Built many duck blinds in my day, but never a floating one. My buddy has a place with lots of flooded timber and other brush, and we've always just hunkered up next to a tree in the water. Now I'm thinking we need to tackle the project of building a floating duck blind. Any suggestions/tips? I'm thinking about maybe six 55 gallon drums under a platform, and anchoring it somehow.

I have thought about floating my 6 x 12 foot blind on my lease. Drew up plans, just never executed the plan..

Pic of my blind below, which I have broken down and move it 3 times..



12' 2x6 and barrels..



Strap the barrels down, and 2 16' 4x4..



My 6' x 12' blind on top..My blind floor is in 3 4'x6' sections..



Deck around it...



Right now I got it in a spot where it floods all around it, pic below. But I always wanted to float it, and have a deck all the way around it where you could walk around it, like a floating island.. My son was never too crazy about the idea or I would have done it..

Man that is great looking blind, and thanks for the diagram too! I'm pretty excited to get the project going... Now just gotta find a way to get a bunch of barrels

I just picked up 4 - 10" diameter x 10' long pontoons and am going to make a 5'x10' floater this off season.

With 2 pontoons on each side, I think I calculated that it would float like 1360 lbs.

Nice! I'd love to pontoon it, just have a college boy budget to work with LOL

Got to find the right deal! I paid $21 for those!!

Check with the automatic car washes around town. They get their soap in 55 gallon drums and will generally give them away for free. You may just have to find a plug for the bung hole.

Wow that's crazy!! I'll keep my eye out for sure. And thanks for the tip, I'll be checking with car washes. I also have a friend that works at a water park and he thinks he can get some for me

Styrofoam lots of it

I would be afraid that styrofoam would deteriorate way too quickly but I have never tried so don't know.

Although, I did see an episode of duck dynasty where Phil picked up a chunk of styrofoam off the river to use for a duck blind so it must work right?

All the floating blinds I have built have been a boat blind/ hunting blind combo. So my designs are skewed to that.

We've made them with styrofoam. They work good til the coons start messing with it. It doesn't deteriorate unless it is in direct sunlight. Easy way to protect is by putting siding on it.

We've also used old telephone poles. They float, and hold lots of weight. But they are VERY HEAVY. And are a burden to move. We don't do this anymore.

Also used 55 gallon drums strapped to an old boat trailer so you can haul it out at the end of season with blind attached. Pull the boat inside the blind on the trailer , and drive it to where you want to go. Works best if it isn't shallow.

For anchors we have used everything. Actual anchors, engine blocks, screw stakes, lashed to 4x4s driven into there mud.

The biggest trick I see with a floater is getting a low center of gravity. A friend of mine spent about $500 building one, probably would have had more than that in it but he had some of the stuff he needed already. When they put it in the water it wouldn't stay upright. I think he still has it and would sell it pretty cheap but it needs some major reworking. They built it long and narrow like your typical pit or box blind with a roof, that design don't work floating............

Yeah, you need a low profile blind, like the Dr Duck Blind. That's the design I followed. This design is ideal for floating, in fact the design of that blind originally came from a blind that was put on boat. Putting the floaters on the out side of the blind, not underneath, will also help with the center of gravity.

Put a ballast on it and it will lower the CG.