Crate Sinkin Advice

Kman · #1 (**permalink**) 02-15-2008, 12:33 PM

I own a company that is one of the largest dealers for a certain Mud Motor (dont wanna spam the name, not the point) in the country. I get about 10 of these crates that wind up empty a week in certain times of the year. They are free, i actually have to burn them.

I decided to save them and sink them as crappie structure. They are roughly 2ft wide, 6 ft long and 5 ft tall. Three of them in one spot would be a great crappie hole!

SO, I gathered 3 of them, put them in the boat and had 2 quickcrete bags (80lbs each) for each one,
Went the water, slid one (empty ) overboard and it only drafted about 2 inches of water. Being a boat builder I started taking notes!!

Just kidding.
But when I thru in the first 2 sacks of crete, (all I planned to use) this crate just laughed at me. It took FOUR! FOUR bags, 320lbs to make this thingsink slower than the titanic! It sank so slow I have no idea how far it drifted before it settled. i returned to the bank without sinking another one till i figured out a cheaper way.
Any ideas?
Let me beat you to the punch, No I do not want to leave the motor in it! LOL!

thehines · #2 (**permalink**) 02-15-2008, 12:41 PM

One I am a big duck hunter so those short tails are great motors.

What does the bottom of that crate look like? (Solid or strips of wood)

I would think that you need to break up the bottom.

Maybe some concrete blocks??? on the sides.

That is good to know...I also built wooden boats... I guess that could be my back up plan...

Kman · #3 (**permalink**) 02-15-2008, 01:28 PM

thas just it thehines, the bottom is slat boards like a pallet. I bet there are 6" between the boards. It's not solid. I dont know if the wood they use is just that bouyant or what, apparently so!

krappiekrazy · #4 (**permalink**) 02-15-2008, 03:21 PM

We have used three 4 x 4 pallets before. Wired them together to form a triangle. It took 6 concrete blocks to sink them. They have been in the water about 5 years now and still hold fish. You might try to water log the pallets first, if you have a place to soak them. I left some in the creek over night before. That helped.

Darryl Morris · #5 (**permalink**) 02-15-2008, 04:25 PM

Cheaper -- old 5-gallon buckets that still have their lids filled with sand, rock or scrap iron and tied to all four corners and maybe one in the middle.

Kman · #6 (**permalink**) 02-15-2008, 10:59 PM

rocks and scrap I have! Will do.
Never thought about waterlogging. Have a little catch basin I can do that too.
Thanks

EarlG · #7 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 08:59 PM

Dry wood is hard to sink. Use green wood, much easier, you don't need so much weight that you might hurt yourself.

kc outdoorsman · #8 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 09:31 PM

K man as said earlier its easier to sink wet/green wood. You probably have a test tank around your shop for testing motors? Put the wood in there for a few days or longer.

BANDIT · #9 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008, 12:34 PM

Kman, We both know that you are wasting your time. There are not any crappie or ducks in Louisiana.

pstone · #10 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008, 01:14 PM

One of the easiest/cheapest ways would be to use rip rap rocks that you can find around the lake....Not sure what lake officials would say about you getting them, but you wouldn't have to haul heavy material to the lake this way.