My Bravo 1 and 2 foot pumps are about 7 years old and I’d like to replace them.
I have an electric pump that I use but its bulky and heavy and I don’t bring it with me on the water.
I’ve looked into the “KPump” 40 and 100 but they seem so expensive. Are they easier to use and will it take a lot longer to inflate a kayak with one of these?
I’m open to other suggestions for pumps also. I 'm looking for something as good or better than the Bravo/Scoprega I and II.
K-Pump
I use a K-Pump (I think the 40?) and I like it. Easy to use, inflates very quickly and stows nicely in my inflatable. The only problem is that the nozzle on the K-Pump can be hazardous to military valves. The pump comes with a right angle adapter to avoid the tip of the pump snapping off the top of the spring on the valve. I unfortunately managed to break a valve on my sunny this weekend because of this. So I’m planning to adapt a piece of hose to work with the pump to avoid this.
I like the Bravo footpumps but I would go through 1 or 2 a year. The K-pump looks like it will last me for a while.
Dual action hand pump?
Wouldn’t something like this work better?
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=dual+action+hand+pump&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=6492567244741443135&sa=X&ei=-kG3Tfi2O-jp0gGU8uEC&ved=0CC4Q8wIwAA#
Not sure if this one in particular is the heavy duty version (up to 15PSI or so) or a regular pool-toy variety, but either one should work on an inflatable that does not require much pressure (if it is of the drop-stitch variety and needs 6-15 PSI pressure, then you need a good pump that ideally switches from dual action to single action to make these last few minutes of pumping easier).
hand pumps
Those work okay but I have broken a couple of them as well. And they don’t tend to store well in the kayak, but they work.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that even though the K-Pump is single action, it actually inflates quicker than either the foot pump or the double action hand pumps. You do have to watch the pressure though, because the K-Pump can easily output more PSI’s then most inflatables can handle.