I think most everyone will agree that you should stay away from weighting them with water. Try to find 3/4 inch tubing at 160PSI, or 1 inch at 100PSI.

Or you can use 3/4 inch 100 PSI tubing and weight it down by wrapping it with a few rolls of electric tape, and then cover that with colored cloth tape.

Basically when you have water in it it's a bit unbalanced as the water sloshes around inside. Also, the water seems to eventually come out or evaporate. My first hoop had water in it, but doesn't seem to anymore. It's much lighter now as well.

Of the fifteen hoops that I took out to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the water-filled hoop was the only one that broke, during three days of near-constant useage. It was made of 3/4" tubing, 160 psi, and wrapped in one layer of duct tape (plus extra at the join, over the coupler) and one layer of decorative electrical tape.

While hooping with it, the weight of the water would pull it into an oval shape fairly quickly, and it had a much slower spin than the non-water hoops of similar size and weight. I've heard maybe 3 people say they preferred it over the non-water hoops, out of the couple hundred who have played with my hoops :)

X.

my opinion is, don't add water, sand, popcorn, or anything to the inside. assuming the hoop without water has been taped to add weight (and wonderful colors) you'll notice the hoop without water is far more predictable and balanced.

since you're planning on making hoops, then experiment and try a hoop with and one without. most likely you'll learn why most people don't add water.

whatever you do, definitely follow Jason's careful instructions! :)
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