Best inflator?

jcr159

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Ok, weird question....

For our first season, we have a number of floats, a towable, and an inflatable kayak that we keep on board. I bought a cheap $20 inflator/deflator that runs off the cigarette lighter that does the job. It's really loud, and not the fastest thing in the world.

Based on how much we use it (multiple times each day out on the water), I probably should invest in something a little nicer. Ideally much faster, and quieter if possible....

Anyone have recommendations? even better would be pressure options, as the kayak can't be inflated more than 1psi... but i can always carry a second pump for it if needed...

This is what i have now...

Thanks!
 
I have same one as you. I had bought a fancy smancy expensive $125 one and it wasn’t much faster or quieter than what you have. I had both at same time and inflated identical tubes. With almost zero difference I returned the pricey one.
 
I have same one as you. I had bought a fancy smancy expensive $125 one and it wasn’t much faster or quieter than what you have. I had both at same time and inflated identical tubes. With almost zero difference I returned the pricey one.
The FOMO is real!

I seriously want to buy a bunch of them from Amazon and test them head to head…. At least I could return them easily…
 
Do it, and give a full report. A bunch of us would appreciate it. The one that I had had a cooling fan and said it could run longer which may be an advantage to some.
 
Since we have shore power at our marina, I use the exhaust of a "dedicated "2 gallon shop vac . Is it noisy ? Yep, but it gets the job done fast.
 
Since we have shore power at our marina, I use the exhaust of a "dedicated "2 gallon shop vac . Is it noisy ? Yep, but it gets the job done fast.
that's genius... i have all DeWalt tools, and there's a "shop vac" that they sell that runs on the batteries... wonder if it would work... hmmm...

I'm always up for a little redneck engineering...

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As long as it has an exhaust it should work . My 2 gallon is a craftsman . I also have a battery Dewalt wet/dry hand held ,but no way to connect that exhaust
 
I have a dewalt battery or cord wet/dry with exhaust. I don’t think it would be any faster than the one above. I also have the battery dewalt shop blower, it definitely would be faster than the expensive one I had, or the one above. It comes with attachments for that use. I use it to blow off boat before going out or washing. I also use it to blow water off it and the cars: no water spots! I’m in saltwater and wouldn’t want it trashed so don’t take it out. It definitely would be a good dual purpose blower for you lakers.
 
Ok your in LUCK because I know what the Best Inflator is. It's any 18+ volt Shop blower with the right Reducer Head. BOSCH Makita Dewalt or Milwaukee. They all make a shop blower, I happen to have a Bosch 18v Blower and I had my brother 3d Print a custom nozzle cause it didn't come with the right size. But I know the Milwaukee comes standard with the right size nozzle for most inflatables, Im sure Dewalt makes one as well
Milwaukee
https://a.co/d/3EQQ7vS
Makita
Bosch

The nozzel comes off the blower on the Millwaukee and attaches to the intake of the blower and works as a "de flator" same go's for my Bosch I cant speak for the others, These blowers are not only great for super fast and some what quiet fill-ups (Compared the the ear screeching 12v fillers) I HATE THEM.
The blower stay's on my boat all year it also works great as you guessed it "A BLOWER" it cleans the hell out of your boat in no time dust and leaves go flying. you would be surprised at how much dust you blow out of the boat, so The tool dose more then Just fill and empty toys, I can highly recommend getting one. I have done a Blower test using the 12v blowers to fill up a huge floating toy Vs my Bosch 18v and its like 3x faster, I mean the second you attach it to the toy that thing is filling up big time
 
Ok your in LUCK because I know what the Best Inflator is. It's any 18+ volt Shop blower with the right Reducer Head. BOSCH Makita Dewalt or Milwaukee. They all make a shop blower, I happen to have a Bosch 18v Blower and I had my brother 3d Print a custom nozzle cause it didn't come with the right size. But I know the Milwaukee comes standard with the right size nozzle for most inflatables, Im sure Dewalt makes one as well
Milwaukee
https://a.co/d/3EQQ7vS
Makita
Bosch

The nozzel comes off the blower on the Millwaukee and attaches to the intake of the blower and works as a "de flator" same go's for my Bosch I cant speak for the others, These blowers are not only great for super fast and some what quiet fill-ups (Compared the the ear screeching 12v fillers) I HATE THEM.
The blower stay's on my boat all year it also works great as you guessed it "A BLOWER" it cleans the hell out of your boat in no time dust and leaves go flying. you would be surprised at how much dust you blow out of the boat, so The tool dose more then Just fill and empty toys, I can highly recommend getting one. I have done a Blower test using the 12v blowers to fill up a huge floating toy Vs my Bosch 18v and its like 3x faster, I mean the second you attach it to the toy that thing is filling up big time
Brilliant! I love multi function tools! As Alton would say: the only uni tasker allowed in his kitchen is the fire extinguisher!
 
