Almost Free LEAD!!!!!

So, since I have more time then money most often... And in another thread you saw how I ripped my boat apart and was planning to add extra ballast tanks. Problem is the amount of space I had didn't allow me to get the weight I needed. So I decided to use lead. Being as cheap as I am I hit up a local tire shop for there used lead wheel weights. $20 later I was the proud owner of five, 5 gallon buckets of lead...



I then needed to figure out how to melt it into bricks? I grabbed an old frying pan out of the motorhome thats seen one to many camp fires and drilled a 1/2" hole in it and mounted as you see in the photo. That way when I melt the lead the steel weights and brackets won't flow into the cooking pans.



My first pour I used a aluminum foil pan just to check everything out and of course the lead killed those pans. So I ended up using 8x8 cooking pans from wal-mart and they cost $4.97, bought two!

In the first pour I used the lead from my tin foil pan so it was already clean metal. The second pour was with dirty metal and look what was in the frying pan when I was done!





The finished bricks weigh 36.2 pounds and are 8x8x2



Here is what the finished brick looks like! They almost look like big heavy tiles. Might have to line the floor with them under the seat too!



The starting weight for the five buckets was 841 pounds. I'll figure out how much clean weight that gives me as soon as i get all the bricks made!

that is way too cool ... i was out looking for used elevator weights ... this sounds way funner and i can get the kids involved too and what a lesson they would learn .... what a cool project

i would think twice about getting kids involved with melting lead. it is very hot. and the fumes from melting lead is very poisionious! make sure if you do it that you wear a resperator.

^^^unless there from China then apparently it's fine.

^^X2 on not getting the kids involved. Although I think Frank was probably joking.

You could get the kids involved. Asking tire shops for lead, and sorting the rubber valve stems out of the lead, just have them wear gloves.

I agree on not having them help with melting the lead! Even though I'm not pouring the lead it is just free flowing into the pans occasionally you'll hit some foreign material with the torch and it'll pop and spray hot lead!

You do need to be carefull and make sure you do this in a well ventilated area. Resperator probably wouldn't be such a bad idea either! lol

As a side note. Its amazing the stuff I've found in the buckets so far. The first bucket netted 150lbs of pure lead, a snap-on side cutter, a steak knife, a snap-on pick, probably 100 rubber valve stems and $0.15. lol Sorting before melting is a very good idea!

20$ for 850# !!!!!! jesus freaking christ...you guys don't have metal recycling facilities ? I know in montreal 850 # of lead is worth $$$$ at the scrap yard!!

im aware of the health risks .... but gathering, sorting and having them watch and learn the melting process is brain food, they understand their allowance now is gas for the boat!

I'm not sure which is more amazing. That you had the motivation to put forth the effort and make something this cool yourself, or you had the time to put forth the effort and make something this cool yourself.

Although very cool and resourceful, with all this lead on the floors, won't it eventually damage your floor after you drive through enough rough water? Do you do anything special to prevent this?

Well lead wheel weights aren't the most desirable lead in the recycling world, in fact batterries with there lead are deemed more valuable. That being said dirty wheel weights unsorted which these are would have a street value of about $0.20 per pound. (sounds like were talking about drugs here) But the tire shop would have to load and deliver it to a local recycling facility. Yes they could have driven these buckets there and made a $170 but they would have to send an employee who would be gone for 2 hours, gas, and lost revenue at the shop. You'll actually find most shops just grab another empty bucket and throw these in the corner or out back. The guy asked me what i'd give for all the lead and i said i'd buy lunch. $20, he was more then happy to see it gone, he just asked I bring the buckets back so he can start filling them up for me again! lol

On a funny side note when I called asking about lead most shops started rambling about how they store it in complaince and there licsense is valid, I guess they thought I was the state calling to check in on them. Think maybe I'll make some magnet door signs for the truck that say "state of confusion offical lead pick up vehicle" Bet I can get all the lead I want for free! lol

Frank, I agree, that would be a great way to involve the kids!

Brett, Usually I'd be on the water right now but being the boats in pieces because of all my crazy projects I'm afforded the time to do it. Thanks for the compliment though. I, guess, it depends on where you place the lead to distrubute the weight. I plan on incorporating about 800#'s directly under the floor. I then want to make 72# bags that I can move around for surfing or fine tuning the wake. My goal is 1500#'s total in lead to compliment the factory ballast. I can always through the fat sacs in the floor if I want the wake to be crazy big too! I just want our normal big wake with out fat sacs taking up all the floor!

i just want to add 500lbs in the port rear locker for permanent .... this takes away at least 1 fat sac in there .... i have 2 - 550's and a 440 in there now .... when we wakebaord we drag out the 440 and empty 1 - 550 to put in the other side and refill .... lead would be cool because eliminating 1 sac to move would be awesome

Don't forget much of the lead from tire shops will also have asbestos from older brake dust. Nothing I would let kids play with.

I have an old pot and use my camp stove, then add a little more heat with a oxy/acetylene torch to melt lead. I breathe off of a scuba reg which is on a 7' hose attached to a HP100 tank. It is good for a few hours of work. Of course the nitrox enhancement helps me to??

Putting handles into the lead might be a good idea for some people. The solid bricks are pretty hard to pick up from a flat surface.

Led bricks are good for weight that you will rarely move. On the other hand, if you are going to want to move the weight for say "wakesurfing", then I prefer the popbag solution. They are easier to move and if it drops on your foot you are less likely to lose a toe.

I have already done the same thing. So far I havent spent any money and have about 300 Lbs. of melted lead in the boat. Just went around to tire shops and asked for what they had at the time, most of them have contracts around here and cant give you the lead but some still will.

