vector 21 hull and a 150 HP Yamaha. That's about all we kept, every wire, light, hose, bilge pump, deck hatch and screw has been replaced and upgraded. A lot of lessons were learned from the previous boat and this is what we did...
At first glance many may think “That's too big” or “How will you hide that” but we are a very unique habitat for waterfowl. A lot of thought was put into the color scheme and believe it or not it blends in better than the previous boat. We will also be hunting from the shore a little bit more, and we will be going longer distances into bigger water where most people cannot get to.
One of the biggest issues with the predecessor of this boat was its complete inability to deal with any sort of change in weather, the boat was not self-bailing, it did not take a swell without putting 200 gallons of water in the boat, it pounded...bad and had no maneuverability. We wanted a boat that would do it all and we nailed it.
We started with a 2005 Hydrasport Vector 21 hull and a 150 HP Yamaha. That's about all we kept, every wire, light, hose, bilge pump, deck hatch and screw has been replaced and upgraded. A lot of lessons were learned from the previous boat and this is what we did...
- 15 foot Minn Kota talons (upgrade from the 12 ft)
- Drum windlass to keep from spinning and going into deeper water
- Lenco pro control automatic trim tabs (wait till you see what these do)
- Simrad auto pilot (yes, we will be hunting Block Island this year)
- 85 gallons of fuel, in a properly installed and USCG/ABYC approved tank
- Simrad dual range radar
- Black Oak lighting both for bow and deck lighting
- Radiant floor/Bilge heating to 70 degrees
- Generator
- Possible microwave, working through some engineering obstacles
