# I need to know how to camo a boat



## Godwin14

I bought a 14ft. jon boat today and my next step is to camo it. What is the best way to do it without spending alot of money?


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## gb1075

check out macks prairie wings website and go to duck boat camo. they carry camoclad kits and they make some camo spray paint kits (styx river) i believe.


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## FERAL ONE

i spray a base color as close to muddy water as i can find . then take leaves ( fake ones from wally world work best ) and hold them to the side of the boat and spray over them to create a "negative".  lastly get a few branches and dip them in a moss green or grey and "whip" the boat with it. this puts lots of pattern over the area. repeat with a charcoal color for shadows .


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## Full Pull

Godwin14 said:


> I bought a 14ft. jon boat today and my next step is to camo it. What is the best way to do it without spending alot of money?


Whats a lot of money?


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## Johnny Reb

Rattle Can it...


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## Godwin14

What's rattle can


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## FERAL ONE

Godwin14 said:


> What's rattle can



spray paint


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## Hairy Dawg

As far as paint goes, Parker duckboat paint is a very durable, flat toned paint, that if applied correctly, will last a long time. You can find it at Cabela's for about $40.00/Gal. I used the hunter green (OD green) as a base, then used the Krylon camo paint for the camo outline breaking.

Before you even think about applying the paint, you want to make sure your prep work is in place first. You are dealing with aluminum, which is difficult to get paint to adhere to. What you need to do first is to clean any bare aluminum and cut any oxidation off of the surface. You can use sandpaper or a wire brush on a drill, but you want to scuff it up and basically make it good and shiny. If the boat already has paint on it, all you need to do is to lightly scuff the paint with some 120 grit sandpaper so that the paint will adhere to the existing paint. Any bare aluminum will have to be sprayed with a self etching primer. The self etching primer has a built in acid etch that will grip itself to the aluminum and only has to be lightly sprayed on. 

Once you have the primer on you can paint the base coat on the boat. I used a wagner electric power sprayer on mine, but I've heard that a foam roller will make a slick looking job as well, but may be hard to get into the tight cracks. 

You will have to decide for yourself how complex your camo job will be. They have all kinds of patterns available that look real good up close, but what you want is something that is virtually invisible at a distance when set up. I almost ordered one of the commercial camo kits for extending my camo until I was hunting and got 50 yards away from my boat and could barely make it out. I decided to leave it like I had it.

Here are a few pictures of my project.


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## Flaustin1

Follow Feral ones advice.. it works great just stay away from making the "shadows" with a dark color because shadows are naturally occuring.  Ever noticed how most camo clothing looks like a dark blob from a distance?  Its because of the "shadows" that are in the print.


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## FireDoc

Rustoleum camo paint @ wally world...then use your imagination.


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## bnew17

i did a 12 ft jon boat for about 50 bucks in spray paint from Wal Mart. i cut my own designs out of posterboard and laminated it. It was ALOT of work doing it by myself.


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## chadf

we made a stencil out of thin wood with a jigsaw to make this grass looking pattern, then held it to the boat and rattle canned over. not the best, but it worked this year....just make sure you prep, or you'll be throwing away time and money!
you could also just hold up natural stuff(leafs,sticks,grass,etc.) and make good looking shadows from that.


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## slayer1

My boat is an Express  so it started out khaki colored.  I took camo paint  and sprayed  splotches on my boat, softball to pie plate sizes.  Then I took several pieces of cardboard ( 3ft x 3ft ) and made stencil with them.  And then with different colored camo paint sprayed the pattern
onto the boat and motor.  Cost about $25.00 in paint.


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## BREAK'N WINGS

Cant beat the home made stencils, and the good ol fasioned  rattle can. ( camo paint ) Min started out on solid color too, just to give it a backing color.

Speaking of paint, I need t otouch mine up.......those trees pay a tole on the paint during duck season


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## ericflowers

Talk to chad f, we did his whole boat and built a blind on for less than @ $125.  total time was about 4 hrs.


