Several years ago, my dad got me a portable basketball hoop. We placed it in our backyard and filled the hoop base with dry sand for stability. Growing up, some of my best memories happened in our backyard while playing basketball.
When my parents called me to help them move to a new home recently, we struggled to move the hoop. We couldn’t figure out how to remove sand from the basketball hoop base. Here’s what we found out after some research.
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How To Remove Sand From A Portable Basketball Hoop Base
You can use sand, water, or base gel to fill a portable basketball goal base. To move the basketball hoop, you need to empty the hoop base. While draining water or base gel is easy, removing sand is complex. Depending on the type of sand in the base, here’s how to get sand out of a basketball hoop base.
Method 1: Use a vacuum cleaner to remove dry sand
1. Ask for help
A portable basketball hoop filled with sand weighs about 400 pounds. Since the base is so heavy, ask for assistance from one or two people to handle it.
2. Get a vacuum cleaner
The hoop base’s holes are typically an inch in diameter. The small holes make it difficult to remove the sand, so you need special equipment. Get a vacuum cleaner and a small intake port, preferably 27mm in diameter.
3. Align the suction port to a fill hole
Open the caps of both fill holes, put the vacuum cleaner's suction port on one hole, and power on the cleaner.
4. Empty the dust cup
Wait until the vacuum cleaner’s dust cup is full and then empty it. Repeat till you get all the sand out of the hoop base.
Method 2: Use a leaf blower to remove dry sand
1. Seek help
You can’t manipulate a 400-pound portable hoop into various positions alone. Find someone to help you.
2. Get a leaf blower
Removing sand from a basketball goal base without using special tools is challenging. Visit your local store and get a leaf blower to ease the process.
3. Realign the hoop base
Although a leaf blower is powerful, it will struggle to push the sand out if the base lies flat on the ground. With the help of your friends, reposition the hoop base so that it is almost vertical to the ground.
4. Open both fill holes
After repositioning the hoop base, remove the caps of the fill holes. Some sand will drain out due to gravity. Allow as much sand as possible to flow out by clearing the space near the lower hole where it is collecting.
5. Blow out the sand
Place the leafblower’s nozzle on the upper fill hole of the basketball base. Make sure the nozzle covers the hole completely, then turn on the leafblower. Blow until you remove all the sand from the hoop base.
Method 3: Use water to remove wet sand
1. Find some help
Wet sand is heavier than dry sand, so you need help maneuvering the basketball hoop. Ask someone to assist you.
2. Get a high-pressure hose
You can use your garden hose for this step, but a high-pressure hose is preferable.
3. Make a hole at the bottom
Some hoop bases have a hole at one of the ends, so you won’t need to make one. However, others do not have the hole. In this case, you need to make a sizeable hole at the end that is away from the hoop stand.
4. Reposition the hoop base
For this step, you can choose to disassemble the hoop or not, depending on how much help you have. Then, realign the base so its flat area assumes an upright position.
5. Drain out the sand
Place the hose beneath the hole you made earlier and secure it. When you turn on the water, sand will flow out. Remove all the wet sand from the portable base, and turn off the water.
Final Words
Getting sand out of the basketball goal base can be a complicated undertaking. However, emptying a hoop base should be relatively simple if you use a vacuum cleaner, a leaf blower, or water.
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