Anyone know of a Really Good Dinghy Pump?

[Ehbendisdonc]

My Bravo foot-pump has barely lasted a year. A quick trawl through the forum throws up a few posts advising to buy a Bravo 10, but TBH I'm disappointed with the quality of mine.
Looking around chandlery sites, I don't see a lot of other options.
Anyone know of a more robust product?

 

[doug748]

See the red jobs on this page:
http://qualityinflatables.com/airpumps.html
(illustration only - American site?)
You want the one with the black handle. Being double acting thay work really fast and give you a good upper body work out at the same time. They are available in Chandlers (coloured black) for about 20 quid, I bought three in a cheap shop for under a tenner. They are not that robust (the handle tends to snap off - replace with a bit of broom handle) but at that price why worry.
I keep one in the boat, one in the tender, and one in the car.
PS
Tatty but all working after 4 years

 

[sarabande]

My Tinker came with a very simple high-capacity foot pump from Henshaw Inflatables. That was over 15 years ago, and it's till working .

British-made, and even better - from Somerset.

 

[Ehbendisdonc]

Thanks Doug. That could be an option.

Sarabande, I thought of Henshaw's earlier as I expected they'd have something as rugged as the Tinker. In fact they just had the Bravo stuff. Thanks anyway!

 

[gandy]

See the red jobs on this page:
http://qualityinflatables.com/airpumps.html
(illustration only - American site?)
You want the one with the black handle. Being double acting thay work really fast and give you a good upper body work out at the same time.

We have one just like the picture, and its not that great. There's a lot of internal resistance, ie the handle's quite hard work pushing up and down even without the hose connected, so a lot of my effort just goes into overcoming that rather than pumping air. The foot-operated Bravo something that came with our Zodiac is much better.

 

[Coaster]

My Bravo foot-pump has barely lasted a year.

What went wrong with it?

Could alternative treatment or use have resulted in a longer life?

 

[Ehbendisdonc]

What went wrong with it?

Could alternative treatment or use have resulted in a longer life?

The bellows is retained top-and-bottom by metal bands. A few weeks back, the edge of the bellows popped out from under the band and started to leak, so I removed the band, snugged up the rubber gasket and re-assembled it. This time the rubber gasket just came away completely, and I doubt it'll last it I bodge it back together again.

It had pretty light use and wasn't abused. It probably would have lasted better if there was some mechanism to prevent it reaching full extension on the upstroke. If I replace it with something similar, I might just fix a strap to it to limit the stroke.

 

[Coaster]

Thanks for the feedback. These pumps have aways seemed rather flimsy when compared with our old Avon one. But the Avon pump will only blow, not suck. I find the latter function useful when wanting to pack the dinghy away.

I wonder if there are any robust foot pumps available, with both in and out hose fittings?

 

[cobolt]

On our last trip I took my kitesurfing kit. They come with a double action hand pump (much like the link above but higher quality). Was amazed how much more quickly we could inflate the dinghy....kitesurf ones are higher quality (alloy shafts etc and most come with a pressure gauge too).

Google "best kite pump". Think they go for around £18. "Best" is the manufacturer btw.

 

[Ehbendisdonc]

Thanks Cobalt. That may be just what I need, and cheap too - I'll shop around for a couple so I can leave one in the boat.

 

[ghostlymoron]

The one that came with my Seago dinghy looks similar to the american one quoted above and pumps the dinghy up in no time. It seems a good bit of kit - unlike the dinghy it came with!

 

[mylo]

I was in maplins the electronics shop yesterday. They've got a double action pump for £4.99!
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=389164

Don't know what the quality is like but it is only a fiver.

 

[Ehbendisdonc]

Thanks Mylo. My local Maplins in Ireland doesn't have such a thing, and it's showing discontinued on their site.

 

[JohnTH]

How about a petrol powered grass blower. Uses the same 2T as the outboard, pumps the Avon in micro seconds – well, quickly, and has lots of other uses too.

73s de

Johnth

 

[moluag]

The bellows is retained top-and-bottom by metal bands. A few weeks back, the edge of the bellows popped out from under the band and started to leak, so I removed the band, snugged up the rubber gasket and re-assembled it. This time the rubber gasket just came away completely, and I doubt it'll last it I bodge it back together again.

It had pretty light use and wasn't abused. It probably would have lasted better if there was some mechanism to prevent it reaching full extension on the upstroke. If I replace it with something similar, I might just fix a strap to it to limit the stroke.

My Bravo 2 is 9 years old and still is in good order the metal strap once came off a couple of years ago, i refixed it and havn't had any problem since.