The right electric pump for inflating

[UncleJonny]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to iboats, but I've been reading the "Inflatables and RIBs" forum for about a year now...thanks for all the great information. It all helped in my purchase of my Zodiac 310. It's a 2007 model with the solid floor in five pieces. I also found a used 15hp Johnson that runs well. It's nice and light since it's a 2-stroke...not heavy like the new 4-strokers. I'm excited to use it this season, but I want to get a proper pump to blow it up quickly at the launch. I've been looking at the ones on boatstogo (see link below) and the Scoprega on this site as well. Any opinions on them or any others?

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

Also, one of the rubber/plastic attachments used to clip the oar on is starting to come loose from the PVC on the boat...any advice on a good adhesive to glue it back in place? I just need a little.

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

Jon

 

[lncoop]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

Go to Wallyworld (or Academy Sports, or the big box store of your choice) and get one of these http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-12V-QuickPump-Air-Pump/9870593.
Go to NRS (or the top notch retailer of your choice, but not boatstogo) and get one of these
http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=1714. Use the Coleman until your Zodiac is almost full. You'll know when it's time to stop by the sound of the pump motor (sudden change in pitch). Once you're done with that use the K Pump to top 'er off. Once you splash the Zodiac you'll likely have to top 'er off again and you'll quickly decide that K Pump was the best $75 you ever spent. That's how I do my fourteen foot river raft and it works like a charm. Good luck.

 

[Luvinflatableboats]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

I cant' agree more. I used to use the foot pump that came with my boat and struggled to get the pressure up. The K pump is absolutely fantastic and so is NRS. I bought one and it topped up my boat with ease. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

I have the K100 and it is great and easy to stow.

I have a simple large volume low pressure inflator that I bought for my Rave Bongo water trampoline that works great.


Good luck K100 is money well spent.

D.

Go to Wallyworld (or Academy Sports, or the big box store of your choice) and get one of these http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-12V-QuickPump-Air-Pump/9870593.
Go to NRS (or the top notch retailer of your choice, but not boatstogo) and get one of these
http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=1714. Use the Coleman until your Zodiac is almost full. You'll know when it's time to stop by the sound of the pump motor (sudden change in pitch). Once you're done with that use the K Pump to top 'er off. Once you splash the Zodiac you'll likely have to top 'er off again and you'll quickly decide that K Pump was the best $75 you ever spent. That's how I do my fourteen foot river raft and it works like a charm. Good luck.

 

[paulpost]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

Hi, call me lazy but for $25 more I would buy the one from boatstogo and save yourself for the engine to install after you are done inflating. Also this pump have gage that will help you to get the right pressure recommended by manufacturer.
Good luck
Paul

 

[lncoop]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

Hi, call me lazy but for $25 more I would buy the one from boatstogo and save yourself for the engine to install after you are done inflating. Also this pump have gage that will help you to get the right pressure recommended by manufacturer.
Good luck
Paul

Don't think you read the entire post or I wasn't clear (which, according to the admiral, is a common occurrence, but I digress). In my experience the simplest and most expedient method is to use a cheap 12v pump to do ninety percent of the job, then use a quality manual pump to finish it. For less than a c note you can have a powered pump to do most of the work and a top quality hand pump (that by the way would fill up your Zodiac in nothing flat) for emergencies. You probably already know this, but something as minor as a temperature variance between the air in your boat and the water your boat is on will cause it to lose pressure. Will you be able to top it off on the water or the island you're camping on with the boatstogo pump? You will with the K Pump. Will the boatstogo pump still work if you drop it overboard? The K Pump will. Will the boatstogo pump float for easy retrieval if you drop it overboard? The K Pump will. Also, the K Pump will never fail, but if it does, the American manufacturer will quickly make it right. Finally, you can easily add a gauge, also available at NRS, for a few bucks more.

 

[paulpost]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

I see your point and you're right, in Wisconsin even in the summer time can be I think a 10 to 20 degrees difference between the air temperature and the water temperature and you have to have this K pump.
For us here in south FL we have to let air out during the day when it gets too hot.
Paul

 

[jrs_diesel]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

I do the same thing, just with a 115 Volt AC Coleman pump. It's for air mattresses, but it saves a lot of manual pumping. I only use the manual foot pump for topping off now.

