Hot Buys and water Keels?

[Mallyard]

I was just wondering if the GHG hot buy mallard deeks came in water keel.. The weighted keels could get heavy along with my dozen widgion and 6 life-size malyards. Thanks... If they don't guess i'll have to be a man and haul all of `em deeks to my honey hole. Thanks for any info.

Mallyard

[SwampHunter]

Just pull the stopper out and dump out the sand if you want water keels.

[Ebdawg]

I tried that on one of mine and it didn't work very well. Never would float right. I'm glad I only did one.

[SwampHunter]

EB,
You are exactly right. Here's the thing. Most decoys are not made for water keels. Reason being most are top heavy. You add wind or waves and you have a decoy that will roll and skate.
I carve decoys and have the chance to work with weighting keels a hundred times over. Depending on the pose some decoys some need more weight than others. To even get a decoy to flip, requires a bit of weight, as does getting it to ride right.
When you change the weight in the keel, you change the properties of the decoy. Most of the time in a bad way.
I love the GHG and how the keels are weighted. I have hunted the GHG in 3 to 4 foot swells against corks, woods, and foams by alot of different makers. The GHG actually rode better than any of the solid body decoys, simply because of the weight of the keels.
I can see where some folks want lighter decoys. If you need to modify them to suit your needs, by all means do so. Play with it though. Don't just dump all of the sand out and think they are going to ride well in every situation, because they aren't. I have never seen a decoy that was perfect for every situation. That's just the facts. They are always too heavy or too light, or this or that.

[Eric Strand]

If you would like to make water keels out of your hot buys i can give this suggestion. This is what i did and it has worked great. go to the bottom of the keel where the black plastic stopper, take a saw and cut right above that stopper so a little bit of the keel and the whole stopper falls off. the sand should all fall right out and you now have a decoy that rides well and you can pack for miles. hope it works as well for you as it has me.

" Shoot em with their feet down "
Eric Strand

[Native NV Ducker]

I tried somewhat the same thing. The water I hunt is usually very calm, so I just don't need all that weight. I pulled the keel cap off, drilled the glue out, and dumped the sand. The I drilled a hole in the bottom of the keel at the other end. That should make it a water keel. If it doesn't work, I can re-plug both holes after putting some sand back in.

[Travis Mueller]

Guys thanks for all the comments on this one. No we do not and will not make a water keel for this decoy though. Thanks for the questions though.

[Mallyard]

Thanks guys when i get mine in this fall i'll defenatly modify some of the deeks... I was kinda leary on wheather to or to not drill/ saw the holes because of the ride but now that I think of it we don't usually hunt to windy of conditions.. So thanks agian.

Mallyard