Camo Idea | SouthernPaddler.com

Camo Idea

Slammer

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2006
63
1
South Texas
I'm thinking of trying to take some of the flat camo netting, the thin kind you can see through, and putting it on the pirogue like fiberglass and applying epoxy over it. Thus sealing the camo to the boat.

More to look neat than for actual camo.

Think it will work?
 

oldyaker

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
1,949
31
Sounds like a good idea Slammer. Don't know how much strength it will add. I think I'll save centerfolds from Playboy and beer labels off my bottles to cover mine. :shock:
 

Slammer

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2006
63
1
South Texas
I don't think it will add any strength but you never know.

Beer labels and Centerfolds!!!!!!!! What a grand idea!!!!!!! How about them girlie girl playing cards?

Norman rockwell paintings........Duck pictures.....National geographic.

"Endless.....My boy, I say....I say Endless"
 

oldyaker

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
1,949
31
Kayak Jack said:
You might try this on a piece of scrap wood first. Jimmie's new boat will be available as scrap in a week or three - use that.

In the fireplace as we speak....It's a cold night. Such an ugly thing didn't go to waste, it's keeping me warm. Think I'll stick to what I'm good at, sampling vintage wine. :wink:
 
Army camo netting serves two purposes. It gives a three dimentional effect, thereby breaking up "flat panels" not found in nature, and it gives a multi color effect. You can always spot a camoflage color boat if you look long enough, since the colors are all on the same plane, cover that boat with 3D stuff and it disappears. By glassing your netting flat to your boat, you lose the 3D effect, and the rpigjer sirface wo;; kist s;pw upi dpwm/ Use good flat colored paint, and mimic the lines you see in nature-I painted my duck boat with vertical lines, mimicing the reeds where I hunt, and it's quite well hidden. The Art of Camo is blending with nature-use vertical lines with reeds, use splotches against varied colored leaves. This comes as 27 years experienceas a grunt, starting in the jungle to the desert and a couple of wars in between.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
I follow your reasoning. By the same token, all animals have a light or white belly. So, near the water line, start fading into a much lighter color to break up the sharp line of entry at the water level.

The less distinct the various colors are, and the fuzzier the edges are, all help too. Camouflage has Size, Shape, Smell, (some other word beginning with an "S" that means color), etc.

May want to emulate the Gilly suit effect for 3-D? Actually hang leaves, grasses, etc. on your craft.
 
Actually, the ghillie suit idea is sound. I had one when I was a recon platoon leader, and you could walk right up on someone wearing one, and you just couldn't see them. I use a derivation of that theme for duck hunting. I went to Joannes Fabrics and bought tan burlap. Cut some of it into strips and painted them various colors, tied them on my long piece of tan burlap and voila, camo net. I drape it over the unnatural long edges of the boat and it breaks up the silhouette nicely. I coated the whole thing with Thompsons water seal to make it last, and I just roll it up like a sleeping bag when I'm through and it takes up minimal space.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
On the subject of camouflage and subject recognition, I have an observation. When in a canoe, I can drift right up next to a white tail deer. They recognize that something is there, obviously, and they know it isn't quite right. But, since I'm not standing up they don't see the whole silhouette of "man".

I wonder if a guy had on a large hoop skirt (try to not snicker whilst picturing this) or something more manly but similar in construction - what effect would that have on a deer? (I already know what other hunters would think, so can it.)

It's impossible to move in the woods without a deer seeing it. So, sneaking up on them as a "person" is nearly fruitless. It has to be something else that they are either comfortable with, say, a deer hide over your back, or something that causes curiosity and confusion in them.
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
What if piper 'n me come downriver.....him wearin' a kilt 'n bagpipin' hiz heart out? The deer would likely freeze like a Greek listenin' ta a sireen......'n we float rite up next ta Bambi? Anyone wearin' a dress gits the backstrap. 8)

Aye Laddie
bearridge

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.  Mark Twain
 

hairymick

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2005
2,107
2
Queensland, Australia
I can't paint worth a dam and don't hunt from my boats but I really like the earthy colours of camo.

Reckon I'll have a crack at some camo on my next kayak just for the heck of it. :D
 
I saw a really good example somewhere on these piroque posts...guy had a medium light green background, with vertical thin stripes inside and out. Very similar to what I did on my duck boat...it really resembles reeds in a marsh. The very best camo I ever saw was the "new digital pattern" you see on the new army uniforms. It was actually invented by the Brits in the mid 70's. Consists of small squares painted in different colors. To demonstrate it's effectiveness, the Armor School had several tanks painted in the current camo patterns. I walked to within 40 yards of an APC painted digitally before I could see it, and I knew it was there....it just takes a lot of time. From my hunting experience, the trick is to not give the critters an opportunity to see something that "looks out of place" until they are close enough for a shot. The greatest spooker of all is movement. The easiest way to camo is to apply your base coat " reed color on the boat, lay some reeds over it vertically, they spray over them with your darker color. Instant reed camo. Did it on my duck boat..
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
Camo
Hum here's my two cents first thing you notice on an animal in the woods is horizontal lines belly, back, ears, movement then shape.
For the predators (us) some of the same holds true I have taken over 150 big game animals bowhunting turkeys hogs cats coyotes also.
we are different we paint stuff put on clothes ( i hope) the military has even noticed this uv brightener ever notice they give you new fatigues the first thing when you go into combat area they are not treated without uv brighteners I have taken over 60 deer stalking sometimes within 10 yards
and have experimented with the uv killers they work . the old mackinaws up north with red black pattern had no light spots in them but worked well because they were wool and didn't get washed in the regular soap.
So in my opinion no sharp lines horizontally ( there are all kinds in the woods vertically TREES ) very little light colors and be still.

That was 2 1/2 cents worth
Ron
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
You're right, horizontal lines usually indicate A. something alive, or, B. something man made. Movement usually indicates A. I'm in the woods stumbling around alone, or B. 10 other guys are in the woods walking normally.

The fuzzy woolens were not only non-reflective, they were in between silent and sounding just like a buck rubbing against a tree.

Your info about UV brighteners is new to me. Are you talking about an ingredient in laundry soap that makes freshly laundered clothes appear brighter? Or, is this something present in new fabrics?
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
Jack
Its a brightner in the washing soap to make colors look brighter also it is put in a lot of clothes when the cloth is woven You ever look at clothes under a ultraviolet light. They have a wash you can use that kills them and then you use a soap that doesn't have them in it. I had read about the uv figured it was just a gimmick , was in a tripod one day camo very still had deer comming in they would all of a sudden look up straight at me not spook but watch me for a long time tried the wash it didn't happen anymore. then another incident started to make sense to me I had built a tripod a few year earlier with a plastic seat we had painted the longer we hunted that stand the better it got one day couple hundred yards away I noticed a white spott looked at it threw field glasses it was the seat with the paint wearing off it was white underneat the deer were use to seeing a bright spot there so when we got into the stand we blended.
Ron