floating blind ?

[steel shot]

Im fixing to build a floating blind and was wondering if anyone had any idea what 1 55 gal drum would float.
im going to build the blind 8'x16' and im trying to get a figure on how many drums I need.

[Duck Nawteek]

Get old Will Maybry to see if he can get you some big ole logs from that logging company he runs. J/k I've heard of people trying to do this but I don't know how stable its gonna be? I would get those drums welded together if I was gonna float them though. Maybe use some angle iron across them to keep them together. Anyway good luck on finding drums, most everyone I know has give them away to the handgrabbers already. If I hear of anyone I'll let ya know though. Tell Will to give me a call. I need to send him a wedding invitation. Let me know how it goes on the blind though.

[fivemile]

You might want to try styrofoam. I built a 4' x 10' blind on a 8' x 12' platform with a 2'x2'x12' block across the front and the same across the back and cased it in with 1 x 4's and plywood. Blind is real stable and is 7 years old. You can buy bulk styrofoam in Jackson.

[ducks&bucks]

I hunted with a guy last year that had 2 20 ft long drain culverts (8in)stuffed with styrofome. He had flat stock bent and welded on the culverts and the frame was built around it. It was heavy but it still floats. I was wondering if PVC pipe, about 8in in dia, would foat the same rig. The culvers were about $250 a piece.

[mallardchaser]

I have a friend who has one with 6 (3 each side) on it and a piece of 3/4 plywood on the top...it's about 10' long..

[bwm]

The big pvc pipe is heavier that the culverts. That's why he has the the culverts. Before we had the pvc pipes and they would work and work you getting it in and out. I see you are from Marshall county. You may have hunted with my uncle the way you described his blind.

[BuckeyeHoov]

I built a floater very similar to the pit blind in the Whistlin' Wings series with Tracey Byrd. Do y'all know which on I'm speaking of? The pit with the roll top on it? Anyway, I took 4 55 gal. drums and ran them in front and behind each corner (perpendicular to the blind). We built the platform 4x10 with treated 2x4's and 3/4 in treated plywood. We screwed the T-posts across the base and took the sealed 55 gal drums and "tie-down strapped them to the T-Posts. We then built the front 50 inces high and the rear walls 49 inches high (natural fall for the roll top). We attached garage door rail to the blind and put garage door rollers on the top. We wrapped the whole thing in chicken wire and boated it out to our post on the lake (which btw-was the absolute hardest thing of hall-it was a total bear) and found nutural surroundings and stuffed them into the chicken wire. We got millions of compliments on it and if worked awesome. It was very stable and a great blind.