Pressure Relief Valve/s for inflatables ???

[ribbony]

My question: Is there such a thing as a pressure relief valve that can be fitted to the inflation holes & left there while the dinghy is unattended, so that if excessive expansion occurs then damaging pressure is relieved from the dinghy ???

I know there are relief valves on some life rafts as the CO2 inflation system puts a lot of pressure in there. But we are trying to avoid permantly (glued in) installed PR Valves in our little dinghy.

Anyone got any tips or tricks to avoid exploding dinghies ? Apart from just letting some air out

[motion30]

Exploding dinghy ??? Huh ?

[motion30]

by the time you return your dinghy will be almost completely deflated in desperate need of air no relief valves need it

[ribbony]

We had an experience some time ago with an old dinghy we were using. Anchored the Yacht, rowed ashore for a run, let a lot of air out of the dink. On return from the run, the dink was limp on the beach. At first I thought it was someone playing tricks, until we noticed the end of the pontoon had blown out !

Since then we had been using hard shelled dighies, but now we have another inflatable and want to avoid a repeat.

Pressure relief valves just seem like common sense for inflatables. I noticed some dinghies for sale made here in Oz, have PR Valves fitted as standard (glued in). So the notion is out there.

[HopCar]

Is this the kind of thing you're looking for? I think it has to be glued in.
Leafield A6 Pressure Relief Valve at nrs.com

[delmarrey]

Life rafts have pr valves. Maybe you could buy some replacements and adapt them to fit the fill hole, or have them glued in. But it seems odd that a inflatable would blow out unless it had a faulty seam to start with. They should expand enough to take the pressure.

[ribbony]

Hopcar - that is the sort of thing, just prefer to have a couple that plug into where the caps would normally go on the inflation/deflation valves. There is one I saw on Google but it was only for use while inflating so as to not put too much pressure in. A similar idea should be able to work as an insitu item over the existing valves.


delmarry - it did blow out where the seam was thinnest, also it was very hot so that softens the glue. It was a glued PVC dink, not welded. It is history now.