SIB Pump

dannysib · 23 July 2021, 15:54

Hi All,

First post here, just got a Seapro 380 with a mariner 25hp 2 stroke.
Looking forward to picking it up and getting out on it next weekend!

Quick question, is there a go-to pump for people on here? Do people find that ones that run off a car battery are best or is a rechargeable electric one more than powerful enough to do the job? Im not going to try and do it manually as we've got a load of sup's so don't fancy spending the first day of my hols inflating various things for the kids ;-)

Any help much appreciated..

Dan

Fenlander · 23 July 2021, 16:48

Hi and welcome to the forum. Several valid choices these days. I use a Bravo with a small 10ah battery so I’m not tied to a lead from the car. When the last Bravo got tired after 8yrs bought same brand again. Others will be along soon with their choices.

TmMorris · 23 July 2021, 18:06

I bought a Bravo that runs off the car. Works perfectly. Then realised I wouldn't always be inflating by the car, plus I might want to top up the air on the water. Fixed the issue by following advice on here to use a motobility scooter battery so all good but if I were starting from scratch I'd buy one with a built in battery to minimise the faff.

Mattster · 23 July 2021, 18:20

Much too early for me to give a reliability recommendation, but I picked up this pump yesterday and first impressions are extremely positive. Built in 6ah lithium battery, two stage (quietish on first stage), very light weight and a few nice extras like carry case, USB ports and a torch, to make use of the battery. Filling a Honwave T38 took under 15 minutes and used about 25% of the charge.

Fenlander · 24 July 2021, 09:45

I do like the all in one unit portable concept of Mattster's pump and hope it serves well. When I came due for a replacement a couple of years back I didn't change to an integral battery model as for me the battery has often been the failure point of similar devices. Yes the Bravo needs the battery carried separately but at least a generic 7ah/10ah battery is easily available at modest cost.

Good though to see Mattster's type allows operation while charging so it does have the backup of just running from the car if the battery were to get tired.

Oldman2 · 24 July 2021, 10:06

If anyone reading is about to buy a battery for their pump, Amazon have A 7Ah LiFePO4 battery for £25.75 which I think is a really good price. Less than 2lb to carry round too.

dannysib · 24 July 2021, 11:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattster

Much too early for me to give a reliability recommendation, but I picked up this pump yesterday and first impressions are extremely positive. Built in 6ah lithium battery, two stage (quietish on first stage), very light weight and a few nice extras like carry case, USB ports and a torch, to make use of the battery. Filling a Honwave T38 took under 15 minutes and used about 25% of the charge.

Cheers Matt,
See your in Chi too. Did you buy that from force 4 on Birdham road? Out of stock now ��

Mattster · 24 July 2021, 13:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannysib

Cheers Matt,
See your in Chi too. Did you buy that from force 4 on Birdham road? Out of stock now ��

No, it was out of stock there as well otherwise I would have! I was poised to order online, and it went out of stock in the time I was dithering. Luckily one of the few remaining places that had it in stock was Poole branch, and it wasn't a massive detour on my drive down to pick the boat up from Exeter earlier this week so I had it put aside there.

Fenlander I think one of the advantages of Lithium over lead acid is that they last for many more charge cycles, so hopefully not an issue for a while.

Oldman that sounds like a good deal. I might get one for my sounder - I am currently running a lead acid 7ah, but it is a bit heavy. I wonder if I would need a new charger as well tho?

dannysib · 24 July 2021, 17:19

Cheers all,
I’ve found this one on Amazon, wonder if this will do the job? SPLOTY Tyre Inflator Air Compressor, Car Cigarette Socket DC 12V Air Compressor, Rechargeable Li-Ion 18V-20V Battery Car Air Compressor, Dual Power Supply Mode with 2 Levels of Output & LED Light https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08JLTR2...ZX6YZE6PAPA2Y6

Tel1965 · 24 July 2021, 17:50

I doubt very much if it has the staying power to pump up a sib. My advice would be to buy one designed for the purpose of sibs and sups. A decent one will cost money, but should save a lot of time. The one I chose was an outdoor master shark sup pump. Only takes minutes to pump up my Elling. It’s a bit pricey at around £150 but it does the job quickly and without overheating. To power it I made a power pack which cost me about £100. On a full charge it will inflate and deflate over a dozen times and powers my fish finder and other various gadgets.

Fenlander · 24 July 2021, 18:17

Sadly Danny as Tel says no good at all. Compared to topping up a car tyre filling a SIB to pressure is a massive job which needs a specific to SIBs or SUPs type pump.

dannysib · 24 July 2021, 18:46

Cheers guys, I’m trying to source Matts one but seems to be out of stock, left it last minute as going to Cornwall Thursday!

The Gurnard · 24 July 2021, 19:33

If you are stuck getting a pump Dannysib ..remember the seapro is not a high pressure job. For years I used a cheap lilo pump to blow my inflatables up..ok they then needed the manual pump to top off the pressure..but its better than nothing and certainly a lot better than a car tyre type pump. Halfords do a nifty battery powered lilo pump for around £12.

