Best Air Pump for Inflating Dinghy?

[nickfox45]

I'm looking for an air pump to quickly blow up our 10 ft dinghy but am having a hard time finding a well-reviewed model. Ideally it'd be both battery/AC powered since I don't currently have an inverter on board, but I would settle for a good battery only model if nothing else. What do you all use?

[Vasco]

A hand pump works best.

[LoudMusic]

I have one of these for inflating an air pattress for car camping.

QuickPumpâ„¢ 12V Pump - USA

Works really well. It comes with a stupidly short cable, but I did some maths and determined I could make it much longer without overheating anything, so I did. It's now probably 8+ meters long and works like a champ airing up a queen sized mattress that's probably 8 inches tall. I'm not sure what the volume there is, but I bet a 10' dinghy is in the neighborhood. You'd want to be careful not to burn it out from prolonged run times, though.

[jeepbluetj]

If you're going to be in the U.S. a Ryobi dual-function inflator does a very good job.


I use the "airmattress" side to quickly inflate the dinghy. I made a high pressure fitting with a schrader valve, a 5psi pressure guage, and a Halkey-Roberts Valve Adapter. I use the high pressure side of the pump to get the dink up to ~3 PSI or so.

I also have the foot pump that came with the dink incase the cheap Ryobi inflator dies.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Vasco

A hand pump works best.

These are pretty fast, I agree, but not desirable if you have lower back problems. They are double acting, which means you have to pull on the up-stroke, while all bent over. Not good. The foot braces should be larger and the tube should be taller (or just the handle), which would give a better position.

I've used these with a Walker Bay Airis Kayak (which is pretty cool, BTW).

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by jeepbluetj

If you're going to be in the U.S. a Ryobi dual-function inflator does a very good job.


I use the "airmattress" side to quickly inflate the dinghy. I made a high pressure fitting with a schrader valve, a 5psi pressure guage, and a Halkey-Roberts Valve Adapter. I use the high pressure side of the pump to get the dink up to ~3 PSI or so.

I also have the foot pump that came with the dink incase the cheap Ryobi inflator dies.

Ah, using that methodology I would go with the Dewalt 20v cordless/corded shopvac.

18/20V MAX* Cordless/Corded Wet-Dry Vacuum - DCV581H | DEWALT

[model 10]

We have been using the $100 automatic inflator from West Marine on both the dink and the paddle boards for several years. Nice piece of equipment.

[jeepbluetj]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

Ah, using that methodology I would go with the Dewalt 20v cordless/corded shopvac.

18/20V MAX* Cordless/Corded Wet-Dry Vacuum - DCV581H | DEWALT

That'd work, but you won't get the ~3 PSI that most dinks want to be inflated to out of a shopvac. For an air floor dink it's something like 9 psi for the floor. It's why I liked the cheapie Ryobi - low pressure and fast then switch to high pressure and slower. I also keep some of the other cheap ryobi tools on the boat, drill, flashlight, searchlight, fan, etc.. so I already have the batteries on board.

I like good tools. But when there's always a good chance of one going into the ocean, I like cheap tools. Had one Ryobi battery go to the bottom of the slip once. It continued to work for about a year and a half after fishing it back out. That's not too bad.

[jamhass]

This one:
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-...8?recordNum=13

It's an Italian unit, with WM label on it. Ours is 4 years old, works great. Pumps up dinghy, SUP, kayaks, etc etc. Only very minor issue is the valve springs on the dink are strong enough that the pump shifts gears a little early. Inflates quicker if the dink's valve is initially set to deflate, then change it after the dink has some shape. Also deflates.

Highly recommended.

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by jeepbluetj

That'd work, but you won't get the ~3 PSI that most dinks want to be inflated to out of a shopvac. For an air floor dink it's something like 9 psi for the floor. It's why I liked the cheapie Ryobi - low pressure and fast then switch to high pressure and slower. I also keep some of the other cheap ryobi tools on the boat, drill, flashlight, searchlight, fan, etc.. so I already have the batteries on board.

I like good tools. But when there's always a good chance of one going into the ocean, I like cheap tools. Had one Ryobi battery go to the bottom of the slip once. It continued to work for about a year and a half after fishing it back out. That's not too bad.

What PSI are you able to use the Ryobi's high volume side to? How fast can you fill your dinghy? I have an air floor model that needs 9psi in the floor, but the tubes need just 3.3psi.... can the high volume side fill the 3.3psi tubes?

Thank,

Matt

[Captain Bucknut]

We have a bellows type foot pump for our Achilles. It is surprisingly quick and easy. You can stand and pump your foot without bending ( other than to hook up the tube).

[CarinaPDX]

The 12VDC LVM inflation pump has been a top-rated model for decades. It is very fast, and very compact. I have had one of the green (European made) models for 20 years and it continues to impress at inflating - and deflating - my RIB. It does not have the ability to generate the higher pressures needed for the HP inflatable floors. The current model is blue and made in China; it has added some thermal protection. Being small and powerful these are only to be used for inflating a single dinghy, then wait to cool down. It seems some rafters (much larger tubes than a dinghy) try to inflate one after another and burn them out. I would be reluctant to inflate a single river raft myself - that is really not what these were designed to do.



Greg

[jeepbluetj]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

What PSI are you able to use the Ryobi's high volume side to? How fast can you fill your dinghy? I have an air floor model that needs 9psi in the floor, but the tubes need just 3.3psi.... can the high volume side fill the 3.3psi tubes?

Thank,

Matt

It'll pump up bike tires, so 50 or so PSI. But it's very low volume on the hipressure side (it's a portable tire filler). I've got a 2 chamber dink, low pressure is full in 30 secs for each chamber, to get it to 3psi is about a min or so each side.

If an air floor is less volume, so you may be able to do it in a min or so to the higher pressure.

The auto pressure thing is a joke, so that's why I made a filler with a guage.

[Hud3]

I bought the smallest shop vac available. It did quadruple duty on our boat: quickly blew up the dinghy by inserting the hose into the vac's discharge, fully deflated the dinghy for rolling up using the vac, sucked all the water out of the freshwater tank for winterizing, and of course was used to vacuum cat hair and whatever on the cabin soles.

I ran it on AC shore power when docked, or off the inverter at anchor.

[NorthCoastJoe]

I have a Ryobi dual-function inflator it works great. I do white water rafting and we use the Ryobie to fill the volume of the rafts and top them off with a 6" barrel pump. In the earlier days the rafts were done by hand with the 6" barrel pump. They are fool proof, work every time.