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Normally, I'd just throw 'em away or sell 'em on C-list, but I've had an abundance of free time lately so I thought I'd do a semi-decade decoy maintenance.
This is actually my first attempt at decoy painting.
Let's just say,...I ain't quitting my day job, but they're probably an improvement.

Before


After


Before



After



Naturally, I've found some leakers...
Any of ya'all had luck filling them with the "great stuff" expanding foam? I've read about that for years, but I've just never done it. I think I have some foam left over from a job, otherwise I'd probably just hack off the keels and send them to field duty.

Huh,..not sure why, but the pics look "chopped" on my phone.

They look a hell of a lot better, the gray looks light in the pic almost white but looks like a great paint job

Duckdog wrote:Huh,..not sure why, but the pics look "chopped" on my phone.

They're too big for the board, and I don't know how to fix it on a phone. But when it happens on a PC, you can right click on the photo and select "view photo" from the drop-down that produces to see the whole thing.

Looks good. I just some last week too.

Don't use the great stuff foam. I did it and the foam did not hold up well. The decoy still held water and dissolved the foam. What I do is hot glue them or use Lexel and a caulk gun.

And as the foam dissolved it left a funny yellow trail in the water.

Bad17 wrote:And as the foam dissolved it left a funny yellow trail in the water.

That is really weird, because one of its suggested uses is sealing stuff.

They look good, they'll hunt! If they look to bright you later, or once you get them on the water, you can tone them down pretty easy.

Thanks fellas! I really didn't realize how rough my dekes were looking until I decided to undertake this. But, since I have a whole lot more time than money this year...paint it is!!
To tell ya the god's honest truth, this ended up being a LOT more work than I thought it was going to be.
I'm sure a lot of that is my process, as I'm hand painting (brushing) everything, and I can be stupid anal sometimes.
But,...it's good therapy too.

Thanks for the heads up on the spray foam. I may try a few and see what happens.
It's not like I have a lot to lose.

Well hope you have better luck than I did.

Looks way better then some factory paint job . They will kill birds .
And for holes just use silicon .

I like the smug grin on that decoys face.

3legged_lab wrote:I like the smug grin on that decoys face.

He's looking for a party.

Nice work.

3legged_lab wrote:I like the smug grin on that decoys face.

Looks like he's gonna get even with some hen snaking greenhead.

Melted shotgun hulls seal up pretty damn good to. I did it as a quick fix in the field once but the plastic melded really good for some reason and I fix all my leakers that way now.

I fix holy decoys with a soldering iron and a chunk of plastic from a sacrificial decoy

Hot glue gun...

I was thinking about the hot glue.

While painting these old decoys, it became real clear why a lot of the store bought hens look like crap.
They're damned hard to get right!
Not that it really matters, crappy looking dekes work too, I just wanted to try my hand at a little hand painting "realism".
So far, it's pretty much been a "fail" with the hens.
I haven't totally given up yet though.

Have you seen the latex glove trick?

Hahaha

Yea, I've seen it.
But,...uhhhh,...thanks for asking?

Looks good to me.

Hell of a lot better that I can do. Only thing I can do is make a bufflehead out of a teal.

jehler wrote:I fix holy decoys with a soldering iron and a chunk of plastic from a sacrificial decoy

That's the route I take with decoys substantial enough to take the heat, while the real el cheapos that melt too quickly under the iron get 3M5200. Have tried various silicon sealers, "goops" and hot glue, but all end up needing redone after the decoys have been used a few seasons.

Thanks Rick, I think I'll give that a try.
Ever use it on leaky waders?

Not on waders, but I've used it with excellent success on rubber boots that have split at the flex points. When I used neoprene waders, "neoprene cement," per se, was the ticket for they and neoprene dog vests, as it essentially welds the neoprene, rather than just gluing it. Haven't had to use anything but Cabela's return policy on the so-called "breathables" I now wear. Knock wood...