doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT, Small water duck boats. OPINIONS??

Amen Jack, especially on windy days. Sort of scary when the wind carries you off the ice shelf and back into open water! I had a spike on a socket that would fit over the opposite end of the duckbill pole also, but traded that system for two short pieces of pole with a spike on each so I could sit down on the bottom and sort of row myself across the ice with one in each hand. But even this system won't work when the ice is not quite thick enough to support the weight, but not quite thin enough to break through with the bow. Way too tiring for this 70-year old as I found while trying to retrieve my swan this past November. It died in the air and went through about 3/4" of ice about 150 yards out in the lake where it quickly froze in.

Hal - been there, done that, know what you mean! The only good thing about pushing through (and over, and through again) that kind of ice is that it keeps you plenty warm. I always wind up getting too sweaty and doffing the parka, hat, gloves, etc., even in sub-freezing temps. I sold the Ducker, dekes and all two years ago. Except for December grouse and wild pheasants, which still get me out there, I'm ready to spend my 70s by the fireside

I got lucky and had a thaw the next day and the wind pushed my swan close enough for me to wade through the icecubes and retrieve it. Jack where are the serial numbers located? My Duckers are stored now, but I am still curious about production dates.

As I recall, the serial number is stamped on or next to the aluminum handle casting at the bow or stern. It will be a 4 digit number. Let me know what you find, and I'll be able to date the year of manufacture.

Seems like it would be fairly easy to have a custom aluminum ducker made for not too much $. Has anyone tried that route? I've thought about building my own with 1/4" wood and glass, but it would be heavy, and when the going gets nasty, I would think a low, wide, 10' long lightweight aluminum ducker would be safer, and lighter.

You might be able to make an aluminum duck boat of some sort, but I think an accurate copy of the original AlumaCraft Lifetime Ducker would be well beyond reach. I had a long talk about this in 1994 with Russ Swenson, the man in charge of AlumaCraft production in St. Peter MN, and the son of Ducker designer Erich Swenson.

Russ said he'd often dreamed of doing a limited production of Duckers after he retired. But the biggest obstacle was the cost of making up the special alloy needed for the Ducker's compound bend at bow and stern. Even with the right alloy, and assuming access to the Ducker's original forms and AlumaCraft's pressure-forming equipment, Russ doubted he could make one for less than $1500 - and that was in 1994 dollars!

The Ducker took a lot more labor than the common aluminum fishing boat. Decking and bracing were complicated, as was the heliarc welding for the stabilizer tubes and casting for the bow and stern plates. Try as they might, AlumaCraft never managed to get the cost down below the price of a new field-grade Model 21.

As far as I know, Russ Swenson's hope of resurrecting the Ducker never went beyond the dream stage, and sound, original Duckers - which could still be found back in 1994 for 6-800 dollars - are now fetching upwards of two grand.

My father-in-law, a skilled machinist, tried to cobble up a Ducker copy by cutting down an aluminum fishing boat that had lost its stern in a tornado, and decking it with plywood and fiberglass. The result looked good - low and stable - but it still weighed a ton, had to be trailered, and needed a motor because the square stern made it miserable for poling or rowing.

Jack I easily found D 506 stamped starboard on the bow handle. This Ducker still has the old MN registration number I painted on when it was first required. I remember dad complaining something about big seagoing yachts being exempt from the requirement.

I found no numbers on the other Ducker except for one unreadable area closely corresponding to the area where the serial number should have been stamped if both craft had built with the same marking system. Either purposeful obliteration or an unlikely occurrence where the craft suffered heavy waves for several hours wedged hull up by the bow on some broken granite shoreline.

Duckers are tough. I remember the starboard oar snapping like a twig just after a clump of hard green bulrush pressed its mate hard to the port gunnel. That rowing error cost us a few shivers, as the next foamy 3-footer slammed the Ducker with me in chest waders and heavy alpaca parka, my dog, and 44 "carrylite" cedar decoys into a rocky shoreline.

Hal - D506 was made in the very first year of Ducker roduction, 1947! That was also the largest production year, with serial numbers from 100 to 604. Odd that your other Ducker's # is obliterated...could it be that an earlier owner acquired the boat illegally?

Your snapped oar experience is one reason why the original Ducker aluminum oars are so desirable - they're as robust as the boat itself. Unfortunately, they don't float, which is why they've tended to disappear over the years.

BTW, Duckers were exempt from showing registration numbers if only used during the waterfowl season - but that would rule out using them for bass fishing...

Thanks Jack. I guess dad wanted me to be legal, as I used to take the Ducker fishing on the Ottertail River. Funny I never saw metal oars and assume he thought they were too expensive.

Thanks Jack. I guess dad wanted me to be legal, as I used to take the Ducker fishing on the Ottertail River. Funny I never saw metal oars and assume he thought they were too expensive.