Wally Sinker

[rq0013]

Im thinking about getting a sinkable course for the public lake I live on. Does anyone have any luck with these? I would love to see some video of one actually working.

[thager]

I've had an accusink for ten years. No problems except a couple stupid ones I did myself. Hit an airline when I over filled once but luckily had a splice on the boat. Pulled the course too tight another time folding a gate pvc in half. Thought I saw a couple accu-sinks for sale on ski-it-again in the slalom course section. Sorry, I have no video or IT expertise to put it out there if I did. Takes about 10 minutes to raise and about the same to sink.

[RichardDoane]

One of our buddies had a sinkable course on his lake (public water), had is the appropriate word.  He sank it for the winter last season ( the lake is about 50' deep) and couldn't get it to come back up this year.  I'm sure some scuba gear would've found it if he'd tried.

[thager]

Scuba came in handy when I changed out the anchor lines this spring. Friend of mine had his course cut in two a few winters ago when a car went through the ice and was drug through the middle cutting it in two. He was able to find and repair. My course is in 20 feet of water. Don't think I'd go much deeper.

[lpskier]

I'll bet those guys in the car were going ice fishing. Those fishermen are always messing with the course! My couse is in about 60 feet, but I don't sink it. I did sink it for the winter one time and needed a diver to find it in the spring, but that really was my own fault for not running a finder rope to shore). Also used a diver to find my friend's Fogmans (the one thing they don't do well is float) and a diamond engagement ring. Now that is a story.

[thager]

Yeah, A lot of guys here are laid off in the winter from their construction or highway jobs etc. They live in their fish houses and collect unemployment all winter while they eat what they catch. Hell on the fish population. Sometimes not good for slalom courses either although I do get to laugh as they drill holes over the bouys they think are fish on their sonar rigs. One guy had the gates, one and two balls all laid out to fish with the holes drilled.

[behindpropellers]

Depth? Lake bottom condition?

 

[chris carter]

i have an accu sink that has been modified to wallys course, works well, use it everyday. there is some maintenance. if you catch it right then all is a 5 to 15 min fix, otherwise, ugh....go to wallys he has thought it out well.

[rq0013]

Depending on where I put it the depth will range from 10 ft to 30ft. Mostly a muck bottom with some hard spots. I dont know if I will leave it in over the winter, I would bring it up 3-4x a week and take it out at the end of the season.

[hogexpress]

We've had a submersible course for almost 10 years.  Started with Accu-sink and now have had the Wally Sinker for 4 or 5 years.  Wally is a vast improvement over Accu-sink. 

Our course is in SC and we use it year round.  Course is in 10-20 feet of water depending on where the lake level is.  Ours bottom is a mud/clay/silt bottom.  Never had to use a scuba rig to fix anything but have discussed it before.  Only problems we have had with ours is that we occasionally have to replace an air bladder.  The bladders develope leaks in the same place over time.  We carry a few extras in our boats for when it happens.

Wally doesn't condone the use of compressed air tanks to raise the course but we use them along with the pump to raise and lower the course.  My 11 gal compressed tank (120psi) will raise the course in about 5-8 mins.  The pump takes 10-14 mins.  Pump used to be faster so probably need to rebuild diaphram.  Obviously the depth will directly affect the raise times.

It's the best solution for a public lake that doesn't allow permanent courses.  We've got a good deal of experience with these courses so let me know if you've got further questions.    

[rq0013]

Ok so how does the wally sinker work? I know you pump air into the bladder to float the system, but then how does it sink? Do you pump the air out or pump water in? I might just buy the kit and use my old ski course.

[hogexpress]

You can pump the air out if you want to.  We have found it sinks just as easily to just open the valve and let the water pressure compress the bladder. 

The only time we 'pump' is if we have some water in the lines and want to purge the water out of the lines.  

The pump is a reversible diaphram pump so you can pump or blow.

I believe Wally does sell a conversion kit to adapt to an existing course.