www.iFourWinns.com

Hi!
I'm trying to reduce the number of items I carry on the boat, so I'm wondering what everyone is using to inflate their inflatables? I do all my inflating on the boat, so 110V isn't an option.

My first one was like this. It filled my Super Mable, but I had to purchase a double action hand pump to top it off. It went out pretty quickly.



My current one is like this. Faster CFM and a little more psi, but still have to use the hand pump. It's been good, but it's starting to squeal and I had to fix power switch last year.



I've ordered a pump like this today. It's a Rule ID20. Higher CFM and 2.6 psi. I'm hoping this will do the trick.



Looks like the ultimate one is this. It's the Island inflator. You can set the psi and it seems to be quick. A little pricey, though. You can see it in action here-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2UpkAxKdQM


Rick

I have to follow this one cuz I am also looking for something to blow up things while on the water. My current cheapy does the job, but takes forever.

_________________
1998 Baja Boss 252 7.4L MPI Bravo 1 (SOLD)
2007 FW H200SS 5.0GXI (Sold)
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 Crew 6.0L (tow vehicle)
1991 FW 170 Freedom 4.3L (SOLD)

I bought an Ozark Trail(?) inflator at Walmart for around $20 about 4-5 years ago. It still has enough juice to blow up one tube on it's internal batt. It can be charged from either AC (I have a 400W inverter mounted in the boat), or DC (I have an extra 3-plug DC outlet), and can run from either internal, or direct from DC. It's about the same size as the Air-head one you show, but never have to "top-off" if I'm plugged in.

I also use as a de-flator, because I can't really store anything blowed up and still expect to walk around!

_________________
Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

I have this one from Overton's:
http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product ... rchID=4006

And also one like the Airhead inflator that Roick posted a picture of.

_________________
2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

EvilZ,
I was thinking of getting that one. It's just that I have a Horizon 180 and space is at a premium. According to what little specs there is on these things, that one and the one I ordered (Rule ID20) are comparable in psi (not in price) and, hopefully, smaller. I wish they'd post more specs on these in their ads. It looks like there's only a few makers of these inflators. Then the different retailers have them branded with their own company logos. Maybe I should ask each maker/retailer to loan a sample so I can do and independent review and post the results!

Rick

Let us know how the Rule works out! Looks like a pretty nice unit....

Erik

_________________
2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

I watched the video and found the website on Island Inflatable- but it is only available in Autralia and New Zealand? How about North Carolina, USA?

[quote="EvilZ"]I have this one from Overton's:
http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product ... rchID=4006

I have this one too.... I use it to inflate and deflate.. works great and its pretty quick. Only problem is the ear piercing noise it makes can be deafening.

_________________
2008 FW F204 - 5.0 VP "Stand On It"
Former Boat: Larson 186 LXI - 4.3 VP

240 Joe-
I found some on eBay...ships from FL. $149 + $9 shipping.

http://desc.shop.ebay.com/i.html?LH_PrefLoc=1&LH_TitleDesc=1&_trkparms=65%253A15%257C66%253A1%257C39%253A1&rt=nc&_nkw=island%20inflator%20pump&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1581&_pgn=2

Also did a Google "Shopping" with lots of links back to eBay-

http://www.google.com/search?q=island+inflator+pump&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=island+inflator+pump&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=wNF&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbm=shop&ei=eaTxTYXgJqjWiAKK-8DqBw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=5&ved=0CBsQ_AUoBA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=99d1c19f91e36442&biw=1280&bih=881

Rick

I have the same one as EvilZ, it's small and fits under the rear jump seat next to the battery. Plus, it has the capacity to quickly inflate and deflate out Super Mable. I wouldn't hesitate to buy the same inflator again.

_________________
-Rob.


Current boat: 2011 Yamaha AR210
Previous boat: 1998 Horizon RX 4.3GL SX

I have the airhead unit (first pic in Rick's msg). It's been working fine, but I only have 2 single person tubes to blow up and typically only blow up one, so I'm not giving it a workout by any means.

_________________
'99 Horizon 200

Well, I thought I currently had the 2nd pump, but I now remember I loaned it out and haven't gotten it back. I'm using a Coleman pump similar to the Airhead. I just did a test on it. I filled and deflated my 3 person Super Mable and timed it.

First, the intake (or deflate) opening on the side of the inflator is 1-1/4", while the fill nozzle is 3/4". The adapter reduces down to a 5/8" opening. For filling and deflating, I didn't use the multivalve (as that further reduces the opening size)...I went directly into the raft opening. It took 2min 30sec to fill and deflate the mable with the adapter (seems like it takes forever on the water, but I do use the multivalve then). Without the adapter it took 2mins to fill, while I had to use the adapter to deflate it because the opening on the side of the inflator is too big for the raft. I would still have to pump it up by hand to full capacity.

The new pump should be here Wednesday, so I'll test it then and post the results.

Rick

This will be a long post, so please bear with me.

Today I received my Rule ID20 inflator. Some first impressions - It's heavy for it's small size. That weight is all in the motor. Has some weird adapters. Instead of an on/off rocker or slide switch, it has what they call a grip switch (the red ribbed plastic). You press and hold the switch end near the impeller, and it's on. You release it and it's off. The inflate and deflate ports are rectangle shaped (1/2"W x 3/8"H - kinda small).