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## Skyjacker

This was my summer project two years ago.  This carolina skiff was my first boat I ever owned.  After ten years of solid use I decided that she would do better getting a makeover than selling her for minimal dollars.






I sanded the gelcoat, used a stensil and bought some good paint (good paint is the key.  There's a guy up in Michigan you can buy good boat paint from made especially for fiberglass and aluminum boats.  The parkers sold in cabelas and bass pro is ok)






Of course I got crazy and added neoprene camo carpet, camo seats, and even some red LED loghts under the platform and a Golight spotlight on the front.

















Anyway, I spent about a total of 50 hours renovating this skiff and less than $500 on the LED lights, carpet, paint, stensils, and camo seats and black bumpers. 

The most expensive item was the GoLight which was another $200 and by the time I was done, I got rid of my old Suzuki engine and got a new Evinrude Etec.  

But overall, you can camoflauge a boat for pretty cheap.  

I also did my Gheenoe too.


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## TDB

I just used that rust-o-lom paint from wal-mart


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## Alan D.

Hey Skyjacker what kind of stensil did you use? the boat and canoo look great. Im in the market for a jon boat. So I will be painting one this summer and also my kayaks to take into this small swamp I hunt.


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## Skyjacker

Alan D. said:


> Hey Skyjacker what kind of stensil did you use? the boat and canoo look great. Im in the market for a jon boat. So I will be painting one this summer and also my kayaks to take into this small swamp I hunt.



On the skiff I used shadow grass stencil sold by Mack's Prairie Wing.  

For the ghenoe I did my own custom tape job and it actually worked really nicely.


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## Alan D.

Yea it kind of looked like the canoo had been just taped off but it looks real good man. I hope when i do one it turns out that nice.


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## redq

This is a great thread. You guys did an awesome job on the painting. As I see it you have 3 options:

1. Paint some stencils on the boat
2. Use a Camo4u Boat Wrap - (This is the newer version of camo wraps out there. You can buy it at Macks Prairie Wings, or online at www.camo4u.com )
3. Or you can get " camo dipped" (very expensive) and not really worth doing something that large. 

Stencils and painting are the cheapest route. The Camo4u wraps give you the option of doing a Realtree or Mossy Oak Graphics package on your boat...


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## king killer delete

*Pick your base paint*

Pick your base paint(olive drab) and then use palmetto frons for stencils. Use your palmetto frons and spray you pattern on with different colors of camo spray paint. Living in Blackshear you should have plenty. I have always used an old trick that I was  taught many years ago by an old  hunter that made his own decoys and never had a camo jacket to his name .  It was probably about about 1965 and he was  probably in his early 60s .He only wore Carhart brown jacket. This guy was old school before any body ever heard of Drake. He would take grass and spread over the bottom of his boat sort of like carpet, He called it grassing  the bottom of the boat. It was natural camo and worked really well when the ducks were over head. He had a frame on his boat for his blind and he used natural burlap  with a  flat black pattern he had painted on that burlap for his blind. It worked well. Good luck.


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## wranglerjoe1968

Where do you get the stencils


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## king killer delete

Godwin14 said:


> What's rattle can



Walmart 96 cent a can flat black  Flat green camo spray paint. Palmetto frons and go to town. 20 bucks maybe 30 bucks if its a big boat, alum jon boats do not hold paint well. Expect to spot paint every year. Good Luck. Now if you want to go big time go get a can of duck boat paint. parkers duck boat paint is good. Get you a 21 buck siphon spray gun from harbor freight and hook it up to your air compressor and spary your base coat. It will look better than the rattle can job but you will have to touch it up every year. Use the palmetto frons for your stencil.


