Air pump

[aarcuda]

I inflated my new boat in the living room today. (Wife is gone a business trip.) Man what a work out. I will be buying an electric pump soon I see. What are the good ones? There are alot to choose from can anyone give me some ideas on a good one that can be found in the US. I need one that can provide high pressure for my floor and hopefully has a way to set the pressure.

Thanks in advance, Doug.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Air pump

Bravo electric pumps, on some models can regulate air pressure, check Iboats, West Marine, Defender, Inflate all chambers gradually, no good to inflate any to max pressure, can ruin bulk heads.

Happy Boating

 

[jrs_diesel]

Re: Air pump

What I did for my SIB (Bombard Max 3, hard floor and inflatable keel), was use a coleman air pump (used mainly for air mattresses) to put most of the air in for me. I then use the foot pump and finish off each chamber, and then the keel.

The coleman air mattress pump is a low pressure, high volume type pump, so it is safe to use on inflatables. I only had to use that pump once, when I first inflated it. I usually deflate my dinghy slightly so it does not over pressure in the sun/hot day when I'm not around, and the foot pump is more than sufficient to top it off before I use it again.

The air mattress pumps can easily be found at walmart in the camping section, and can be found in both battery operated and 115 Volt AC versions. Not very exspensive either.

 

[chickendog2010]

Re: Air pump

I would recommend that you to buy any e-pump that can do 4 PSI at least, enough to fill your tubes and the floor (partially). You should then top the floor with a handpump because pumping the floor to the 11+PSI would significantly shorten the life of the pump.

The combo i would recommend.

http://www.boatstogo.com/electric_pump.asp

(If you can find the 4.4PSI version of Bravo BST 12 with decent price, buy it instead)

http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Elem...Q0IA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1286555891&sr=8-6

 

[aarcuda]

Re: Air pump

Thanks for the replies.

 

[0976claxton]

Re: Air pump

arrcuda - i'm also researching pumps right now. my foot pump just isn't giving me the kind of pressure that i need. i have a zodiac gauge on it, and I can't seem to get to 3.5, let alone 4psi. Bravo 12 seems like the way to go. From what I understand, the proper inflation can have a pretty dramatic affect on your boats performance.