The raft pumps and inflatable kayak inflators we inventory include Bravo / Scoprega, Carlson, BlowPro, Salamander, AIRE Hurricanes, K-Pump and our own Top-Off pumps. (EZ-Pump for military valves are available special order). It’s fair to say we carry more inflators than any other stocking retailer, with more than twenty varieties. We also stock two pressure gauges that will cover most boat owner’s needs. The foot, cylinder, and barrel pumps, and 12 volt & 110 volt electric inflators below can be used for most types of rafts and inflatables, however we do not carry high pressure electric pumps for inflatable paddle boards. We have found that most of the SUP 12 volt inflators simply are not reliable over the long haul and tend to make customers unhappy, so we will be avoiding those for now. We do have two foot pumps with higher pressure chambers, mentioned below, but these still won’t get to the 15 or 16 p.s.i. numbers that some SUP owners need.
At this point in time we are stocking two 12 volt units and three 110 volt pumps. We recently dropped the Mastercraft Big Red for reasons detailed in the write-up for it, which will remain on our site for the time being even though we are not carrying it now.
Bravo 9 and Bravo 5 foot pumps feature secondary top-off chambers. These two kayak pumps can achieve several times the pressure of any single chambered foot pump. For most boats where recommended inflation pressures are 3 p.s.i. or less, you want to stick with a “regular” foot pump. For the side tubes on AIRE, Grabner, and Incept boats, and high pressure sportboat air floors, these dual chamber pumps are worth looking at. Note that most hand pumps (except the big 6″ diameter barrel models) can also achieve higher pressures, sometimes up to 6 p.s.i. The exact maximum depends which model we’re talking about.
Occasionally we see a footpump with a small hole in the front center of the bellows. This is often caused by the bellows getting pinched in the internal spring, and it can be prevented by not stomping the bellows plates together hard. If you do get a hole in the bellows of any kayak or raft foot pump though, a drop or two of Aquaseal (available at REI and any scuba shop) may be able to seal it up. Also, should your pump hose develop a crack near the middle (instead of at the end, where you can just cut off a few inches), a section of standard 3/4″ i.d. garden hose works well as a replacement.
The hand pumps we carry include six stand-up models with hoses and foot bases, as well as the “cylinder-only” style like the K-Pumps.
Many people ask us if a certain pump comes with the exact adapter for their inflatable. If that adapter requires that you twist it into the valve in the same way as the valve’s cap, the answer is no. If you have some odd threaded thing where the pump is actually supposed to screw on, again, no, pumps don’t come with these specialized adapters. Worldwide there must be well over a dozen twist-in style valve adapters in use, but they all have different diameters and different depths as far as how long those little bent “fingers” on the adapter need to be. It is impossible for any pump maker to include every adapter, and if they did it would drive the pump prices up dramatically. Your boat should have come with whatever is required, and while we do carry Summit twist-adapters, any others will probably need to be sourced from wherever you bought the boat from. The confusion on this whole issue happens because often, when people first buy a boat, it may come with a pump that the boat maker already equipped with the correct twist-in adapter. But this is something they did, not the pump manufacturer.
This section of our site was updated Fall, 2020.
