Lead Plates (50 lb range)

[Woody26]

My local tire store wants .15 cents a pound. should I keep looking?

[aneal000]

My local tire store wants .15 cents a pound. should I keep looking?

Yes keep looking. Some stores have deals where a local guy comes and pays them for it, but the supply is always there so it's a win-win. Unless you live in a small town with only one tire store keep looking, you'll find one that just wants to get rid of it to whoever will take it.

You can melt the stuff down, I had a buddy that did, he used a camp stove and a small cake pan to make ~20 blocks. I know it took him forever, he would have to let it heat up and melt, then add more when it melted down then skim off the steel clips from the top. He made a bunch of bars out of free lead. I ended up buying a $10 duffel bag from wal-mart and putting a good 100 pounds of them in it. You could easily move it around and it didn't make a mess. (might want to double line the bag though with an old towel or something cause some are sharp) But for the cost of a $10 bag it was easy weight.

[MIKEGOUGH1]

Most of your marine supply houses offer 25 lb. lead strips of 5-5 lb. pigs, usually for around 1.25 per pound. I found a couple of places, ABM lead in Texas and Sullivan Metals in Mississippi that sell 65 lb. ingots for .85 per pound, and Sullivan will cast it into 2x4x8 bricks for 1.25 per pound. Loctite makes a product called Color Guard which is a rubber coating used for tool handles and such, available in black, yellow, blue and red. You could dip the lead in it and give it a nice sealed rubber finish.

http://www.abmlead.com/index.htm

http://www.sullivanmetalsinc.com/

Sullivan will Vinyl coat them for you for a fee, I am checking on the cost.

These are in my region of the U.S., I would imagine it is fairly common in other areas.

http://www.loctite.com/int_henkel/loctite_...or%20guard'

I ordered 2 of the 25 lb. strips from a local marine supply, I am going to give them a try, if it does not work out I think I will go with the bricks.

Edited March 10, 2006 by MIKEGOUGH1

[Texasguy]

I did a little checking and learned that a cubic foot of lead would weigh about 700 pounds, a cubic foot of water weighs 62 pounds and a cubic foot of concrete weighs about 150 pounds. I don't know what that means but, wow, 700 pounds per cu ft.

[NorCaliBu]

...a cubic foot of lead would weigh about 700 pounds,...I don't know what that means but, wow, 700 pounds per cu ft.

It means that if you swamp your boat with a couple cubic feet of lead on board... ...forget about neutral bouyancy...your boat is heading straight for the bottom. Be careful adding lead to your boat.

[aneal000]

I did a little checking and learned that a cubic foot of lead would weigh about 700 pounds, a cubic foot of water weighs 62 pounds and a cubic foot of concrete weighs about 150 pounds. I don't know what that means but, wow, 700 pounds per cu ft.

That means you can turn your 700 pound fat seat into a 12x12x12 square of lead, just don't try and move it! And be careful of taking waves over the bow!

[NorCaliBu]

Not sure how you would even get it in the boat but I'm pretty sure that the floor would not do well with 700 pounds sitting on an area 1 foot square. The 2' X 3' (approx) rectangular lift-out that covers the exhaust hose/driveshaft,...in my Sporty weighs just a few pounds...it's got to be some type of closed-cell foam...it would snap if I put 700#'s on it.

[Pistol Pete]

14" cubed of solid gold weighs ~2000 lbs. That's no joke.

I'm thinking of starting to use gold plated engine parts for the weight. At least its a start

Edited March 10, 2006 by Pistol Pete