Fixing a Deps 250 with Foam

[Csweitzer]

I have a beat up (100+ fish) New style Deps 250 that is filling up with water. I noticed my BB tuned new style 250 is filled with foam, for guys that have done this, do you need to drill multiple holes to allow the foam to escape some as it fills the body? I’d rather not blow the body up trying to fill without an escape for the excess foam! 
Pictures below is the bait in question, even filled up with water she still gets bit! 

[Good Year 71]

Never done this but do know you will need an exit port to accommodate expansion. One extra hole won't hurt, opposite end of entry should do the trick

[Chazzy]

Maybe the simplest thing to do would be sending it Butch

 

[bassfiend72]

The BB Tuned new style one doesn’t show where the foam was inserted?  Remove the skin and show some pics. 

[Csweitzer]

Update: It was a fairly simple but messy operation. Drilled 5 small holes after looking closely at my BB tuned bait and finding the drill points. Water intrusion won’t be an issue anymore, and I’ve got some tungsten putty on the way, I’m going to go for an XXH float or XXS Sink depending on the hardware. 

[bassfiend72]

That’s a game saver for one that is cracked or seam has been split. Are you pouring your own weight? This just opens up so many more questions on tuning. Thank you for showing the process. 

[Csweitzer]

I’m going to use tungsten putty. Going for an XXS sink

[David R]

9 hours ago, Csweitzer said:

Update: It was a fairly simple but messy operation. Drilled 5 small holes after looking closely at my BB tuned bait and finding the drill points. Water intrusion won’t be an issue anymore, and I’ve got some tungsten putty on the way, I’m going to go for an XXH float or XXS Sink depending on the hardware. 

So does your original bb tuned one have foam because it was leaking also? Or is that how he tunes the new style ones by putting foam in them? I know he calls it a hybrid tune.  Maybe that's were the word Hybrid comes from. It makes sense now if that is the case

[Csweitzer]

@David R I would assume this is where the term hybrid tune comes from. I got the bait from him already tuned so I’m not sure if it leaked before or not! 

[chevro1et]

@Csweitzer tungsten putty can be a messy ordeal, you may want to consider using lead wire or shaping some lead split shots or rubber core sinkers with pliers / hammer to fit your desired size and weight. 

[mhartley1994]

@Csweitzer What expanding foam did you use to fill it and what density? I'm about to use this same method on a clone / copy of a DRT Ghost that I want to modify and silence / dampen the hollow sound. So far, I've only epoxied the weights in place inside the chambers to remove all of the weight knock. I used Devcon 2-Ton mixed with microbubbles to hopefully eliminate any buoyancy change. I plan to use a 3lb density two-part urethane foam so that I hopefully don't change the bait's stock functionality, or at least minimally. If I had confidence that I wouldn't ruin a $300 bait in the process, I probably wouldn't have bought a copy and would be attempting this on a real one... Lol 

[ikaika]

The reason foaming a 250 is tricky is because you need the foam to be strong enough to hold the screws at the joint of the bait.  I've done a few with 15lb Foam-It and while it works great and the foam is bulletproof, you have to cut down the weights a ton so it doesn't sink like a rock.  For your application where you're not worried about holding screws, I'd use the lightest stuff you can find so you don't have to muck around with weights as much.  It's important to weigh the bait before you foam it and then you'll have something to compare to when shaving down the weights to dial your sink rate.

Be warned, it's messy and in my experience it's super difficult to keep the foam from getting on the outside of the bait.  No big deal with a 250 since it's hidden by the skin, but you could end up with spots on the outside of your Ghost that need to be sanded to get the foam off.  You can mitigate this by strategically placing your vent holes, but on my first couple baits it was definitely a learning experience.  Good luck.

[JacksonF]

On 2/4/2021 at 11:28 AM, David R said:

So does your original bb tuned one have foam because it was leaking also? Or is that how he tunes the new style ones by putting foam in them? I know he calls it a hybrid tune.  Maybe that's were the word Hybrid comes from. It makes sense now if that is the case

There’s a full video on YouTube with butch explaining how he tunes them. The video was put out by tackle warehouse 

[mhartley1994]

On 1/29/2024 at 11:59 PM, ikaika said:

The reason foaming a 250 is tricky is because you need the foam to be strong enough to hold the screws at the joint of the bait.  I've done a few with 15lb Foam-It and while it works great and the foam is bulletproof, you have to cut down the weights a ton so it doesn't sink like a rock.  For your application where you're not worried about holding screws, I'd use the lightest stuff you can find so you don't have to muck around with weights as much.  It's important to weigh the bait before you foam it and then you'll have something to compare to when shaving down the weights to dial your sink rate.

Be warned, it's messy and in my experience it's super difficult to keep the foam from getting on the outside of the bait.  No big deal with a 250 since it's hidden by the skin, but you could end up with spots on the outside of your Ghost that need to be sanded to get the foam off.  You can mitigate this by strategically placing your vent holes, but on my first couple baits it was definitely a learning experience.  Good luck.

Yesterday evening, I foam filled my Ghost clone with 3lb density Foam-It from Smooth-On. Tonight, I'm going to work on the cleanup. It was a little more messy than I bargained for but that's any frankenbait project I dive into. Lol But with it being the 3lb density foam, I feel like the cleanup wont be too bad. I believe the worst part will be cleaning out the cross hatched scale pattern but I'm hoping a toothpick and razor blade will do the job. After I get this thing clean and if I feel up to the task, I may try to sculpt a new, more trout-like face on this bait, like what @Makilure2018 on instagram does... His lure mods and his original lures are stunning to say the least.