[Andy Wren]

Short of Puff ,
Just started with a Shakey Tube ,finding blowing the thing up hard work on the lungs, Bailiff at Ravensthorpe said he thought I was due a heart attack !
What would you guys recomend for inflation ,the bumf that comes with the tube recomends not using pumps .
If no answer it may go on classified and I dont want that to happen !

[Hamish Young]

An airbed pump, preferably single action, should do the job fine. I have one of these:
http://www.outdoorfox.co.uk/3-Litre-Foot-Pump-p-145.html
Although as you say the tube you have is designed to be 'lung' inflated, so be careful as it will not take long to fill

[Andy Wren]

Hamish ,
thanks for that ,of to bash the plastic ,will probably leave it for a week to get any other votes !

[Peter McCallum]

Every so often Lidles have double action pumps for sale for mini-money . Argos also do them. I use these on my big caddis (same as Hamishes) which has funny valves to so you put a length of appropriate dia hose - I've 'aquired' a 2-3"  length of gas tubing from my school which fits over the valve (it also fits over my mates Shakey) and the fitting on the pump. Takes about 2 mins to fully inflate my caddis. However being a lazy blighter I've bought a wee electric pump from tesco which works off  mains or car sockets (honest I've just had a heart artery fixed) and this takes the hard work out of it.

[Iain Goolager]

Hi ACW,

I always inflate my S/Spear Exped. by mouth and although IMHO the process is surprisingly quick I must admit that I can get a bit giddy when I'm excited and try to inflate it too quickly. That said a hand/foot pump (or electric!) is a reasonable solution for introducing the 'volume' before pressuring up by mouth.

I just acquired a section of 16mm I.D. tubing which I used to top up the 'old lady' on the fin on Saturday & I'll use this to give the pumped inflation method a go tomorrow.

Don't put it in the classifieds - she won't let you down.

Thank god for decent valves - I remember blowing up two lilos on my last holiday and I had to sit down for a good 40 min's after!

Iain

[Mike Barrio]

Hi folks

Be careful with pumps, I have mentioned this in the past and Steve does so in the instruction leaflet that comes with a new Sparton float tube ....... lifejacket style valves do not like pumps and should only be inflated by mouth or after a number of inflations they start to leak.

Something that I have noticed, but forgotten to mention before is that this is one of the big differences between a Sparton and the Shakespeare The earlier Sparton float tubes had silver grey bladders which Steve made "in house" and these had valves with a larger diameter which were much, much easier to inflate by mouth ........ very easy in fact!

The Shakespeare yellow bladders have a smaller valve which feels more restrictive when inflating and in my experience requires about twice as much "puff"

I have also noticed that since the Shakespeares came on to the market, Steve has started to use these yellow bladders in some of the Spartons so to be honest, if I personally were ordering another Sparton from Steve, I would make a point of asking him to make sure that it is fitted with his original bladders.

Hope you find this useful
Best wishes
Mike Barrio