How long does it take for sack crete to set for underwater use?

I made 5' PVC poles/ 3gal sack crete bucket sets. Wait for two wks to set up. Deployed w/ GPS coord. Can't find sets two weeks later in 10 fow, w/ either sonar or jig pole. Suspect concrete failure and structure downfall.

I think 24 hrs at 50 or above degrees would be good. PVC is next to imposible to see on a sonar. Jigs don't get hung on it, when it warms up, put on a mask and some fins and look for it.

24 hrs but I drill holes in the bottom of my 5 gal buckets to let out the water... drys quicker......
My 2 cents........

Good idea about drilling holes in the bottom of the buckets...will give that a try! I've put PVC in with way too much concrete! I know that they are still there but I can't see them on the unit and can't catch fish or feel them. Going to enhance these spots with some wood cover to see if it helps.

I recommend sanding the pvc before you drop it in the lake. This does two things.
1. Algae will grab and grow on it much quicker, drawing the fish to it quicker.
2. Helps make it possible to see on sonar.

Gave up on the PVC. Movin on to free bamboo now.

always put at least one or two pieces of conduit with each pvc tree and then u can find them

The bamboo I have been cutting is about 30ft long. i cut off the 10ft of base stalk that keeps me from sliding it all the way onto my 20ft trailer. Then I cut that 10ft piece of stalk into two 5ft or so pieces. These are about the diameter of 2" or maybe a bit bigger pvc pipe. After sinking the brushy part with cinder blocks, I still have those heavy 5ft pieces laying around.

Then I get the 18qt dishpans from the dollar store and fill them about 2/3 with concrete and stick the heavy bamboo stalks in the concrete. This makes perfect shallow water cover (7-10ft of water) and the "extra" stalks are there anyway at my house.

One thing I noticed when I wanted to pour them one night and set them out quickly was they do need a few days to cure. I picked up on the whole apparatus by a boo stalk one time and pulled it free. Since then, before I start mixiing the crete, I lay all my can out and screw in a 2" wood screw to side of the cane where just enough to get started and not going to back out. Then, I stick that end of the cane in the concrete and the screw sticking out of the side of the cane goes under the concrete and it helps anchor the stalk from being pulled free. Easy, cheap, and it works. I can grab that stalk the next day and lift the whole thing up and handle it without pullng free.

I've seen a suggestion that you can wad up some aluminum foil and stick it down in the pvc or slide some rebar down it to make it visible on a depth finder.

You know, I got a bunch of plastic pipe that fiber optic cable is encased in, took out the fiber optic core, cut them into 5-6' pieces and proceeded as normal. I made up the buckets with 3-4 inches dirt, PVC, hand-sized rock and a topper of quikcrete. Make sure the bucket handle stays in the middle of the PVC when placing it in the bucket. It makes it easier to deploy from the boat--especially if you're doin' it alone.

I throw out a marker once I find the place I want to use, then toss three buckets around the marker making a triangle of sorts. I GPS the marker, pull the marker and creep back over the spot looking at the finder. Son! Now I do NOT have any trouble seeing those buckets on the bottom at ALL.

I have a Lowrance LMS 520 and it just gives the greatest signature. Maybe you can see them better if you increase the sensitivity. But I don't need to do that with my unit.

When I run out of this plastic pipe, I'm switching to boo though. I think it does a very good job and it is biodegradable.

I'll bet your buckets are still there intact. Concrete will set up surprisingly fast underwater. That's how we did many of our dam repairs when I worked for the Corps. We'd make a form, lower the crete on a pallet, open it up underwater and the powder poured just fine into the form or crack. Works like a champ and sets up about the same as in the dry air above.

aj

Arkie, I didn't leave the buckets on the sets because I didn't have very many so I had to resuse them. I think the concrete may have cracked allowing PVC to fall over? Dunno. They do a lot of cat draggin on this lake too, might have gotten moved.