Protecting fireworks in the rain

[Berserker23]

So im using liquid nails to glue down my cakes on plywood and I will be electric firing with the cobra. I would love to set up my show early but there is always a bad thunderstorm every fourth, I was thinking about covering the board up with plastic sheeting to protect my show from the Florida rain, would this method work and what do you guys use?

[PyroDre]

put your cakes in a garbage bag works like a charm

[PyroJoeNEPA]

Since you are gluing the cakes to a board you can't put them IN a bag--but you can put a bag over them & run a piece of duct tape around them to hold the garbage bag in place. Make sure you don't use the "extra heavy duty" garbage bags----small bore cakes will not shoot through them--we found that out two years ago with a small bore 1.3g cake. It was interesting to say the least!!!
Another thing you can do is wrap them --top & sides--with Saran wrap. I did that with my cakes I will be shooting this Saturday & will shoot thru them.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I'll second what PyroDre said. If you choose not to glue them to boards, tape two or three together, stick them in a garbage bag, and stake them down. That's what I plan on doing this year. I too live in Florida and you're right.. The rain is almost a guarantee. I'm tired of dealing with it. So this year I'm not using boards. I'm bagging and staking them down.

If you choose to glue them to boards, PyroJoeNEPA's advice is spot on.

[Berserker23]

What trash bags do you use just kitchen bags or do you use lawn and leaf bags or something else

[esgrillo]

Berserker, I deal with the same issue every year. I sent up my entire display a day in advance and as a result we have a 100% chance of a thunderstorm happening during that set up or between the set up and show time.

I have hundreds of cakes set out on many pieces of plywood so it is not practical in my case to bag things up. I make sure I have the correct size of standard blue tarps ready to cover every platform and table I use for my modules. It helps knowing in advance what layout in advance so you can get the right size tarp of course. I do use various garbage bags for some of the small platforms that I use for smaller special effects like gerbs and strobes.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

What trash bags do you use just kitchen bags or do you use lawn and leaf bags or something else

Use the cheap kitchen bags. Don't use heavy ply bags--see my note in post#3.

[PyroDre]

Use the cheap kitchen bags. Don't use heavy ply bags--see my note in post#3.
right use the cheap ones so the 200g cakes , if you are shooting any, can shoot through

[TNtwister]

I'm trying not to waste any plastic this year, so I'm going with a roll of 20X100 plastic and "bag" the whole plywood sheets. I have 6 maybe 7 this year. I DO have a bunch of tarps, but my main concern there is puddling water running over the edges onto my cakes.

Someone else told me to use the carpet protector film. It comes in a max width of 3 feet, so you'll have to layer it on to keep the seams tight. That's sort of a waste to me though.

[3 Fingers]

I just shot a show last Saturday and unknowingly used 3 mil thick plastic to cover the whole 4x8 board. Stapled it around the edges.
It kept the rain off the cakes for sure but the 3 mil thickness was too much and the shots were all a bit low as a result.
Since then I found a roll of thin plastic film in the paint dept at Home Depot for less than $20. It was 9 ft x 400 ft. So one roll will cover many boards with room to spare. The roll I found was only .31" thick so I would think any cake would have no trouble shooting thru it. That's what I'm going with on the 4th.
Good Luck!

[Kenny East]

Yeah drop cloth is what i use to protect my show if it looks like rain... They sell a really cheap like 1 mil roll that will rip very easily... I've shot through it many times...

[Rocketshooter]

Just use shipping wrap and shoot through it. If it looks like rain, just wrap up your boards. I'll wrap single cakes as well and good for covering mortar racks as well.

[thump junkie]

On our big guns we use grocery bags and just wrap it with tape. firing lines we use the stuff that you would cover banquet tables with. comes in big rolls that you can get at sams club or lowes.

[Berserker23]

Thanks for all the advice I'm going to be using trash bags and the wood stakes for the fourth

[DexTee]

I also use a tarp method. I also don't peel the top wrapping off of my cakes. Yes, they make more of a mess, but they also deter rain for long enough once you pull a tarp off of everything -- and I also use a yard sweeper the next day (or next sunny day), so really any more of a mess is nothing at all. Good luck with whatever route you take! :)

[Berserker23]

Will Saturn missles shoot through a trash bag the bags That I will be using are .31 mil

[Rocketshooter]

That might be a little dicey, Try using some cheap saran or glad wrap for those.