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Old 11 March 2011, 17:12   #1
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built in tube inflation

has anyone tracked down or seen someone besides zodiac that sells components to install automatic inflation system and monitoring system for tubes
thanks for your help in advance
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Old 11 March 2011, 17:34   #2
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I think Henshaw have done this for the Dutch lifeboat service ? ( I think I recall the MD telling me that ..)

http://www.henshaw.co.uk/
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Old 12 March 2011, 15:01   #3
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auto inflation system

given a little ingenuity, a 12 compressor, some tubing and fittings I believe a home brewed unit could be put together fairly easily. I have plans for doing this to my boat, just haven't gotten around to it. Yet...

You may need to have pressure relief valves on your sponsons for this to work properly.
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Old 12 March 2011, 21:46   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pathalla View Post
You may need to have pressure relief valves on your sponsons for this to work properly.
More safely than properly.
The principal behind it is easy its just putting it into practice.
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Old 14 March 2011, 14:50   #5
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confused as to the comment

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More safely than properly.
The principal behind it is easy its just putting it into practice.
I am not sure I understand the comment, are you saying it's not proper to put overpressure relief valves on sponsons? If so why not? I await on pins and needles...
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Old 14 March 2011, 20:38   #6
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I am not sure I understand the comment, are you saying it's not proper to put overpressure relief valves on sponsons? If so why not? I await on pins and needles...
No need for pressure relief valves if your auto inflation system cuts off at the correct pressure.
Why is it "proper" to fit them on tubes.
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Old 14 March 2011, 22:03   #7
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I beg to differ

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No need for pressure relief valves if your auto inflation system cuts off at the correct pressure.
Why is it "proper" to fit them on tubes.
Well Chewy, this is where you and I will have a serious disagreement. On quality mil spec or commercial boats here (N. America) and there (Europe) over pressure relief valves are not unusual. This goes back to the quality of the boat you own. Some manufacturers omit this due to additional cost, I imagine the better ones don't. Most of the "recreational" boats i've seen don't have them but then, I haven't been everywhere. Consider this: Perhaps your boat is in the water on a cool day and you top off the tubes because they have gone soft. A common occurrence. Next day you pull it out and put it on the trailer, sits a few days and perhaps you get a hot day in the middle of the week. If you have dark tubes and it gets hot enough, not having pop off valves could be a real problem. The pressure will continue to increase as long as it keeps getting warmer. Now this does depend on your climate, maybe it doesn't get very warm over in the U.K. but here in the States and elsewhere it can get very warm.
My boat has nine pressure relief valves preset at 3 1/2 pounds, one advantage of having them is while inflating them you never have to worry about over-inflating them, no matter what your auto inflation system does.
I do not regret having this feature as a new set of sponsons (tubes) is quite pricey... I do believe pop off valves extend the life of the sponsons as well although I don't have any hard data, just my opinion, everybody has one.

After checking the average high/low temperatures the U.K. receives, it appears overpressure due to heat would never be a problem, not much variance. Or warm for that matter, how do you guys deal with that?
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Old 15 March 2011, 11:08   #8
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A serious disagreement eh!
My Avon tubes are twenty odd year old and don't have relief vales fitted. I understand what your saying but fitting relief valves doesn't mean you have a good set of tubes.

Back tonthe auto inflation system anyway....
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Old 15 March 2011, 22:59   #9
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Relief or not relief, that is the question

Quote:
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A serious disagreement eh!
My Avon tubes are twenty odd year old and don't have relief vales fitted. I understand what your saying but fitting relief valves doesn't mean you have a good set of tubes.

Back tonthe auto inflation system anyway....
Your point is taken, it doesn't take relief valves to make a good set of tubes/sponsons, my point is that you won't find these on a cheap set (tubes/sponsons) because those builders aren't concerned about quality only the bottom line. They will not add additional features/technology to what they build. A commercial or military boat demands it and generally has better quality tubes than what you see on a recreational boat. Given that they are usually used harder so it is understandable. On my boat the build of the tubes is Military specification with 60 oz. fabric, each chamber being internally bladdered (double walled) with the outer chamber being the 60 oz. fabric. In addition to this it has collar straps, a bazillion "d" rings for attaching gear, lines etc. and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, mil- spec fill and pressure relief valves, nice features any boat subjected to extremes in use or weather. You do not want to have to service (remove) a set of sponsons from these size boats due to a failure related to overpressure, relief valves make sense. Do you need them? Not necessarily but they are nice to have. Put as much air as you want to filling them, nothing happens, excess pressure bleeds off. In variable climates and extreme applications this is a nice feature.
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Old 16 March 2011, 07:55   #10
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So back to the original posters point.
I think we've got the message about relief valves.
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Old 05 April 2011, 19:52   #11
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ive seen quite a lot of pvc tubes with p/r valves fitted so i dont think its down to the quality of the tube but the preference of the manufacturer and customer .But back to the question about auto inflation it can be done with one inlet and lots of p/r valves when the tube is made or lots of inlets ,one per chamber and lots of p/r valves as retro fit but the pump /compressor needs either a pressure or timer switch fitted
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