clearcoat weight

[Mr Jenkins]

  Have you guys noticed any difference in sinking,floating or suspending baits using different clearcoats , I prefer to use Devcon 2 ton and have used highbuild v and a couple others also Devcon seems to be more Me friendly. Was just wanting to throw this out there and see what kinda responces I get.  I had actually started wandering about this with some of the last jerkbaits I built  they seemed to sink just a tad and should be suspending was wondering if it coulda been the weight of the clearcoat all other components are spec hooks,and splitrings.    Any feedback would be appreciated

[Vodkaman]

As far as I know, all the clear coatings commonly used are roughly all the same density, around 1.2gm/cm3 (fresh water = 1.00). So if you add 1.2 grams of D2T to your bait, you are adding 0.2 grams of ballast.

The difference between the various coatings is largely down to the coating thickness. Devcon is much thicker than most of the others, so will seem to have more effect on the buoyancy of your lure.

When I messed around with neutral buoyancy, I found that 1/200th of the lure weight made the difference between a floater and a very slow sinker. This is a very fine tolerance to control.

You may find that down sizing one of your hooks would get your buoyancy back. This may not be desirable, depends what is important to you.

You probably work in ounces, sorry about that. 1 ounce = 28.35 grams.

Dave

[BIG M]

I found devcon made suspending baits sink slowly, but 1 coat of flex coat did not cause the bait to sink.

1 coat of flex coat is much thinner than devcon and that may be the difference.

Sorry I can't throw out all the numbers like the V man. 

[BobP]

Unlike Dave, I work in ounces :  On a 2 1/4" typical bass crankbait, a coat of Devcon Two Ton weighs .02 ounces.  JMHO, if you repaint lots of suspending jerkbaits, invest in some moisture cured polyurethane like Dick Nite clear coat.  It makes a very thin tough clearcoat similar to a factory finish.  Alternatively, you can remove the original finish before painting to reduce the weight slightly.  You can also thin the Devcon with a few drops of denatured alcohol to get a thinner coating.  BTW, a bait that slowly sinks in 70 degree water may suspend in more dense 55 degree water.  If you're a real jerkbait afficionado, you want your bait to suspend in the warmest water you're likely to fish it in.  That way, you can adjust for colder water by adding some Suspendots or lead wire on the front treble hook.