However I hope you can get a decent pump to your liking for your hols.

Correction..its £7 and a steal for that price. It will blow up your tubes to shape ..saving a lot of manual work..then a few minutes with the boat supplied pump will finish off..great from emergency use and inflatable dolls too

https://www.halfords.com/camping/air...mp-290319.html

jeffstevens763@g · 25 July 2021, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannysib

Cheers guys, I’m trying to source Matts one but seems to be out of stock, left it last minute as going to Cornwall Thursday!

Just bought this one so far ok

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sevylor-Pum...c=1&th=1&psc=1

TmMorris · 26 July 2021, 11:18

The Bravo BP12 appears to still be available. Being new to this side of things I followed advice on here and haven't been disappointed.

It comes with a bag that has room for a battery and I cut the crocodile clips off to just fit basic connectors and I recharge the battery via a ctek conditioner that I have for the cars.

Nasher · 26 July 2021, 11:44

My Bravo pump has been excellent over the years.

I even converted it to run either from it's own internal rechargeable battery, the RIB Battery bank, or from any car Battery via croc clips:
https://www.rib.net/forum/f50/flexib...ump-42304.html

It would inflate the Younger Nasher's Aerotec 380 in just a few minutes.

Nasher.

Mattster · 13 August 2021, 16:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattster

Much too early for me to give a reliability recommendation, but I picked up this pump yesterday and first impressions are extremely positive. Built in 6ah lithium battery, two stage (quietish on first stage), very light weight and a few nice extras like carry case, USB ports and a torch, to make use of the battery. Filling a Honwave T38 took under 15 minutes and used about 25% of the charge.

News of my pump is that today is seems to have stopped working! The issue seems to be that it is not sensing the pressure in the tube, and consequently it is not entering the second, high pressure stage - result, tube inflates to about 1 psi and pump keeps whirring away until I turn it off.

Has anyone had this issue with other pumps before? I don't think I am doing anything different to the previous times I have inflated, which have always been trouble free. I'm not going to attempt any sort of DIY pump fix, since the thing is less than a month old, but I am open to other suggestions. I did wonder if it might not have been pushing the valve down properly, and so not getting pressure back, but the adapter looks OK and the tube inflates easily enough during stage 1.

A bit miffed I must admit since I am now effectively off the water until I can get a replacement!

gittygoat · 13 August 2021, 19:52

Mattster, I've got identical pump to you (just branded different from ebay) I think you beat me to the one at force4 in Poole as it was the only place showing stock but the shelf was empty!
Used mine for first time giving the T38 her maiden voyage, didn't read instructions and whilst inflating at low pressure it seemed like I somehow switched the high pressure mode on by holding power button whilst it was running.
Might be worth a try, but I got an email from Force4 yesterday saying they had them back in stock so maybe you should try and get warranty replacement in quick!

Wazzajnr · 13 August 2021, 20:00

How long did you leave it at 1psi before giving up?
I had the same with mine once when I first got it.
I just pulled the pipe out, ran it for a few seconds then tried again and it hung at 1psi for about 2 mins then tripped into high pressure mode.
Never happened since. I think it just needs to see the pressure not change for a reasonable amount of time.
Actually, just a thought, if you were loosing air because of your damage, it might not have seen stable pressure and thus not tripped over to hp.
I think the setpoint is a bit close for comfort in the software to be honest.
If mine does it again, I'm thinking of rigging up some kind of plug from an old valve to see if I can "kick" it into hp mode.
Other thing to check is that it's screwed onto the pump tightly. I did have it once where I moved the pump and instead of the swivel turning, it unscrewed it a bit.
That's the problem with being an early adopter, you get to suss out all the little foibles for everyone else!
Still wouldn't be without mine!
If it proves to be problematic going forwards I'll probably just build a new control board for it. That said, it may well be a board I can program anyway but not looked inside yet.

Mattster · 13 August 2021, 20:35

I left it for a good long time, and this was on the side tubes at first, so not the damaged one. The pressure display wasn't updating at all (stuck on 0.00), whereas normally that is moving up even at low pressure. I then put it away for a while, and topped up the charge (it was 87% on first attempt, so doubt this is the issue), and when I tried it again it "just worked". A bit worrying! Not sure now if I will just try and swap it anyway, because I really don't want to have a day out ruined by pump failure.. (and I did try the foot pump today for a laugh - realistically that is not happening!!).

p.s. I do absolutely love the pump - fast, relatively quiet, very convenient with the battery etc so I really hope it works out.

p.p.s when I went to redo after the first failure, the tube that I was trying to inflate before was actually sitting at 1.2 psi (initial read on second attempt), so seems stage 1 can actually go a little further than 1, and reinforces the idea that the pressure guage simply wasn't working for the first attempt.