Bouyancy after paint and top coat

[Macsmallie]

Is there some material that you can inject into a crankbait body to make it more bouyant than just an open air space?

Something like Plumbers caulk or similar? Mostly on suspending

jerks afer paint and D2t top coat, they seem to sink and not suspend, im thinking i can drill a hole and inject something to add

additional bouyancy to offset the extra weight... also i heat the

devcon to thin it out as mush as possile, but still have issues..

[justwannafish]

I don't know if there is anything more buoyant than air that you would want to put in your baits. Helium is readily available and it is more buoyant than air but it's not practical to fill your cranks with helium.

There are others here who will be able to boil every available material down to a specific gravity but I don't think you'll get anything lighter than air into a bait. Is there a reason you can't just leave the cavity empty? Is that not enough buoyancy?

Dave

[Macsmallie]

I kinda figured that an empty chamber would be the best, I need to get more detailed, What im doing is reworking a hard swimbait to be about 1" shorter, like 3" long instead of 4", This makes that swimbait a lot more interesting to our little Ohio bass. When im done with mods, paint and top coat it makes the floater model into a slow sink (not a problem) but i can think of times when the floater would be the best.. actually i would like them all to float and add weight when needed. I had one that i drilled 4 - 1/8" holes evenly spaced from the hook hanger to the line tie and installed 4 wood dowls, this seemed to help, but i think its because the keel weight is located in this area so it lighten it up some and also ballance the lure out.

used smaller split rings and smaller lighter hook.

[clamboni]

No matter what you put into the lure it's going to be heavier than air, so you replacing the air with something heavier, so you're making the bait heavier.

Kind of like with boats. A lot of people seem to think adding foam will increase the flotation of the boat, while you're really just adding weight. The foam does add flotation, but only once the boat is full of water.

[BobP]

Unless you inject them with helium or hydrogen, anything you add just makes them heavier:). On a bass-size bait, the paint and a coat of D2T adds about .03 oz to the weight. Not much but considerable on a small jerkbait, especially a suspending model. You might try sanding the old finish off before repainting, then using a thinner clearcoat like Dick Nite, or a thinned D2T. You could also drill a hole and remove some of the lead shot ballast, maybe replace it with glass or plastic beads to reduce weight.

[clemmy]

Ideally, if you could sacrifice one bait, or if one brakes, open it up and figure out exactly how and where it's weighted. The original ballast is meant to offset a certain volume bait, which you've now cut down, say roughly a quarter. so If there is a lead shot, perhaps you could drill it out and replace it with a smaller split shot or brass bead. This would also increase the action of your shortened bait, and/or increasing back hook size if neccessary.

[Vodkaman]

Yes, what Clemmy said.

You have already re-arranged the tail, so a few more exploratory holes wouldn't hurt, to find the ideal solution.

Dave

[seafoam]

Increasing line size "Mono"can dramatically effect sink rate.

[Macsmallie]

One bait I held up to a desk lamp and I can see the keel or counterweight in the nose section, I drilled 4 holes thru it and plugged with the wood dowl. Man that was the ticket It really

made the differance.. thanks

[Vodkaman]

Thanks for the feedback, it too makes a difference.

Using the lamp was a very good idea, good tip.

Dave