Tunnel Bags - Filling 'Em

29 May 2012Steve Schwarz

See my updated blog post: Ultimate Guide to Filling Dog Agility Tunnel Bags

I started this article two years ago and finally published it! Around here Tunnel Bags from TunnelBags.com are one of the most popular solutions for holding tunnels in place; especially indoors. I like them because they can hold a lot of weight, are very sturdy, have comfortable handles and the Velcro never seems to wear out. I had two sets (four bags per set) and a couple years ago I was mowing the lawn and my riding mower sucked the end of one bag up and damaged the end of it. Then to add insult to injury some crazed squirrels chewed small holes in a couple of them when I left them out over winter.

I contacted Nancy at TunnelBags.com and she kindly took a look at fixing them. I ended up getting another pair new of bags and decided to use the damaged ones to keep my teeter from hopping. Speedy service, and quality craftsmanship has made me very happy.

But that isn’t what this article is about! I want to help you fill your tunnel bags.

When I first filled my tunnel bags I put a garbage bag inside the tunnel bags and poured sand into the open bags. That is a fine solution until you damage the bag or want to repair one. Of course the squirrel damage caused the sand to leak out the holes (luckily I’m always outside). To send the bags back to Nancy for repair I had to get the sand out. Well it wasn’t dry sand anymore and the filled garbage bag was too big to pull out the tunnel bag opening. So I had to scoop the sand out little by little until the bag was small enough to get out. There is a better solution.

Use pea gravel. It is larger in diameter so if you puncture the heavy duty tunnel bag the gravel won’t poor out like sand will. Also put the gravel into multiple small bags that you can easily put in/take out of the tunnel bag opening. Those are my suggestions. Easy Peasy.

I used doubled plastic grocery bags - the heavy duty ones if you can find them. But if you are like me I have hundreds of bags at home and could easily quadruple bag each small quantity of gravel if I desired. Here are some pictures of how I did it.

If you enjoyed this article won't you please: Thanks!

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Tunnel Bags - Filling 'Em

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