I am converting to a dry weight system this year. My boat is on a lift and I can store the weight on the dock. It will be easier than filling fat sacs. I even have a block & tackle to do the heavy lifting. I need some heavy duty bags to hold sand or even lead; something that won't leak out the sand, and something that can withstand some moisture. The bags will be lifted in and out, they won't stay in the boat all the time. I am looking for some of the expert input this board is known for. What might work and where would you buy it? thanks in advance

<BR>Try modern studio equipment in so california i believe there in sun valley had many bags built by them over the years work great they will fill them with lead or sand they have a nice handle and dont leak

Sea kayak dry bag's work awesome.You can buy that at any outdoor sporting goods stores.

You can pick up 90lbs sand bags(tube sand) at home depot in a heavy duty cover for 6$ a bag!!

I used sandbox sand from Menard's. Comes in heavy duty plastic bags that are 55 pounds, I wrapped each in a hd garbage bag and dialed it in with some duct tape. But found it to be pretty laborious lifting sand bags outta the boat every day...I just started leavin them in...check your capacity on the lift, maybe it can handle it..

Yes? <BR>Oh. I thought someone was looking for me : ) <BR> <BR>Why convert to all dry weight? <BR>If you take on a bunch of water for what ever <BR>reason, your boat doesn't stand a chance. <BR>At least water weight becomes non-existant when <BR>submerged. <BR> <BR>

Thanks for the good ideas. Funkster, what is "tube sand"? Does anyone know where you get heavy duty canvas bags} like they use for real sand bags? You know, like you see on the news when the town is about to flood and they're trying to save Main Street. Those can't be very expensive. <BR> <BR>Sandy, the reason for the dry weight is that I have a smaller boat, a 94 Malibu Skier closed bow. The fat sacs took up too much floor space. With dry weight I can tuck it away under the bow, under the observers seat, and some on the floor. I will not come close to overweighting and taking on water.

Richard, I believe the ones they use to stop flooding ar the same ones we use in the militray, and they are not that strong in reality. I have seen many of them break when trying to lift them (there are no handles), and they are subject to rot rather easily. Maybe if you put it in another bag, you would be alright, but I would probably look for something a little better.

I agree with Sean. I use studio sand bags in the bow of my boat and they work great. They have a handle on them and can take the abuse of moving them a lot.

You can try the bags from letsgoride.com and go buy the sand at home depot for about $1.00 a bag.

I use heavy duty contractor grade trash bags that i got at walmart but you can get them at lowes or home depot. i bought some 60lb bags of sand from lowes and double bagged them in the contractor bags. you can get 20 bags for like $7 i think.

When I was using sand in my old closed bow boat. I used my green duffle bag that I got from the Army. They are strong as you'll ever need and I never had a problem with it. I had two duffle bags with four 60lb bags of sand in each for a total of 480lbs of sand weight. You can go to an army surpluss store and pick up those duffle bags cheap. If you don't have an army surplus store look in an soldier of fortune magazine, you can order them through there.

i use sandbags for ballast, i just wrapped them in heavy duty plastic sheeting and taped them up. But they are really difficult to put up under the bow as they are about 40kg each

Richard,Tube sand is the sand you use to weight down your truck..ect!! Just go to your local hardware and ask for tube sand,trust me. I used it for about 6 months and every bag was fine and it is way easier to dial in your wake by just moving bags around. I switched to sac's only because I trailor most of the time.