Who has an electric inflator that they would recommend fo an i11s? I prefer a self contained unit with a battery (but will consider 12v corded). I prefer a unit that fully inflates the kayak versus needing the manual pump to finish the inflation.
I can find some models, but don’t know if they fit the inflation port on the i11s.
Hopefully someone can update this, and beware I only go electric for other inflatables, but as of a couple years ago the consensus seemed to be:
- Hobie uses a slightly unusual valve, something like a short halkey-roberts vs a long. You usually can buy or improvise adaptors if none comes with the pump.
- Only turbine pumps are fast, but they absolutely cannot reach the max pressure you need regardless if they claim to. Buy a pressure gauge and weep.
- Only piston pumps can reach the max pressure you need, but they take forever, could overheat before finishing, and could overpressure and burst your Hobie. You just reminded me there was one piston pump a lot of folks here liked but I stopped using it for anything due to slowness. I think it had a cig lighter plug.
- The platinum solution is to get a combo turbine/piston pump, sold for instance by West Marine. It has huge alligator clips which one person here found usable attached to a small lithium battery instead of car battery. Only get the top model which show both the intended AND actual pressure. I started with one only displaying intended but it can run forever if there is a leak, while I am wondering if things will burst.
- A pragmatic solution is a new kind of hand pump that is optimized for both low and high pressure. It came with my sort of oversize no-pedal version of i11s and makes pumping super easy and fast even with my injured back. It has a narrow pump embedded into a wide cylindrical pump, with a switcheroo. Of all of my dozen or so hand pumps, some of which offer a pull/push option, this new one is revolutionary - it makes me feel like superman rather than tiredman.
Update: I think the piston pump folks here liked was the Sevylor 15psi rated, and it might work ok for the small air volume of the board style yak. In the long initial phase without much backpressure it seems to overspeed and vibrate, but...
There is a new combo turbine/piston with integrated battery that I would give a try if it wasn't so expensive. I think I first saw it on Australian web sites, but now more widely seen. Maybe like this one? (the same models tend to reappear under different brand names): https://www.boatstogo.com/digital-electric-pump.asp
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