Cheep Fat Sack Repalcement (don't buy a thing)

tangles · Newbie Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 21 City: Bush

At the end of this season I played around with making a bigger wake with our boat. We drive a Camero ski boat so it doesn't put out a massive wake. In my search for a huge wake i thought of purchasing fat sacks untill i say the price and i thought there had to be a better way so i started looking for ideas.

First i tried filling a big empty esky with water and repacing the pack seat with it. unfortunately it took up way too much room and only gave 100 kg.

Now this is the solution. i live on a farm and so we have an excess of grain bags. these bags hold alot they are the same size as a potato sack and when filled with sand they wiegh a heap but are made of plastic so the sand doesn't leak out. though potato sacks may work just as well if they don't leak sand. any way i took a heap of these and 4 sport bags (the type that have a zip at the to two handles and a shoulder strap) mine were strong canvas ones that we had picked up from army disposals about 1 metre long and .4 metres wide and high.

The next time i was at the river i filled the grainbags full of sand from the beach, and piled them into the sports bags so they wouldn't spill in the boat. then me and my mate positioned the bags around the boat.

result 4 bags that are smaller than a fat sack yet weigh 100-150kg

ttuclint · Addict Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 984 City: Lubbock, TX

rocko wakeboarder · Criminal Joined: 21 Mar 2006 Posts: 91 City: Rockingham

got any pics of the wake before puttin the bags in and puting the bags in???

tangles · Newbie Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 21 City: Bush

sorry i don't and i won't be able to get any for a while i am back at boardingschool and the waterski season is over where i am.
though the boat did create a noticably bigger and firmer wake at the right speeds. i don't know what a perfect wake is but this was alot better and i would recomend it to people who don't have a purposebuilt wake boat.
Sorry i couldn't be of much help mate.

willc · Criminal Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 81

No-no! If your boat starts sinking with sandbags you're going waaay down! With a fat sac, there's bouyancy so you're boat has better chance of surviving.

tangles · Newbie Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 21 City: Bush

what? how would i sink because i have sand bags?

AndyDeeJay · Outlaw Joined: 20 Jul 2004 Posts: 239 City: Belfast

Water sacs have neutral bouyancy in water but sand bags are still heavy in water. Shouldnt be a problem unless you go crazy heavy or crack tour hull on a rock.

AndyDeeJay · Outlaw Joined: 20 Jul 2004 Posts: 239 City: Belfast

Water sacs have neutral bouyancy in water but sand bags are still heavy in water. Shouldnt be a problem unless you go crazy heavy or crack tour hull on a rock.

jeffh555 · Posted: May 17, 2006 10:02 pm Post subject:

i've read this a few times, i dont get it, possibly because i've never been on a sinking boat.

if my boat were sinking, i'd throw the ballast overboard. while i b-line for shore. in that case sand or lead or what have you would be safer than water. because i can pick up a 100lb. bag of sand and throw it in the lake, whereas we'd be fumbling arround trying to find and plug in the fat sac pump.

but as i said, i've never been on a sinking boat.

nauty_tique · Newbie Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 38 City: Winston Salem

Jeff, I think what they were saying is that the fat sacks will "float" since there water, and sand bags will just weight you down. Same thing as an unopened can of beer, soda etc... will float if you throw it in the water. Only thing is the boat would have to be completely full(interior) of water before a sac would float, and I don't know about you but if there's that much water in it i doubt it's going to matter!

jeffh555 · Posted: May 19, 2006 9:43 am Post subject:

i under stand that, if the boat is swamped and its full of water, it doesnt matter if the water is in a sac or not.

but i still dont think sand or lead is a bad idea for ballast, if your boat is sinking and you cant throw sandbags overboard, you have more to worry about than your sinking boat, like your safety.

tangles · Newbie Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 21 City: Bush

I think that I will trust my driving to not bottom out in the river, but i don't think it will make a difference as AndyDeeJay said because the sacks would have to be full submerged for their wieght to equalize because of density of the water or this was what my science teacher told me.
I might wear a life vest in the boat too!

Ian_82 · Addict Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 803 City: Longview, WA

i HATE the metric system.

LFADAM · Posted: Jun 06, 2006 6:37 pm Post subject:

Ian_82, haha well the rest of the world hates our beloved standard system.

Ive never understood the sinking thing either. Whose gonna really have enough ballast to have to worry about swamping? Ive seen boats with 3-5k lbs of ballast and still had enough hull to stay afloat. As someone else said, if you do start taking in water, you can throw sand/lead bars overboard easily, while a fat sack is too big to throw when full and its pulling you down faster until you finally fill the boat with water, by then your already screwed.

hco · Posted: Jun 07, 2006 1:59 pm Post subject:

My friend quintuple bagged garbage bags and stole sand from the local beach. I think he has about 1000 lbs of ballast now.

tmbrown · Outlaw Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Posts: 218 City: East Roseville

but do you leave all the weight in the boat when you pull it out of the water? Seems like that'd put you over the trailer's capacity...

hco · Posted: Jun 08, 2006 12:25 pm Post subject:

I don't know, we don't use his boat very much. I am guessing that him and his brother just put it on the trailer anyways.

pyrocasto · Posted: Jun 08, 2006 9:57 pm Post subject:

1000lbs really isnt much to lift off if you need to pull out. 20 50lb bags and a few guys and you're set. Throw them into the back of the truck and you're off.