Making motion decoys

[gooser]

Has anyone ever made your own motion decoys? Whether mechanical or wind powered,any ideas will be appreciated.
 I once made a motor powered duck decoy.I used a small electric motor from a  toy car,operated by a battery. I made a long shaft from the motor and put a small propeller on it. It had to be turned on when put in the water and of course anchored on a line.It had its problems though,like running straight to the end of the line and staying there,and tangling decoys.Not to mention occasional flooding of the "engine compartment",causing failure. But,not bad for a 12 year old kid...(37 years ago)..... LOL.
 Since then I have made a few motion dekes just using wind or wave action. 

 anyone have any ideas.....? 

 
 

[Trav]

I built one this last fall using a remote control submarine attached to the bottom of the decoy.  I figured that my 8 year old would have a blast driving is around while his older brother and I were calling in the birds.  It worked great in the bath tub, but never made it to the river.  Still not sure if the dog or my 4 year old twins got a hold if it first.  The twins blamed the dog of course.  I have thought about trying to make one of those floating decoys with the with the flipper that hits the water and adds motions when things are pretty calm.  They look like they should be easy to create, if I can just find a little motor that won't get trashed with a little water.

[gary bartlow]

i made 2 using bilge pumps and they work great

[Trav]

Gary, can you give me some details on what you did?

[gary bartlow]

One is a swimmer and the other a feeder.You need a small bilge pump,a sealed 12 v battery,some wire,a signal light "flasher"(auto parts store) and either a duck butt decoy or a super mag floater.two pole trailer plugs.Solder pen,shrink tube,medicine or other type of small bottle.





Screw the pump on the bottom of decoy.Seal the "flasher" in something that will be water tight wire it all together.Note that on the duck butt feeder decoy the battery is the weight.You need to water proof the terminals on the battery or it WILL caroad.


Now for the swimmer.Cut a flap in the back of decoy.Screw the pump to the keel.drill a small hole in the bottom of decoy for your wires.Seal up flasher so it is water tight.I used a on/off switch on this one.

Once you have everything wired up you need to test it in the bath tub pool etc. to make sure that the battery is positioned so that the decoy does not float lop sided.Once that is good put battery in a small box inside decoy and spray in Great Stuff foam.