TOPIC:

I bought a Food Saver vacuum sealer this year to better preserve my catch. It's a standard size / mid line model

www.foodsaver.com/vacuum-sealers/counter...00-000.html#start=17

It works fine for a bit, but it is not heavy duty enough to process the amount of fish we've been catching this year all at once. Once it hits a certain number of seals, it starts not completely sealing bags. Have to let it sit for several hours before it will work correctly again.

Any recommendations for a heavier duty sealer that will continuously process a boat load of fish? I had looked at the ones at Cabela's in the past, but figured they were just over priced like most things there are. Maybe those are the way to go?

I've been eyeing one of the Cabela's "professional" models and then came across the Weston Pro 2300 that looks suspiciously similar. You can find better prices online than Amazon or the outdoors shops.

No personal experience to report, though.

scoffer wrote:

I bought a Food Saver vacuum sealer this year to better preserve my catch. It's a standard size / mid line model

www.foodsaver.com/vacuum-sealers/counter...00-000.html#start=17

It works fine for a bit, but it is not heavy duty enough to process the amount of fish we've been catching this year all at once. Once it hits a certain number of seals, it starts not completely sealing bags. Have to let it sit for several hours before it will work correctly again.

Any recommendations for a heavier duty sealer that will continuously process a boat load of fish? I had looked at the ones at Cabela's in the past, but figured they were just over priced like most things there are. Maybe those are the way to go?

I have had the same issues. I solved them by making a bag, waiting 20 seconds or so, and then sealing it. Then wait 20 seconds, make a bag, wait 20 seconds, then fill and seal. Etc. They overheat if you do too many in a row and like you experienced, it takes quite some time to cool down once you go past the point of no return.

It's not super efficient to wait so long between bags, but it's a solution until you find a heavy duty one

Yeah, you definitely have to space it out, or you get to the point of no return very quickly! I always give it 30 seconds or more between cycles with some 10 minute breaks periodically. Eventually though, even that is not long enough... I was sealing a lot of fish though. 6 gallon size freezer bags full. Made it through about the 4th bag before it really started screwing up.

Need to buy oversize bags and only fill the bottom 1/3 with fish. I just vacuum sealed 30 walleye with a food sealer; size of bags are 10' by 14' and had no issues. I use to try to seal the bags about 3/4 full of fish and had all kinds of problems.

Bruce

Patting the fillets dry-ish with a towel really seems to help as well.

I have the wild game model, its about 5 years old now. It works well. I experience the same issues, but on a much smaller scale. I can probably seal 7-8 bags back to back, then have to wait 10 mins or so in order for the sealing mechanism to cool down so I can do another 7-8 bags. As others have noted, make sure your fish is fairly dry on the surface.

I have this model and only failer is that if meat or fish are too wet it won’t seal correctly I buy rolls in bulk so I’ll usually make 1 bag to make sure the size is correct and then Cut and seal another bag while I stuff the first one I cut and seal another so I try to rotate while i stuff a bag the machine will cool for 30-45 seconds my guess,,,, and seal a stuffed bag meanwhile I stuff another

On another note as far as durability!!!! I shoot a hand full of deer, ducks, I panfish primarily ALOT, salmon fish make summer sausage breakfast sausage Italian sausage chorizo ...... neatless to say I use n make A LOT OF BAGS A YEAR!!! A lot so to me it’s worth it’s weigh in gold and I believe I paid $80 at menards I think

EAGLE EYE, I follow the same process and make my own bags out of the bulk rolls as well.

Moisture may be the issue, as the sealer is having to work harder to heat the wet bag at the seal position. The model I have has a wet / dry food setting. I'm guessing that adjusts how long the sealing process goes after the vacuum cycle.

I can seam then vacuum seal about 30 or so complete bags before the thing starts to crap out (giving it plenty of time between seams / seals and then some extended breaks during my smoke breaks)... The unit I bought is probably more than enough for the average folk just buying food in bulk and repackaging, or the guy sealing a bunch of whole coho fillets.

The issue I'm running in to is that I'm getting 3 or 4 good / large size cuts off each side of each King we've caught this year (not complaining!). Considering they are large size, I'm bagging them individually. So I'm making 6 - 8 bags per fish. Multiply that by 10 or more and that's a workout for a light duty household sealer like I have. I also soak my fillets in cold water mixed with a bit of salt in the fridge over night. I then rinse off each fillet before I bag it.. So they are definitely wet when then go to the sealer.

I want a sealer that can handle the wet fillets and still seal effectively time after time even after the vacuum cycle draws out a bunch of water and leaves it right at the seam point.