Now some comparisons with my Coleman inflator


-----------------Wt.-----------Overall Size----------Impeller size
Coleman------15ozs----------7.25"L x 4"W------1/2"W x 3.25"Across

ID20--------1lb,10.5ozs------5"L x 3.75"W------3/16"W x 2.5"Across

So, the ID20 is physically smaller but heavier, while its impeller is also smaller and thinner.

Here's some pics of the Coleman, these being of the inside

Small little motor.


Large and wide impeller. You can see where something got ingested and broke part of the vanes off.


Thin and smaller impeller, but much larger motor. It's not a direct drive, so there must be a belt inside. That might go bad in the future.

So now the physical test. I got the adapters out and finally figured out which ones I needed (there's another one but it fell out of the box before I took the picture...it has the U-shaped cutouts).


(L to R) I had to connect the correct size nozzle to the ribbed tube and then to the rectangle one (which is needed for everything, so I'd better not lose it or I'm SOL-but they're available for another $10) which goes into the inflate port.


I hooked it up to a fully charged 12V battery, and pressed on the switch. That high torque motor made it twist in my hand. Connected it to the Mable, and started the timer....

Wow..it's a little loud, with a high-pitch squeal (but aren't most of them).


Saw this label on the electrical cord. Oh...

Well, it took about the same amount of time to fill the Mable to the point that the Coleman did (about 2mins), but then it kept on going. In fact, it kept filling to the point that I thought the raft might pop, so I shut it off. It did what it says it does, filling the Mable to full without any topping off by hand. This is because of the motor. It has a lot of torque which keeps inflating the raft where others would've stopped. In an experiment, I held a Boston valve adapter to the inflating end of the ID20 and got a 2psi reading on a digital tire gauge. I got nothing on the Coleman. I'll inflate the raft using both pumps and take readings later.

I have to stop with my review at this point, as I think there is a problem with my ID20. I've emailed Rule and told them of the problem and want to give them a few days to respond before I say what the problem is and their reply. Either way, I'll post what I think the problem is and Rule's response, if any.

Rick

Rule quickly replied to my email, and is sending me a new inflator. I send mine back to them so they can look at it and see if there is a problem, or if it just so happened that I got a bad unit (it happens...). When I get the new inflator, I'll finish my review.

Rick

My final opinion of the Rule ID20-
Ok, so I've received my new Rule inflator. To backtrack a little, the way the grip switch on the Rule works is that there's two small pieces of copper plate that make contact when you press on the red plastic handle (the upper portion gets pushed down, the lower portion is riveted to the motor casing).

The problem I had with my original inflator is that when I first received it, I hooked it up and had it lying on the ground ready for use. I accidentally bumped the grip switch with my knee, the contacts fused and it took off running. I had to whack it to make it stop. That's when I started looking closer at what was happening. I found that if you bump the switch (on/off quickly, short bursts), the switch would arc and fuse together and I'd have to give it a whack to get the switch to release. This is not how you'd normally use it. It works fine if you press and hold the grip switch, then release. You can see where the switch arced, then fused on the lower portion.

After bumping the switch a few times, it got to the point where no amount of smacking it would get it to release. I had to disconnect it from the battery. The bottom connection point was pulling up from it's original flat position. With the switch fused, I reconnected the cable lead to the battery and there was a big spark, because this inflator can pull up to 25A.


Now for a heads up - Pay attention to the warnings on the electrical cord. Typically, the hookup battery is in the engine compartment where gasoline fumes can concentrate (my boat mfgr. has a warning sticker on the boat and in the owners manual - "Before starting engine, check engine bilge compartment for gasoline or vapors, and operate blower for four minutes, and verify blower operation"). My concern was that at some point someone uses the inflator, the switch arcs and fuses, the person can't turn it off, so they disconnect the inflator at the battery and forget that the switch is fused. Sometime later, someone goes to use the inflator, hooks up the cables to the battery without first clearing the vapors, there's a huge spark from the battery connection, and an accident happens.

Again, heed the warnings that are supplied by the manufacturer. Wouldn't want anyone to get hurt. I recommended to Rule that they reinforce the "flammable vapours" warning by making it stand out more, using a larger, capitalized, bold and red colored, font. Add the same warning to the instruction booklet with the same large colored font. On the technical side (my .02 cents), I recommended moving the bottom rivet more towards the contact point so the bottom connector doesn't get pulled up easily. The top connector needs some more upward tension to it, so it's not as apt to fuse. I don't know if an insulated (plastic?) spring between the two contacts is feasible. I'm guessing that they don't want to use a traditional on/off switch because of the sparking issue if the switch were left on and the cables then connected.

Rule was very receptive to my concerns and were quick in exchanging the inflator. They're currently examining the inflator I returned.

I'm not able to test the pressure of the raft because my raft won't work with a Boston valve.

I'm keeping the Rule inflator, because of the pressure it supplies. I won't have to top off my Mable. One thing I didn't like is that it has that weird rectangular fitting for the adapters. If you lose it and don't have a backup, you're sunk. I wish it had a typical round fitting. I'm sure something could be rigged temporarily. Otherwise, I would definitely recommend this inflator to others.

Rick