Will this fat sac idea work?

[Gordo]

Maybe they are lead shot (ie lead bb's), not steel????

AHHHH.......400 posts...finally!!!!

Edited December 4, 2006 by Gordo

[Ronnie]

From the Pop Bag website:

APPLICATIONS

Whether you are looking to clean up your wake by evening out your boat's weight distribution or if you are looking for a quick and easy way to completely weight down your boat without the wait of filling up and emptying water bladders... then POP Products Weight Bags are your answer!

WHY POP PRODUCTS?

POP Products Weight Bags are a PORTABLE SOLUTION. When each bag lays flat on the floor of your boat it is approximately 2" tall. This will allow you to stack a few bags without compromising valuable storage space. Each bag is made of durable vinyl and offers a convenient carry handle. And because each bag only weighs 40 LBS- they are easy to move around your boat as your crew load changes. Try moving around a big water bladder or lead plates while you are driving... NOT EASY. By evening out your weight distribution you can be sure that your wake is CLEAN AND CONSISTENT- EVERY TIME YOU RIDE!!!

WHAT ARE THEY?

POP Products Weight Bags are simply tiny steel shot pellets housed in a plastic inner liner. Because the pellets are so small, you can actually mold the weight bags to fit in ANY space in your boat. Have a small storage space in the nose of your boat? No problem.

[chathamsolutions]

cool.

Thanks guys.

[stusumm]

I have had the pop bags for about a year and love them. The are very durable and easy to move around to dial in the wake. Ronnie is correct they are made of steel shot sealed in a thick plastic bag that is inside a heavy canvas bag with handles.

[chathamsolutions]

http://www.pop-products.com/products/

With all the industry around here, wonder if I can find something like this as an after product...

[WakeGirl]

Contact them & see if they've got a local retailer/distributor.

[SacRiverRat]

Andy, you will soon apreciate all the space you gain by pulling the hard tanks out. Not only do you have more room for your sack, you'll now be able to cary so many more things back there (when not using the ballast) you'll wonder why you didn't take the advice earlier

Seriously - with the hard tanks out, we now cary all sorts of camping gear back there, wakeboards, cases of beer/soda etc... when trailering to the lake.

Nice work on all the analysis - just curious, did you happen to check to see if the hard tanks are really 200#?

[chathamsolutions]

I posted a 'Wanted' add on Craigslist and already got a response from someone. Will see if it turns into an actual supplier.

Making those popbags would be easy. Just need a source for the metal.

Thanks Troy for giving me extra projects. Now I'll have to test the hard tank, just becuase you've got me curious... And becuase I've had the MC guys bugging me about how there's 'No way a boat could actually have that much water ballast on board...'

[chathamsolutions]

An issue I'm having though is with the plumbing fitting on my Straight Line 440lb sacs.

I took the sac to OSH this morning and besides the guy looking at my funny when I said 'fat sac' and tried to describe the application - come on guy, you don't HAVE to understand the appliction to tell me if you have fittings that would work.

Anyway, when I asked him if he had any fittings that would go from the SL tanks to the Fly-High fitting he said there wasn't anything out there that he knew of.

The SL tank is a custom thread, it appears. It wasn't a lawn hose thread either. It's 1" but not any specific thread we could decifer.

Any help?

[WakeGirl]

If you want to make the pop bags yourself, just go down to BiMart & buy a bunch of shot. They've got about the best price on it IMO & usually keep a lot of it in stock.

OSH? What's that?

[chathamsolutions]

What's BiMart?

OSH is Orchard Supply Hardware. Local competition to ACE hardware, Lowe's, etc. It's a specialty hardware place that's as big as the big boys, but just hardware.

[WakeGirl]

Funny how regional some of these places can be. Bi Mart is a discount store that requires a membership (I think anyone can buy one). It's a bit like Rite Aid, but they've got an entire hunting/outdoor section that has a surprisingly good selection. Shot is one of those things that is a great thing to buy there. If you don't have Bi Mart where you live, then just look for a discount outdoor store (Sportsman's Wharehouse might be a good one).

I'll respond on the SL subject in your other thread.

[chathamsolutions]

Hmmm...

I just called Sportsman's Supply in town. They have 25lb bags for $35. That's $560 for 400lbs - just for the shot.

www.pop-products.com has 400lbs for $375 delivered. That's with the bags and handles.

I don't want 400lbs. But still, would like to NOT pay more then $1 a pound.

HOLY COW! I just got this email from Craiglist.com (man that site is awesome). I posted an add asking if anyone had access to metal fillings, bee bees, etc.

----

"We were importing tablecloth weights from Germany. We discontinued importing them because we were afraid that a child or dog would accidentally swallow them and choke. They are a small ball of heavy iron or other metal that is covered in plastic so they look like little lemons and apples etc. They are a little over a half inch in diameter. We put all the little weights in a 5 gallon bucket and stored them thinking that some day there would be a good use for them.

Basically, just picture a marble-sized ball about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter covered in plastic."