Ok your in LUCK because I know what the Best Inflator is. It's any 18+ volt Shop blower with the right Reducer Head. BOSCH Makita Dewalt or Milwaukee. They all make a shop blower, I happen to have a Bosch 18v Blower and I had my brother 3d Print a custom nozzle cause it didn't come with the right size. But I know the Milwaukee comes standard with the right size nozzle for most inflatables, Im sure Dewalt makes one as well
Milwaukee
https://a.co/d/3EQQ7vS
Makita
Bosch

The nozzel comes off the blower on the Millwaukee and attaches to the intake of the blower and works as a "de flator" same go's for my Bosch I cant speak for the others, These blowers are not only great for super fast and some what quiet fill-ups (Compared the the ear screeching 12v fillers) I HATE THEM.
The blower stay's on my boat all year it also works great as you guessed it "A BLOWER" it cleans the hell out of your boat in no time dust and leaves go flying. you would be surprised at how much dust you blow out of the boat, so The tool dose more then Just fill and empty toys, I can highly recommend getting one. I have done a Blower test using the 12v blowers to fill up a huge floating toy Vs my Bosch 18v and its like 3x faster, I mean the second you attach it to the toy that thing is filling up big time
Lol, I just looked up the dewalt version (which comes with the adapters for inflatables), and it’s rated for 100CFM. That’s literally 100x more output than my little 12v unit. Guess this is my answer!

 
I bought a kobalt battery operated from Lowe’s online. Works great. It’s fast and deflates items as well as inflates. I also use the battery to run a small kobalt fan on the boat also. I have never exhausted the battery running the fan and inflating items. I use it to inflate a big mable, rafts and other items. Big mable takes about 2 minutes.
 
Many of the cheap high CFM pumps max out at 3-5psi so we also have a manual inflator to top off at 8-10psi. I think we spent $35 between the two.

Some of the more expensive pumps $75+) have two stages where the 1st is for flow and the 2nd is for max psi.

Example

 
My Bosch has no problem getting an Inflatable Mattress bed super hard, not sure what the PSI is but it has no problem pumping a Tube all the way up. I have found that cobalt blowers to be rather lack luster. My friend has one and it’s more of a toy than a tool compared to the other stuff I have played with
 
I can’t believe how many cool tools Ryobi has. When I started getting serious about making things that was all I had. After I had collected like 20 tools (all of them were the Blue Color so that tells you how old they were I decided to sell them All and Start fresh. This time with Bosch. But I still am Fond of the Ryobi. The thing I think tips the scale for the Blower Vs the HP pump is that the blower is NOT a 1 show pony like high pressure pump is. You can use the hell out of the blower in your boat and car for more than just inflating toys. Only down side it looks like the Ryobi blower is Not plug & play for water toys. It looks like Ryobi doesn't include the right nozzle tip that would allow you to inflate & deflate. And 1 more thing. The blower works best with a Big battery the small battery’s that come in most kits your run time is low. The big dog battery does the trick. I keep the blower on the boat all year and swap out the battery every 2nd or 3rd outting. Bonus we go camping and the bower works great for cleaning out the tent and cleaning up your gear
 

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I can’t believe how many cool tools Ryobi has. When I started getting serious about making things that was all I had. After I had collected like 20 tools (all of them were the Blue Color so that tells you how old they were I decided to sell them All and Start fresh. This time with Bosch. But I still am Fond of the Ryobi. The thing I think tips the scale for the Blower Vs the HP pump is that the blower is NOT a 1 show pony like high pressure pump is. You can use the hell out of the blower in your boat and car for more than just inflating toys. Only down side it looks like the Ryobi blower is Not plug & play for water toys. It looks like Ryobi doesn't include the right nozzle tip that would allow you to inflate & deflate. And 1 more thing. The blower works best with a Big battery the small battery’s that come in most kits your run time is low. The big dog battery does the trick. I keep the blower on the boat all year and swap out the battery every 2nd or 3rd outting. Bonus we go camping and the bower works great for cleaning out the tent and cleaning up your gear
MrG. Totally agree with blower on the boat. I keep this Milwaukee one on the boat as it’s the perfect size to store onboard and plenty powerful for what I need.
Milwaukee Spot Blower
I learned quickly that cleaning bugs off the white interior was so much easier with a blower, so no one smears them into the interior!
 
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