Re-inflating Anchors

[oldbilbo]

A different kind of Anchor thread.....

I have a number of fenders made by Anchor Marine of Tiverton, and I'm struggling to find an effective way to reinflate them. I've spoken with the company and it emerges that the valve-type I have is no longer used by them - and thus the Anchor re-inflation kit I bought doesn't fit into those valves.

The Anchor employee who took my call didn't know anything useful about the older type valve, other than that she didn't know anything about them. A request to speak with someone else who DID know resulted in a promise to have someone call me back. 'Someone' didn't bother.

So, in the absence of useful customer support from Anchor Marine, is there knowledge hereabouts of the structure of this older, deeper, valve type and what might be needed to re-pressurise the units?

 

[sarabande]

I have various injectors and valvey things. If you post a pic, we might be able to match them up.

 

[jon711]

If it's like the one's we used to use on the hire fleet, we just used to stick the compressor airline onto the valve hole, but they may have changed (I am talking of 20ish years ago!).

Jon

 

[dutyhog]

The compressor that I keep in the car for tyres has an adaptor that inflates our very old Anchor fenders. It's like a stainless steel hypodermic needle, about 2mm outside diameter (from memory). The other end is the same as a car tyre valve. A small black plastic plug has to be pulled out (with pointed pliers) of the fender.

Anchor's web site has helpful hints on pressure etc.

PS I've found that these vinyl fenders can be patched with vinyl sprayhood sample material, with Evostick.

 

[oldbilbo]

This is the re-inflation kit that didn't work, for the hypo-needle doesn't extend deep enough.

I asked Anchor for a solution, more than once. The silence is deafening.... :distress:

 

[dutyhog]

This is the re-inflation kit that didn't work, for the hypo-needle doesn't extend deep enough.

The metal part looks the same as mine. Did you push it all the way in to the knurled section? There is quite a lot of resistance, and it feels like you're puncturing the fender, but I suppose there's a tight rubber seal like many inkjet cartridges have.

 

[PCUK]

My fenders had a stopper over the valve and a ball inside the valve. I pulled out the stopper, pushed the ball inside the fender and stuck the needle thing into the hole. Then inflated until hard. Put Sikaflex on the stopper and pushed back in. Seemed to work OK as they stayed up for several years.

 

[FishyInverness]

If it's like the one's we used to use on the hire fleet, we just used to stick the compressor airline onto the valve hole, but they may have changed (I am talking of 20ish years ago!).

Jon

+1 Air with sufficient pressure is going to open the one way valve with less hassle than trying to stab it with a blunted needle

Works fine on current Polyform valves.

 

[DaveS]

Possibly Fred Drift, but I had a fender that had a valve with a ball in it that wouldn't hold pressure, despite much messing about, trying to lubricate / clean it out, etc. I eventually made up a tapered plug out of Sugru which did the trick and it has now held pressure for several years. A plug for Sugru (pun intended) it's very versatile stuff.

 

[sailorman]

A different kind of Anchor thread.....

I have a number of fenders made by Anchor Marine of Tiverton, and I'm struggling to find an effective way to reinflate them. I've spoken with the company and it emerges that the valve-type I have is no longer used by them - and thus the Anchor re-inflation kit I bought doesn't fit into those valves.

The Anchor employee who took my call didn't know anything useful about the older type valve, other than that she didn't know anything about them. A request to speak with someone else who DID know resulted in a promise to have someone call me back. 'Someone' didn't bother.

So, in the absence of useful customer support from Anchor Marine, is there knowledge hereabouts of the structure of this older, deeper, valve type and what might be needed to re-pressurise the units?

just force the airline terminal against the orifice works for me

 

[sailorman]

Possibly Fred Drift, but I had a fender that had a valve with a ball in it that wouldn't hold pressure, despite much messing about, trying to lubricate / clean it out, etc. I eventually made up a tapered plug out of Sugru which did the trick and it has now held pressure for several years. A plug for Sugru (pun intended) it's very versatile stuff.

i used silicone on an almost new one i found in the skip. The downside is the fender has the word Bavaria moulded into it