Anyone made do it urself sand bags? I was thinking of getting a few 55 gal drums fill them with sand from the beach, then fill up a few trash bags and use then as sand bags

Anyone made do it urself sand bags? I was thinking of getting a few 55 gal drums fill them with sand from the beach, then fill up a few trash bags and use then as sand bags

better check laws before you just take sand from the beach
no one on this forum does anything illegal

At work, we got these new 'sand bags' to secure some low lying areas.

 They are pretty cool, they store flat as a regular burlap sack until you need them in an emergency.   Then you break 'em out and soak them in fresh water for 5-10 minutes, they swell up and trap the water inside creating an instant "sand bag" .. way easier, faster, and less labor intensive than the traditional sand bag.  I wanted to see how well they work out, but looks like not as much rain on Oahu as anticipated.

They do run kind of pricey though...  however the speed of deployment and ease of storage may outweigh the initial cost point. 

Ever tried to move 55 gallons of sand?

.

 

better check laws before you just take sand from the beach
no one on this forum does anything illegal

Thats why I ask, I used to take sand from the beach, 1 gal for my fish tank, but nothing like 55gal drum amount

Filled up a couple of gallon ziplock bags one night at Waikiki beach and was stopped by a police officer. When he asked what it was for I explained that the sand bags at kokohead range were somewhat had it and the decent ones were always taken, so I was gonna make my own. We ended up talking about shooting for a bit then he let me go, but did explain that taking sand from the beach is illegal. Didn't argue with him, said thanks for the heads up...

  u took it where they needed the sand in waikiki, I was thinking of going to sand island

  well lesson learn, not taking sand from anywhere   

Last I heard you can take 10lbs a day...that's around 1.5 quarts of Ziploc

1 gal for personal use per day

The best sandbag I've seen are not sandbags.
For flooding conditions Hydrabarrier is really quick and effective. It's made of plastic material flexible and durable. In essence it's like a capped water hose, just bigger. Definitely worth the money in flood zones.

I pick up the poly bags at Home Depot to have on hand. 

that 42 days and nights of rain storm long time ago I filled garbage bags with the mud run off.   worked real good using nature against itself and recycled the dirt later for planting. 

now have the white sandbags from box store.  heck, I still have them out back filled and in place from last year.  weeds growing out from some of them.  the garbage bags worked better in that respect but were slippier when stacking.