Water bladder sandbags

[David Ells]

I do a fair amount of air travel with very short stops around the U.S. and I am tired of dealing with the extra weight caused by packing my filled sandbags. This week I had to dump out one of them into the trash bin in front of the check-in desk in order to get under the 50 lb limit for baggage. Very awkward. I don't want to go through that again.

My plan was to get sandbags that could be filled up with water on location since we often shoot in hotel rooms. I thought it would be easy to find water sandbags online for sale but the only ones I found are no longer sold. I read that they are unsafe on set which is why they can't be found to purchase. I'm willing to accept the risk of breakage in order to get the sandbag advantage without the sand. There just isn't time on these trips for a visit to a hardware store to fill them with sand each time.

So then I tried looking for a water bladder that I could slip into each of the compartments in a sandbag. This product seemed promising: Nalgene Wide-Mouth Cantene - 96 fl. oz. - Free Shipping at REI.com

It would provide about 12 lbs of weight per bag, but it's just a bit too tall to fit into most sandbag compartments.

Anybody have any ideas? My main goals are flat storage of both the sandbags and the bladder when empty (ruling out plastic soda bottles) and using material (e.g. water) that can easily be acquired at a hotel.

[Chris Medico]

See if any of these look more like what will work with you.

There are a number of different bladder type containers that have different shapes based on their intended use.

Amazon.com: Dromedary Bag

Edit: Water on a floor or around electrical fixtures is indeed a safety hazard. Use with care.

[Jeff Pulera]

I have a water-filled pillow at home that I bought at the chiropractor office, called ChiroFlow. Might be ideal for your needs. Has never leaked in years. I just Googled and found them all over the place.

Thanks

[Tom Morrow]

I found some photoflex brand black triangular plastic water bladders that look like they are designed for this purpose at a garage sale. Not sure if they are still made. I don't feel comfortable using them indoors, but bought them to bring camping in case I can't find a rocks to hold down the corners of my tent when stakes won't go in the ground.

If I were you I would rig up a way to hang a 2-liter soda bottle near the bottom of your light stands with rope or something similar.

[David Ells]

Thanks so much guys. I'm sure between all those suggestions I'll have my solution.

[Donald McPherson]

Hot water bottle. Sounds a good idea. Never had a wet bed yet.

[Warren Kawamoto]

I second the old fashioned hot water bottle. It holds half a gallon, it's tough and durable, never had any leaks.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

[Christopher Young]

Second the hot water bottle suggestion. Works well and not had a leak yet. Buy quality brand ones. There are a lot of cheap thin walled ones around.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

[James Kuhn]

I remember a 'Tech Tip' from I believe, Guy Cochran. He suggested using empty drinking water bottles. I keep 'empty' H2O bottles in my standard 'empty' saddle bag style sandbags.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

J.

[Bob Hart]

You could try filling automotive inner tubes with water but with reliability of tubeless tyres, inner tubes are becoming scarcer. Wheelbarrow tubes are a bit light, Forklift tubes might be about right. I do not know if light aircraft tyres have tubes fitted. I used five litre engine oil bottles with handles and filled them filled with iron-ore pellets years ago. With the handles laced together, they may work filled with water. If they were to be a throwaway thing, I would mix up some cement and funnel that in. Once it has set, that pretty much fixes the water leakage problem. Like all other solid objects they will tend to slide off lamp legs. You can slip a heavy forklift tyre down over a light-stand column to weigh down the legs but unless you cast concrete inside it and put a rustband inside the tyre to stop the cement from tearing the column up, a tyre is not really heavy enough. The downside is you then have a heavy object to shift around as it is not convenient to lift the tyre off and on again with each move.

[David Ells]

Thanks guys! The hot water bottle or Dromedary Bag seem like my best option but I'm still up against the hurdle of sandbag compartment size. Most sandbags I've found have a max interior compartment size of 10" x 10" and from what I've seen all these solutions are just a tiny bit too tall for that. The hot water bottle would be perfect except for the filling cap. I did ask on Amazon if it can be folded under while it's full so we'll see. One thing consistently hard to find is the dimensions of all these things.

Soda bottle or water bottles are also a good idea but they take up too much room in my suitcase so that would be a last resort.

[David Ells]

I did a little more poking around B&H and found bigger sandbags:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/838288-REG/Digital_Juice_091217_3PAKSTARTERKT_30_lb_DJ_Sandbag.html
Much better. The hot water bottles will fit in them fine.

I'll let you guys know how well they work once I've gotten them.

[Tom Morrow]

"using a purse full of jars of beans as a sandbag…"

Submitted by wmederski

Shitty Rigs: Photo

[David Ells]

Up until now my sandbags have been green purses filled with sand. I'm all growns up.

[David Ells]

I am happy with the hot water bottles / 30lb sandbag solution! Not the weightiest sandbag (around 8 lbs) but easy to fill the bottles while they're still in the bag and it packs pretty flat too.

Thanks again everyone for the help!