--------

That could be the bomb. Covered in plastic would mean no mess, no rust! I emailed and asked what they wanted for them. Don't know if they have any more than one 5 gall bucket. That could work though. I just know I'll have friends that will want some

[Ronnie]

I wouldn't think it would be too hard to find an metal fabricating place that had an item they made that had holes punched in them. If you found one you could ask them if you could buy the punchouts. If they were punching out 3/8 or 1/2" holes, the resulting punchout would fit very well and compact in a small bag.

I'm not sure if I would rather have a rusting steel punchout or a bag of toxic lead in the boat though. Either way it would have to be in a durable bag that would not leak.

[chathamsolutions]

Here's my Craigslist.com source. 48 pounds of these guys.

Each one weighs 1.25 ounces. Remove the little 'leaves' (a job for my kids) and I'll have plastic covered ballast. Sweet. Just need a bag and I'll be set.

[SacRiverRat]

without the little leaves.. they'll look like little..ah.. lets just call them nuts

[stusumm]

[chathamsolutions]

Installed the starboard side bag the other day.

Here's some pics and thoughts on the instal:

Watch Your Head

I bonked my head on the frame of the boat, the frame that holds the sun deck / locker doors / back of seating up. If you stick your head down, to look / work on the pumps and then come up - the beam is right there to catch you every time. I probably hit my head 5 times.

Receipts

Better keep your reciepts. If you're like me, you'll need to take back a bunch of fittings you thought you'd need.

Shop Vac

When you pull the tank out there's dirt/grime underneath where it used to lay. There's also water in it that will leak out.

Take off the locker door

You have to pull off the locker door spring shock. I pulled the carpeted piece in the front of the locker, and that's what it's attached to. So the locker door on the hinge wanted to close. I used a cushion to prop it open, but when I was all finished I determined that I'll remove the 10 screws on the hinge and just pull the door off completely. Way too much effort to keep it open, bonks in the head etc. to keep the locker door on the hinge. Didn't save me any extra time by keeping the locker door attached, like I thought it would.

Fitting from pump to sac

Becuase I was going to leave the hard tanks in I never thought I'd need a fitting from the pump to the sac. Well now I do. I'm hoping the fittings that came with the sac will work.

Hard Tank - removed

You can see that the hard tanks take up AT LEAST half the space

Black is the original FILL line. I just pulled it out of the zip ties so it would be easier to handle. The other two are the drain and vent lines. The drain line doesn't need to be that long, so I can always shorten it. The vent line needs to be though.

Black was already there, I just moved it to the forward position for ease of access to the other lines. Drain and vent line.

Frame that I kept bumping my head into. What the area looks like once you remove the carpeted mask.

Finished product:

[skicrave]

Nice work!

The pump will screw directly into the bottom port on the bag, just use some 3200 to seal it off and you're good to go. It's not quick release, but there isn't a fitting that will do that very well with aerator pumps.

[chathamsolutions]

The problem with it screwing in to the sac is the wiring. It's already zip tied up under the boat. If I spin the pump around and around it'll mess with the wiring and eventually I'll have a failure.

Will have to play with it.

[WakeGirl]

Andy,

The bags should have come with one of these on each bag:

http://www.buywake.com/catalog/detail/FL_oLdWL

This is the fitting that you can screw onto the pumps to connect to that fitting above:

http://www.buywake.com/catalog/detail/FL_N9421

I've been using these on my bags with no leaks or problems, & they make it super easy to both install as well as remove the bags when the lockers are really wet.

[WaveMake'nLSV]

Nice install Andy! Looking sweet!

Do you have any pics with the bag full? Since I have the same boat and similar needs, do you have to trim the front ABS piece that the lid arm fastens to in order to allow for passage of the bag under? That is a 750# right? 20x20x50? Mine is only 43" or so if memory serves correctly.

Looking nice!!! And thanks for the detailed write up!

Scott

[chathamsolutions]

Scott -

Ya, you gotta remove the ABS piece. Instead of trimming it, I just removed it completely. There's really not much behind it, and you'd have to be at the back of the boat looking forward to see anything anyway.

Just have to bolt the lid arms into the frame of the boat.

Yes, standard Fly High 750lb.

[chathamsolutions]

Andy,

The bags should have come with one of these on each bag:

http://www.buywake.com/catalog/detail/FL_oLdWL

This is the fitting that you can screw onto the pumps to connect to that fitting above:

http://www.buywake.com/catalog/detail/FL_N9421

I've been using these on my bags with no leaks or problems, & they make it super easy to both install as well as remove the bags when the lockers are really wet.

Ya, they did come with those.

Realized that after I wrote it above and haven't put the pieces together. This should work nicely.

[skicrave]

I've had the standard quick connector come apart before when it's used in that application. All it takes is a quarter of a turn when you over some wakes and the connector will come loose.

If the wiring is all you're worried about just grab some Molex two pin connectors to make a quick release for the wiring (that's what we do).