As far as melting goes, I dont think its thats dangerous if you are careful. Dont sit there and take in the fumes and as far as splatering up goes it wasent to bad. I really liked the idea with the hole in the frying pan, we used a big pot and melted it all in there, cleaned it out then poured it into ingets that are about 20-25 lbs each. Lead is the way to go for a lot of weight in a little space!

I melted my lead in an old cast iron skillet on a propane tank fired deep fryer thats used to put a pot on to deep fry a turkey. Its much easier than the Oxy/Acetelene torch. You only need 620 degrees for the melting point of lead and then I just dipped it out and poured them in aluminum cans. Yeah I know your probably thinking that wont work the cans will melt but actually it doesnt. The melting point of the aluminum is higher than that of the lead other than a little smoke from the paint on the cans you are good to go. A 12oz beer or coke can weights right at 10lbs each. I took and put 5 cans in a piece of pvc pipe and put a little bit of sand in there with it to keep them from moving around too much and they are all sealed up so no worries about harming anyone with it and each one weights 55lbs. I melted 600lbs of it on less than a 20lb tank of propane so other than a little of time and pvc pipe it was less than 15 bucks if you can get your lead for free. In fact I spent more on the beer than I did anything else. I will put up some pics whenever I get a free minute of the cans before I put them in PVC.

I used a taper's tray for my smelting experiment a few years ago. Had two 5 gallon buckets of lead from the gas station. All the tire shops had "recyclers" picking up the weight. After chatting to one guy it turns out the recyclers are actually fishermen making sinker weights. A full tapers tray weighs about 60lbs. They need to be placed wide side down or they will roll, my toe found out the hard way.

In my current boat I save my toes and just use about 300lbs of pop bags when surfing with a small crew. I like the bags because they are easy to move when you switch from a regular to goofy foot setup.

For the melting I used a Coleman stove, a respirator and stood upwind of the smoke.

(Message edited by mikeski on August 11, 2009)

I had lead made much the same way in my old boat. Set up in 20, 40 and 60lb blocks. You might want to form in a handle or some sort of relief on the sides to make it easier to pick them up (if you are going to move them). I also messed around with coating them. Tried epoxy paint, plastic-dip paint and marine grade carpet. I ended up mostly carpeting them. Just cut the carpet so the seams are on the bottom, use some construction adhesive and the weight of the lead will hold every thing in place as it dries.

I really like having lead, think I had about 800lbs of it. Took up little room and was super easy to move around as needed to dial in the wake. When I was out in rough water I'd even move it all in the back of the boat and get the bow up if needed.

I know that i am hijacking a bit but honestly what 4 or 6 (50 pounders) will change in a boat of 3500 pounds + 1200 pounds of ballast and if you have another 1500 in sacks ? Are they really usefull. I am really not trying bitc% or something i am just informing myself , what leads really bring you guys ? Are they really usefull and if yes for what ?

radikal-
having 20-40 # bricks of lead is quite useful to fine tune the wake ( aka getting rid of the white wash)
I don't know about your boat, but in my super air if I stand 12'' closer to the port side when I'm driving, it'll make a big difference on the shape of the wake, surfing or boarding.
the good thing about lead is: doesn't leak , roll over and take 3 mins to fill, doesn't mind being told where to go (YOU'RE ON MY BOAT IF I ASK YOU TO MOVE, YOU MOVE)

only downside: added towing weight, doesn't chip in for gas.

but it take a lot of room in a boat ? you have to put them in and take them out .... sorry i never work with leads, maybe i should

It takes up very little space compared to water ballast Wake.

"Lead is 11.4 times denser than water. Water weighs 8.34 pounds per gallon, so the weight of one gallon of lead is 95.08 pounds." Wikipedia

Edit: fixing spelling.

(Message edited by dabell on August 11, 2009)

"only downside: added towing weight, doesn't chip in for gas."

Another downside- your boat sinks if fully swamped. Lead does not become neutrally bouyant if you fill your boat with water, so it will more than likely sink if you swamp it. Water is safer ballast.

PS- if you all just took up hydrofoiling, you wouldn't need any ballast!

For those melting the lead I would suggest throwing a home fan in the mix too. I took one of our Vornado's and plugged it in upwind when I was melting the lead. I pointed it at a 45 degree angle into the air in front of the stove I was using to melt the lead. This really helped with the fumes...even with a respirator.

Shyea, whatever Charlie. We can always use a crutch to get more air....... more rocker, longer t-bars, more weight, longer ropes, etc. Granted we don't need it.... and good mechanics & actual skill is the best way to do it. But having a nice big launch ramp is sure fun when it's there!

I ride with the stock 900 lbs of ballast everyday in my Vride. Occasionally I get a chance to ride behind a couple other boats with more ballast, including an 09 Vride with 2000 lbs & an X15 with 2200 lbs. I can get more air behind either of those boats than behind my own. Obviously it takes me some time to get down the timing, ramp, etc., but if the crutch is there, and you can find the balls to hit it, there is a ton of air to be had over it!


(Message edited by bill_airjunky on August 11, 2009)

For normal everyday riding the addition of lead means the fat sacs we used to have filled in the floor and in our way are no longer needed to achieve the same wake. And when we want to go stupid big we can always fill the fat sacs up too!

Yes theoriticaly 10 people on the boat would be the same as having the extra ballast full, but its not always convienant finding that many people that want to go to the lake and ride on a weekday after work. I'd rather chip in extra for gas, have less people, and more time to ride a huge wake!