Taurius

Hello,
We are building a new track, and have some water hoses, the ones, used by fire fighters. The only concern is how do you fill them ? With what ? The track will be like 300metres, so we'll need arround 500metres of thase hoses filled. We already tried macroflex, but it doesn't inflate the hose. Olso we tried sand, but i takes something like 3 hourse to fill a 20 meter hose.
Maybe there is an easier way ?
Thank you

dirtracer1

personaly, i've never heard of anyone filling a fire hose with anything before. from what i've seen, people just lay out the fire hose to define the lanes of the track without filling it with anything. also, i've never seen fire hose used for a dirt track either.....just on-road tracks. the reason people might use the fire hose on an on-road track is that it is easy to lay out a track and to pick it back up after the race and also easy to store it away.
most (if not all) dirt tracks i've seen use either pvc pipe or flexable drain pipe.....or a combo of both.

Taurius

Thanks for the input,
The easiest way would be just to lay them, but if they were filled with something, buggies wouldn't over pass it so freely ant they don't have any hard edges to damage the cars.
The track will be used for 1:8 nitro buggies.
I also saw those pipes, but some are too tough and the other ones just brake.
Moreover, we can get fire hoses for free, ant it reduces the costs...

jamescam

iTrader: (10)

I haven't tried this but try clamping off an end and using an air compressor to fill the hose with air. Once it is filled clamp the other end. Worth a shot.

Sean R

iTrader: (36)

Temporarily attach the hose to a ladder or something with duct tape and just fill it up with a garden hose.

Myt3rocks

honestly i don't think duct tape will hold a fire hose full of water to a ladder. fire hoses with out water are heavy enough. i would say air would be the best thing to fill it with so you can accually move them arround without 6 or 7 guys. just get a air compressor and put a cap on both ends then drill a hole in one cap and put a valve on there. hook it up to a compresser and let the air do the work for you.

or if you wanted water you could always call your local fire department and use their pumper truck to fill it up.

micrors4guy

iTrader: (50)

the only problem with useing air is you wont be able to stake the hose down and it will move easy. at least with water when you fill it i dont think a 8th scale will move the hose filled with water.

Rod M

iTrader: (4)

bean bag beads,

light, cheap and soft

Sean R

iTrader: (36)

I was actually thinking about that.

HotrodHopkins

iTrader: (31)

maybe if you just get ahold of a large plastic tank, you can keep water in there, and just fill the fire hoses as needed with the same water.

party_wagon

iTrader: (29)

Duck tape the fire hose to the side of the drivers stand. Get a huge funnel. Make it out of a 1 liter coke bottle & a big bucket or something. Now get yourself a dump truck of sand. Now just set up a relay to the top of the stand. This should result in much faster fill up. On the end of the hose have someone take a heavey duty shop vack and flip it on everyso oftetn when ever the sand starts to get too high next to the drivers stand. I would figure a gallon of sand should cover about two feet, so about 30 buckets of sand per hose shouldn't take too long. When you get the sand spread it out so that its only about a foot deep, not a huge mound. This will help to let the sand be dryer. If the sand on the bottom is wet then wait a couple days 4 it to dry out and finish up another day. Dry sand should easily fill the hoses. Pee Wee gravel would also be another good choice for filling the hose. It's small, but it weighs less and won't clump togather when the stuff is wet. The stuff is used for kids play grounds because it provides a soft fall so I'm sure it would be a reasonable impact absorber. The biggest thing that breaks r/c cars on the way is when theres something that sticks out. Most people don't have head on colisions w/ a wall. Normaly they scrape a wall and snap on a coupler between pipes so make sure the connections between hoses are out of the way or covered up in some way.

briansid

Has anyone ever tried movong or shaping a filled fire hose? Doesn't matter if it's air, water, or sand. It's going to be difficult at best as they all add weight to an already heavy peice of material. I think that would be one reason why people would leave the hose empty and just lay it out. It's heavy enough on it's own that it won't move a whole lot if hit.

If you've already got the hose, just lay it down and make your track. You can put metal spikes through the hose at strategic places to keep it anchored at the turns. It's also much easier to change up the track if the hose is not filled.

Just a different way of looking at the problem.

Sean R

iTrader: (36)

If the hose isn't filled with anything, it's flat... You can drive right over it... Not good for a barrier...

briansid

True it won't be the height of a PVC pipe when it's not filled. The hoses I have dealt with have had some significant wieght to them even when empty. They might have been older hoses than what you have. If you need to fill it, try using a garden hose and cap one end. Fill it about half way and cap the other end. Do it in the 20 mtr sections you have. Place the sections where you want them. If it's full, it just gets heavy and difficult to move around and shape to the way you might want it. At least half full with water and air it will be of some barrier and still will be able to be moved around.

Even at half full it might provide some kind of deterrent.

DUB_Ben

iTrader: (3)

I would just use PVC pipe, then sell the fire hoses.