12 volt inflator advice

[qsjustin]

I am looking for an advice on which air pump to look out for, I have a 2.9metre Sib which is great fun and our 1st boat but don't seem to be able to get the air deck hard enough with the bellows pump.

Any thoughts greatfully received

[rik_elliott]

Bravo 12HP pump. That'll do the job of getting the pressure perfect, every time. I used to have one for my zapcat- brilliant bit of kit.

[Sunstreaker]

Must admit I have been looking at the bravo, but there have been some comments recently posted regarding the pumps not working for long and not performing as expected. If I am spending that sort if money I would expect something with a bit of longevity and does the job.

[S4Simon]

The Bravo pumps are not designed to operate for long periods. The part that fails is the plastic turbine fan. This gets hot and expands and then starts hitting the edges and subsequently fails. I've repaired about 20 Bravo pumps all with the same problem. 5 or so minutes is the maximum before they need to cool down. On the other side the piston part of the pump is heavy duty and works fine for getting the air floors to the right PSI.

A couple of years back we started to see the Chinese variants of the Bravo pump hit the market. Smart guys they were, in that they stripped the Bravo pump, pinpointed the weak areas inside the pump and beefed it up. The chinese version has exactly the same dimensions and look, but has heavier duty turbine workings - and for half the price.

The guys at Bravo were very good to deal with in that all the pumps were repaired under warranty, so they obviously knew of the problems. Which is still a problem.

[lightning]

Well, it takes my Bravo BTP12 about five minutes to inflate
my Zodiac 285s, so l should be alright then lol

But l have only had the pump for less than two years so maybe it is a Chinese one!