Slush Tanks - Forums Archive

Pacific R

2008-04-15 04:31:56

Anyone have any advice for when it comes to building new slush tanks? I am using 3" urethane foam and fiberglass. My hold is from 40" to 53" deep and I'm planning on having the tanks about 36"L x 36"W . I will use brailer bags but was concerned that my dimensions may be too large and the bags too heavy. I wanted to make them at least 36" long so I could lay kings in there facing fore and aft rather than abeam and 36" wide just works out so I could have 4 tanks across the beam. I know the Bristol Bay canneries want the bags 30"x30"x40"max to hold 1000lbs each.

kalitan97828

2008-04-15 14:41:51

My three bags are 27x40x50 deep but the 50 is misleading as you loose a about 4 inches hanging from the brailers hooks. I think a full bag of chums weighs about 800# which is a little much for premium quality ( good thing I never catch that much )but you have to work with the hold you have not the one you would like to have..... It is important to have two sets of bags so you can clean them thououghly between uses. Aim at trips no longer than delivering on the fifth day. Nomar out of Homer makes fine bags at any size you want.

Carl

Salty

2008-04-15 16:49:39

36"X36" by 48" deep, which is what you are thinking based on your post could work but would be a bit big and heavy which creates several problems if you load them to the top, which is always tempting when you are in a bite. I put all sizes of Chinook into the 30" by 30" by 50" standard NoMar bags. They arrange themselves diagonally or vertically if need be. I put lots of really big chinook in as I serve as the wiegh station for the Derby. The important thing is to put all their noses in the same way. If you are still planning your space I would think about making them for the standard NoMar bags which Carl described. That is a good maximum amount of weight or as Carl says a little too much, you can put a whole bag into a tote, they are cheaper, and you can find used ones at various garage sales and fishermen swap meets etc. Fill up the extra space with good insulation. You will be glad you did on a hot day in August.

Salty

2008-04-15 17:12:15

Correction: I think my bags are 30 by 30 by 40". But, I was just thinking a bit more about this. I think it might be a good idea to have custom made brailer bags 36" by 36" by 44" or so to give you the option of icing into them. Then you could hoist the Kings and ice all at the same time. If your holds are isolated from each other you might ice the first two or three days of the trip and then slush the last two. Just resist the temptation to overload the bags. I have one hold that is a little deeper and I have three custom made bags for it. We mark them with red plastic tie straps to easily locate which they are. We still get them in the wrong places. I recommend going with all the same size bags if you can.

It is hard to resist loading all your bags full when you are in the bite. I am guilty of doing it repeatedly on all species. Sometimes you don't want to have to slush extra tanks for just the last days fish so you top off the ones already slushed. Sometimes the weather is lousy and you don't want to slush the extra tanks and weight the boat down more. Sometimes slushing the extra tanks involves moving ice, etc. Sometimes you just want to keep on the bite until it is dark or they stop. A few times I did not adequately ice up and did not have enough ice to slush extra tanks. And sometimes, rarely in my case because I just can't seem to get on em, you just want to see how many you can stuff into your boat.

So, by putting in bigger bags you are likely to fill them up with resulting loss of quality.

Pacific R

2008-04-16 04:11:35

Thanks for the all the ideas and advice! I do like the idea of dry-icing fish in the brailer bags for the first day or two of a long trip. I will still end up with two of the original ice bins intact even after putting in tanks but it just sounds so good to not have to pitch off any fish at the end of a trip, just hoist out the iced ones too!!! I also thought about building my tanks 30Lx36Wx48H but the 36" dimension would be across the beam in I'm worried about scaling slushed fish, esp. kings that lay abeam even if they are all pointed in the same direction. Do you think this would be a problem?

Jeff

Salty

2008-04-16 05:33:48

Scaling should not be a problem in that size bag provided you put the fish all in pointing the same way and they are below the slush. The slush will scale early coho in tough weather and can scale some of the body of some of the kings. But, if the fish are below the slush they should be fine. But, I don't know for sure as my bags are 30 by 30. One of my tanks is 26 by 60 or so but the opening is 24 by 50 or so. I put two 30 by 30 bags in it and it works great with a little jostling to pull out. My main hold is 60 by 60 in the slaughter house which works perfect for hanging four bags. No problem with the fish scaling. So, perhaps with a bigger tank you don't need the bigger bag.

lassie

2013-01-09 03:16:15

I know this is an old thread, but figured it may be better than starting a new one on the same subject. I'm changing some bins from layered ice to slush on a 34' Westport hull. The boat owner doesn't want to use brailer bags, but just be able to tank his bins individually. The existing bins are 36" fore and aft x 48" athwartships x 2 to 3 feet tall. I say 2 to 3, because the new glassed bulkhead replacing the previous binboards, will only be 2 feet tall, with the ability to add boards on top of it. Not a lot of people out of Charleston slush ice, (except out of totes and such) and I never have before, so I've a question about free surface effect. The depth of the bins are only 48" across the top of the bin, and they're not square but curved down to perhaps a foot at the bottom, following the shape of the hull. They hold's already been insulated and glassed, so that's taken care of. Is there much potential for the fish to either turn with sloshing, so that they'd scale one another, or that they'll just move too much and scale themselves anyways? Is the slush thick enough/dimensions small enough to prevent it for the most part? Will I have to make allowances for a fore and aft divider in the bins to prevent movement? Our size limit last year was a 28" King. I've been reading/searching for a couple weeks, and so far haven't found a good answer to this yet. I'd love to set up a boat like the Sea King.... but not this one. Thanks for any input.

Salty

2013-01-09 04:49:57

Send pictures or a diagram. I can't visualize it well enough to make a recommendation. Why slush if you are not going to use brailer bags? Just layer ice if you got to pick em out individually anyway.

lone eagle

2013-01-09 19:40:56

Our kings come out of the water at 50-60 degrees f. and slush brings them down faster. My buyer was real keen to see me turn to slushing. So now I slush first and then throw them into the ice bin. Lassie, check out Dons' slush tank on the Dela C before he takes off; I think the trick is to add saltwater gradually so the fish don't move so much