 

[lncoop]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

I see your point and you're right, in Wisconsin even in the summer time can be I think a 10 to 20 degrees difference between the air temperature and the water temperature and you have to have this K pump.
For us here in south FL we have to let air out during the day when it gets too hot.
Paul

Yep. Nothing like waking up to a less than firm raft with no pump handy. Not that I'd know AAAAAANYthing about that.:redface:

 

[UncleJonny]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

Thanks for the tips everyone. I already have the cheap coleman electric pump, and that blows the boat up pretty well. To get the extra top off, will I have to be doing a lot of pumping with the K pump, or will it go pretty fast?

 

[lncoop]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

Thanks for the tips everyone. I already have the cheap coleman electric pump, and that blows the boat up pretty well. To get the extra top off, will I have to be doing a lot of pumping with the K pump, or will it go pretty fast?

It will go very fast. It's extremely easy to push/pull and moves a lot of air, plus it's double action. Also, there's no hose to hold in place which is nice. I guarantee you'll love it.

 

[Hammer66]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

I totally agree. I had a Coleman pump laying around and figured I would try it before buying something larger. It worked fantastic! I used electrical tape to tape the hose of my foot pump to the hose of the coleman. Inflated my 12.5' boat in about 5 minutes.

 

[UncleJonny]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

Hi Everyone,

I ordered and received a K-100 K-Pump, and it's fantastic. What a simple design, and very maintainable as well. It moves a lot of air, and quickly. I had my boat inflated in the basement a few weeks ago, and I used the cheap Coleman pump to do 90% of the work, and then topped it off with the K-Pump. Worked great. I have one question though...I shouldn't be able to over-inflate my boat with a K-Pump, should I? As I understand, they are pretty tough to break a seam or valve seal...any thoughts? I don't have a gauge yet.

Thanks for the tips on the pumps....Summer is almost here. Enjoy the season!

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

If you have already the K-100 pump buy the Kwik Check Standard Gauge same brand, under & over inflation problem solved...Need to be Hulk to overinflate with K pump to rupture a seam. Inflatables are low pressure, high volume.

Happy Boating

 

[Pack Rat]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

K-pump question...

Don't you need a straight entry into the valve to seal properly? My SIB valves would appear to need the k-pump at 90 degrees and no room left to pull the pump handle out and work it. What am I missing?

 

[jondavies]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

The K Pumps are great but they're not exactly cheap. I have been using one of these pumps for ages and it works for me. It's a bit of a work out to get the boat up to full pressure but I can live with that as it's only $9.99 (I need the exercise anyway).

I took off the hose that came with the pump and replaced with PVC tubing from the hardware store. I use a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe an adapter for the valves.

 

[Pack Rat]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

K-pump responded to my email and said they have an adapter that come with their pumps now for low sitting valves like mine.

 

[UncleJonny]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

Sea Rider, thanks for the advice. I did buy the Kwik Check gauge when I bought the pump and it didn't fit with the unique Zodiac valves. It only worked on the one valve on the inflatable keel.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

Sea Rider, thanks for the advice. I did buy the Kwik Check gauge when I bought the pump and it didn't fit with the unique Zodiac valves. It only worked on the one valve on the inflatable keel.

Sorry to hear about that, that gauge is for Halkey Roberts air valve type as specified on it's literature. HR are the most common valve found now a days on most inflatable brands. Zodiac is so special...

Happy Boating

 

[Pack Rat]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

Found the Coleman 12v at Walmart for 20.00 and I'm going to get one. I like the idea of being able to do prep work while it gets initial volume up to 2.0 psi (hopefully).

Got a K-pump K-100 and topped off the chambers from 2.0 psi to 4.0 psi in about 5 mins. Almost got the big K-400 thinking I needed the volume but the K-100 will be fine.

Really like the Kwik Check gauge. There's a .5 pound difference with the boat supplied gauge and the Kwik Check gauge though (the Kwik Check reads lower).

 

[dobbs571]

Re: The right electric pump for inflating

I use the one from wally world its made by collman 12v plugs into the cigg lighter I got a batter adaptor the one that clips on to the battery and has a cigg outlet on the end works grate and got the cheap Colman dubble action hand pump. Takes me about 10 min to air up my FH 360 and about maybe 5 or 6 pumps with the hand pump to finish it off the 12v pump put out a lot of valum but a lot of pressoure.