Fish 30acre Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 i am working on a new lure... its a big crankbait body with a chatterbait style lip. the body is made of alumilite from a mold i made. it swims great with a lot of action. but my problem is that the thing is too heavy... i want it to still sink, but be lighter. how would i go about doing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 You need to get your hands on some microspheres or micro balloons. This is a silicon powder (wear mask) that you mix into the resin. It will reduce the specific gravity from 1.2 down to 0.7 (depending on the mix ratio). Do a couple of searches here on TU for more specific information, it has been discussed fairly regularly, so their should be lots of good reading material. Next time you need to look in to featherlite resin. It is basically the same thing, but has the micro balloons already mixed in. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish 30acre Posted March 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 i have the microballoons, just thought that that would make it float... and i dont want that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Just reduce the amount of microspheres that you add. Are you adding lead ballast? If it floats, just add more lead ballast until you get the sink that you want. If you ballast it so that the back just sticks out of the water a tiny bit, the top coat will do the rest and make it a slow sinker. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish 30acre Posted March 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 thanks for the advise. i wasnt planning on using a lead ballast but looks like i might have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonkabass Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 (edited) Just to give you an idea of the microballoon ratio to sink rate: we make a shad swimbait with 2 part smooth-on plastic at about 1:1:1 parts of plastic and microballoons, and a 7 gram weight with one treble and light weight metal tail blade. The swimbait sinks at a rate of about 1 foot per second. But this is with our tail blade at the end of the lure which acts as a water resistor so it may be a little different ratio of parts when applied to another lure type. Without the blade our lure would sink faster. you just have to test to find the right sink rate. TG Peterson Maxota.com Edited March 30, 2009 by Tonkabass mispelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
