Tubes on a Humber Destroyer

[BogMonster]

Does anybody know if the valves in my Humber Destroyer 5.8 (made in 2000) would be likely to have pressure relief valves -- how would I tell by looking at it? The valve has a thing in the middle which if you poke it with your finger lets air out but I don't really know what I am looking at/for....

I have inflated mine a bit as they were quite soft when I got it, and because it is moored to the pontoon using the points on the tube, they were twisting the tubes in windy conditions which I figured was not good for the tube. However it is very temperature dependent - on a cold morning they are quite floppy (ooer) but I don't want to overdo it otherwise on a warm day there might be a bang! Also it feels much better with the tubes a bit harder, to start with it felt a bit like driving a jelly....

I suppose Humber might keep build records of this, the previous owner didn't know anyway, but I wondered if I could get a quick answer on here

Thanks

Stephen

[Alex Brown]

Yeah, if you have pressure release valves, if they're anything like my Destroyer, you'll find them a few centimetres to the left or the right of the main air valve that you pump air into to fill up the tubes - see attached pic.

I remember when I bought my boat, Humber were very insistant that the tubes had pressure release valves in them cos they're quite dark so heat up more in the summer. As far as I know, with lighter coloured tubes you can get away without them, so if you have ligher tubes on your rib, they may not have been installed.

-Alex

[Andy Moore]

I am also concerned about the pressure in my tubes. They are darkish blue and the hardness of the tubes seems to vary quite a lot, even at this time of year.

Gawd knows what is going to happen in the summer heat?????

[BogMonster]

Thanks Alex.

Sadly being a complete dolt I went ribbing today (in fact twice - the first one being a test run this morning after I had been tinkering with bits and bobs) and I forgot to look at the tubes .... doh!!!

But I am pretty sure mine don't have the second thing next to the filler valve like yours, so I guess that means they don't have relief valves. The tubes are orange, or at least they will be when I clean them up - I don't think they have seen any attention since new and there is rather a lot of UV under the ozone hole...

Can the relief valves be retro-fitted or is it a factory job to do this? I would really like to have the tubes harder than I do, but I don't want to blow anything up!