Valve type for 2009 zodiac futura mk3. Help!

[themarkjohn]

hi there. now that the weather is cooling off i have noticed that my tubes arent very firm. i didnt have a gauge to test with before and just went by feel. my problem is that i cant figure out how to inflate the main tubes in a 2009 zodiac futura. the owners manual doesnt specify other than "semi-recessed valve". i went out and bought this apapter
NRS Halkey-Roberts Valve Adapter | West Marine

and this guage attatchement combo Scoprega SP 125 Manometer Pressure Gauge

but all i am succeeding in doing is letting air out of my tubes.

i cant seem to find any specifics on the valve and am wondering if i got too short of an adapter because there seems to be different lenghts to the HR valves. i cant even find how the valve is supposed to work. any help at all on how to inflate this thing would be great because it is too soft to take out in the cooler weather i'm having now. thanks guys

[themarkjohn]

the valves in question

[Landlockedpirate]

Its not HK valve on the Futura, just a standard straight adapter.

[cgoing]

Here is a photo of the Zodiac valve adaptor. Defender sells them on their website.

Zodiac Valve Adapter

[themarkjohn]

Thanks for the help. Was pretty confused about what I needed. Gonna try and source this locally hopefully as my tubes are pretty flat from all my mucking about with them.

[Peter_C]

I made something to make my Leefield gauge work. It is just a piece of rubber I can flip around with a center do-hicky to depress the valve.

[jyasaki]

Buddy of mine uses a scuba hose protector as an inflator. [Some sort of] rubber or rubberized plastic; he just sort of jams it into the valve recess. $1.39 at a scuba shop.

Note that this won't work for a gauge, as you need something to open the valve (could be modified to do so though.)

jky

[themarkjohn]

Might still work for the gauge. The valve leaks when the cover is not on. Apparently the cap is the actual seal and the slight air leakage will permit the gauge to work. Supposedly anyhow. Maybe after a minute the pressure equalizes or something.

[themarkjohn]

i picked up one of these http://www.vandenbergsurf.com/media/...mp_bp_12_1.jpg

for a few dollars just because it was the only thing available and it worked! got home and ataached it to the guage and the tube was very soft so it was reading 0 psi pretty much. i have an Avon version of this http://www.defender.com/images/450566.jpg

and the gauge on the pump next to the top middle port says 3.5psi, while the port itself says+2.1psi. i started pumping away with the lower pressure port and it got pretty hard to pump after a few tries which i assume means the ports pressure limit had been reached. the ports says 2.1 psi but my guage wasnt reading that. i switched to the high pressure port and eventually got the needle on my new gauge to start moving. i stopped at 3psi because the boat was harder than i'd ever felt it and i started to worry about bursting. pumping never got very hard though. mind you i've only had it for a few months but it always seemed pretty firm in that time. the guage on the pump never got to the red zone to indicate i'd gotten to 3.5 psi either so i can only assume that they are both working correctly. thoughts on that anybody?

after proving i could get air into it, i deflated quite a bit because i inflated it when the temp had dropped and by the time the sun hits it tomorrow it will have firmed up significantly