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## king killer delete

Skyjacker said:


> This was my summer project two years ago.  This carolina skiff was my first boat I ever owned.  After ten years of solid use I decided that she would do better getting a makeover than selling her for minimal dollars.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I sanded the gelcoat, used a stensil and bought some good paint (good paint is the key.  There's a guy up in Michigan you can buy good boat paint from made especially for fiberglass and aluminum boats.  The parkers sold in cabelas and bass pro is ok)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course I got crazy and added neoprene camo carpet, camo seats, and even some red LED loghts under the platform and a Golight spotlight on the front.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, I spent about a total of 50 hours renovating this skiff and less than $500 on the LED lights, carpet, paint, stensils, and camo seats and black bumpers.
> 
> The most expensive item was the GoLight which was another $200 and by the time I was done, I got rid of my old Suzuki engine and got a new Evinrude Etec.
> 
> But overall, you can camoflauge a boat for pretty cheap.
> 
> I also did my Gheenoe too.



Nice job!


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## T-N-T

Skyjacker, Im with Killer!  Nice job.  Not every day you see someone with guts to do a project that size.  White fiber to camo is a big deal!


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## dirtysouthforeman

IMG_20140217_142955_556.jpg


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## king killer delete

dirtysouthforeman said:


> IMG_20140217_142955_556.jpg


Tracker ?


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## dirtysouthforeman

killer elite said:


> Tracker ?


1648 fisher alweld. I painted the boat with tan camo Walmart paint the found some weeds and held them up to the boat and sprayed a light coat of brown camo and the green camo. Never moving the weeds till I moved over


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## king killer delete

dirtysouthforeman said:


> 1648 fisher alweld. I painted the boat with tan camo Walmart paint the found some weeds and held them up to the boat and sprayed a light coat of brown camo and the green camo. Never moving the weeds till I moved over


looked like my tracker lay out.


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## wray912

If you want a grass look paint the boat tan the get a wad of grass hold it up to the boat and run over in with black or green


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## wray912

...


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## king killer delete

wray912 said:


> ...


nice job Walt


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## warmouth

Godwin14 said:


> I bought a 14ft. jon boat today and my next step is to camo it. What is the best way to do it without spending alot of money?



Ha ha. Just bring the thing to my house and we'll do it at the same time! I just have to decide which boat I want to do. The one I did already I am having a few regrets. I do have a good idea I am thinking of doing. Max4 vinyl (like for vehicle wraps). Buddy of mine does it for a living and gets that stuff much cheaper than we can. And no, glare is nonexistant on it. There are several types of vinyl, and I believe the 3m is glare free, but it might be another brand. Good post.


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## warmouth

wray912 said:


> ...



Thats an awesome job!


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## warmouth

Skyjacker said:


> This was my summer project two years ago.  This carolina skiff was my first boat I ever owned.  After ten years of solid use I decided that she would do better getting a makeover than selling her for minimal dollars.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I sanded the gelcoat, used a stensil and bought some good paint (good paint is the key.  There's a guy up in Michigan you can buy good boat paint from made especially for fiberglass and aluminum boats.  The parkers sold in cabelas and bass pro is ok)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course I got crazy and added neoprene camo carpet, camo seats, and even some red LED loghts under the platform and a Golight spotlight on the front.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, I spent about a total of 50 hours renovating this skiff and less than $500 on the LED lights, carpet, paint, stensils, and camo seats and black bumpers.
> 
> The most expensive item was the GoLight which was another $200 and by the time I was done, I got rid of my old Suzuki engine and got a new Evinrude Etec.
> 
> But overall, you can camoflauge a boat for pretty cheap.
> 
> I also did my Gheenoe too.


Thats an awesome skiff skyjacker. Do you have any pics with the blind set?


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## dirtysouthforeman

IMG_20130526_124146_180.jpg


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## king killer delete

Nice


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## dirtysouthforeman

IMG_20140217_142840_973.jpg


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## dirtysouthforeman

IMG_20130927_125218_882.jpg I camo everything!


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