Boat inflators

lightning · 11 July 2009, 10:26

I want to but a 12v inflator for my boat. It's a Zodiac 2.8m, it does not have a high pressure air floor. The boat dealer has the "LVM inflator" at about £75 and he says that's the one for me.
However I've seen much cheaper ones. One of my suppliers of spares has a Coleman "high speed inflator" for £12. Clearly the LVM one is going to be better (faster?) but has anybody tried the Coleman one?

Steve_B · 11 July 2009, 13:19

I think others have recommended the inflator from Aldi. Whilst not strictly for large SIBs, I have had mine for 3 years and not let me down yet, used for Ringo's and airbeds.
I think cost is about £4.99 and come with 3 year warantee.
Steve

tinker · 11 July 2009, 13:29

The Aldi one is very good, gets the boat (a 3.8m zodiac) to about 90% full, I then top it off with a hand pump from lidl. I have now invested in a rechargable pump from argos, which allows me to pump the SIB up away from a 12v supply(the car), its a little slower than the Aldi one but does the job fine. its on special at the moment see here

codprawn · 11 July 2009, 13:45

The coleman one is fine.

Then you need this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DOUBLE-ACTION-...lenotsupported

They come with several adaptors but if it doesn't have the right one they are easy to get.

I bought mine in a local camping/leisure type store. No need to pay more than £10 - many boaty type places charge £25!!!

They are much faster than a footpump - even use it on my big RIB.

lightning · 11 July 2009, 20:06

So I don't need the posh £75 one then..... but if I get the cheap Coleman one I need the hand pump to get the final pressure in the boat?

Nos4r2 · 11 July 2009, 20:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightning

So I don't need the posh £75 one then..... but if I get the cheap Coleman one I need the hand pump to get the final pressure in the boat?

Yes. The £75 one is the laziest option.

codprawn · 11 July 2009, 23:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightning

So I don't need the posh £75 one then..... but if I get the cheap Coleman one I need the hand pump to get the final pressure in the boat?

Yes but then you always have backup.

To be honest I wouldn't mind betting the hand pump would be pretty quick on it's own but I haven't tried it yet. On my big RIB it only takes about 10 pumps to restore pressure.

PeteH · 12 July 2009, 14:53

A pump is going to be my next purchase,ive looked online and at the above links,one question i have is my my valves connection is of the type below,all the pumps ive look at does not include this type of connection,am i missing some thing here.?

codprawn · 12 July 2009, 21:17

I had to buy one seperately - siliconed it into the tube on the cheap pump - sorted!!!

jyasaki · 13 July 2009, 17:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

I had to buy one seperately - siliconed it into the tube on the cheap pump - sorted!!!

Lot of work. I zip tied mine.

jky

codprawn · 13 July 2009, 17:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Lot of work. I zip tied mine.

jky

Ahh but I had none around and I have over 1200 tubes of silicone - wanna buy some - going cheap on Ebay.............

thornbackflound · 14 July 2009, 18:05

Hi all ,a question would the argos rechargable pump inflate my 2.70 dinghy from one charge? obviously topping up with the foot pump

tinker · 14 July 2009, 18:41

Well mine inflated a 3.8m zodiac no problem.

thornbackflound · 14 July 2009, 20:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinker

Well mine inflated a 3.8m zodiac no problem.

well ill have to have a look at me local ARGOS,Mind you just of late every time i go to purchase something from them,,,,,,,,,,,,,they are allways sold out ,DOH...........LOL.......PS ,AS THOUGHT ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,BLOODY OUT OF STOCK

thornbackflound · 23 July 2009, 14:18

Well i have just purchased a batterty operated portable pump from MILLETTS ,takes 4 D cell batts,i have cut the hose that came with it very short so if needed to give me some more air ,if i am unfourtunate to get a puucture,or i just need to top it up,,,,,,,,,save's carrying a dirty great big foot bellows pump ,and trying to operate it in a 2.7 sib with 2 of you ,lol,so its my back up half the size to take as the bellows pump ,connect's straight on to the valve's ,shorter hose so direct short out burst of air,simple , never seen my single air bed blown up so quick ,2 MINS AND WAS done,plus has its own DEflator,,,HAPPY SIBBING

llyn · 22 August 2009, 20:40

Hi, is there a cheap 12v pump, that will get my honwave floor up to 0.8 bar??, without using a foot pump??????????????????

lightning · 24 August 2009, 09:41

Just an update. I bought the expensive pump in the end (£75) don't laugh.
However it is excellent. It comes with adaptors to fit all types of valve and inflates my Zodiac in a couple of minutes. it has a simple pressure limiting device that stops it overinflating. basically when the speed of the motor increases it's done. No need to top up with a foot pump.
There's no hose. You hold the pump directly onto the valve and press a trigger on the side so it can be done one handed.
It won't do a high pressure air keel. Mine's a low pressure one though (solid floor with air keel)
It comes with crocodile clips to connect to your car battery, this is clearly not convenient, so I bought a small sealed lead acid battery instead.
The pump takes about 15 amps so I worked out that I'd need a battery of 5-10Ah. I ended up with a 7Ah one, it's actually an alarm backup battery and will operate the pump for about 30 minutes. Enough for 3 or 4 inflation/deflation cycles.

Nasher · 24 August 2009, 10:05

From your description you've brought the LVM one.

I have one and am very impressed, although mine was purchased used.

In Devon recently we'd anchor up the RIB and use the LVM to inflate the smaller Nashers SIB to use as a Taxi to the beach, and for them to run around in all day with their little 4HP merc on the back.

In previous years its been a real effort to pump it up, but using the LVM both tubes and the airdeck were up to pressure in under 2mins.

I've now also used the Suck function to get all the air out of the SIB a couple of times, and find it goes back in its bag a lot easier.

Nasher

petie · 24 August 2009, 17:07

hi alll newbie to the rib scene here,got ourselfs an eldery humber rib, believe an ofshore old lifeboat,couple of questions plz help,the hull needs air but we cannot get the right type of inflator adaptor, reading this post have got most of the pumps but no adaptor to fit,help.also looks a bit faded any magic lotion/paint i can buy?
thanks pete

lightning · 24 August 2009, 19:05

Hi there and welcome to the site, it might be better if you post this as a new thread in the "Ribs & Ribbing" section of the forum, where it will be read by far more people.