I was looking at my local Walmart who now carries Mallard Machine's. I have heard good things about the system but wondered how it worked? Looking at it does the decoys attached float the entire system off the bottom? Do you need to stake it down or does it just free float??
I finished building a Mallard Machine about a month ago. I bought the hub/arms from Mallard Machine and used an old trolling motor I had sitting around. All together it cost me $70.
You tie decoys onto the arms which suspends the hub and trolling motor. I use a boat anchor to hold it in place even though you don't need anything that heavy.
Click the link below for a short movie I shot of mine.
Go to Home Depot get 40 feet of wire, three brackets to attach the decoys to. You will also need a switch, and clamps (pipe) to hold the brackets to the trolling motor. String on three decoys and your ready. Oh yeah and the positive and negative cables to connect it to a battery. I would use more than 40 feet of cable which will raise your price a littlle. Good Luck
Nah, you can actually buy the hub and arms online from the Mallard Machine company for $40. I used a Big Foot trolling motor control to control when it is on.
What LUV2DUChunt said! I left about 3" of the trolling motor shaft on the motor and filled it with silicon. I then wire tied the wires back down on the shaft so that I don't pull them out. Where I spliced the wire together I used waterproof shrink tubing. The shrink tube I used I bought at Lowe's and is made for waterproofing connections for well pumps. When you heat them up they will have a little bit of liquid bubble out either end.
It all depends on how long your droppers are off of your decoys. You'll also have to factor in how long the trolling motor is. I would think you would want at least 3 inches of water over the prop.
We hunted a spot back in September for teal and it was very shallow. I took the trolling motor out of the Mallard Machine bracket and stuck it nose down in the mud then put decoys all around it. Worked alright for me.
So I guess 6" of water in the rice fields....is not enough...
Gonna make my dad one i think...hes in 30' of water in timber....
Jeff Given
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