Not necessarily
On many whitewater streams in the Southeast there is no developed access. Parking may be limited to very small gravel pull outs big enough for a single vehicle and barely enough room to get your tires off the road bed, with a steep bank, cliff rock face, or dense woods on the other side. Often it is necessary to park in a small space on the non-river side of the road and rush boats across when there is a break in the traffic.
Sometimes there is no parking at all and it is necessary to quickly unload boats from a vehicle in the road way.
Obviously, these are all instances in which a 12V DC pump is not of much use, regardless of cord length.
Perhaps where you paddle the access points all have valet parking. If so, you have no worries. Just have the valet blow up your bags.
a video of the bag method
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duIIaaKo9n8
or check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duIIaaKo9n8
epoxy fumes
well then run across the road with the equipment then come back for the filled bags.
yeah and how many parking areas ? gotta map ?
a collection of bogus plates would help…
Calhoun County
Stars and Bars
3
The valet parks my Cayenne and carries my equipment down…pumps the bags and caters lunch. nyah nyah…
Foot pump…
Easier on de back!
FE
Resurrecting a Coleman pump
I'm not sure why you are throwing the pump and battery away when it dies.
I had rechargeable drill batteries that died. I didn't want to buy new ones if I didn't have to, so I took them to my local battery store. The vendor said if there are screws to take the housing apart, they can replace the batteries with new heavy-duty ones; was done and I'm still using them.
So, when my Coleman pump died, I unscrewed the screws, bought a replacement battery (it is a single, sealed lead battery), put it in, reassembled (I stripped a couple of the screws, so zip-ties hold it together), charged it up and it is recharging and working like a charm.
I deflate my WW canoe bags (60") every time. If those at the put-in with hand pumps didn't keep asking to use my pump, I probably would get through most of the season with only a recharge or 2.
About holding the inflating nozzle on to an airbag filler tube - Go to the hardware store and buy 2 lengths of clear, plastic tubing. One is probably 5/8" ID, plus/minus, and the other is probably 1/2" ID, plus/minus. Slip the smaller tube into the larger to connect them; slip the smaller tube over the filler tube; slip the larger tube over the inflating nozzle. Inflate at will.
EDIT: 1 piece of 5/8" tubing fits over the Coleman inflating nozzle with some encouragement (heat it first with hot water to get it to stretch), and snuggly fits over the filler tube on the air bag. The 2-piece system is to fill through the dump valve (my Mohawk bags have an interior flap that makes the opening smaller) which is the way I usually fill the bags.
Another good idea
Your method for making an “adapter” with hoses of two different sizes is another neat idea. My hand pump is good enough for me as long as I can use both hands, so this is another trick I’ll probably try.
This is interesting.
I didn’t realize there were that many OCers who didn’t leave their bags inflated in their cages.
Mine stay in …
only if I am paddling multiple days same location. Otherwise, I take them out on the way there and on the way home. Long high-speed driving beats the bags up too much in my opinion. My first set of bag developed leaks when I left them in the canoe while traveling. My second set of bags are 20 years old and still hold air with my new approach.
same here
I have damaged two sets of bags with long, high speed drives. Likelihood of damage is diminished by keeping the bags fully inflated but doing so can require multiple stops to adjust bag pressure with changes in ambient temperature and elevation. Adding air to the bags can be difficult if you have multiple canoes on the car since the filler valve on one of the bags will be inconvenient to access.
Bags stay in my decked boats (kayaks and C1s) as they remain well protected from wind buffeting.
Paul Mason leaves his bags in but for distance travel he covers them with plates of Coroplast (like the stuff political signs are made out of), cut to the size and shape of the boat and slid under the bag cage lacing.
maybe cause I don’t have
a local battery store.
Good idea
about the Coroplast .
Foot pump
I like the idea of a foot pump (compared to a hand pump) since it allows you to use both hands to hold hose and bag together.