# Electric Pump



## thaGoat (May 30, 2011)

I realize this has been discussed before, but it seems like it’s been a couple years. I’ve been using a cheap Home Depot small shop vac to inflate my boat. Thinking about promoting that shop vac to full time Traeger duty. 
What are using for electric pumps to blow up their big raft, beside the NRS Screamer...


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## Critter70 (Nov 22, 2016)

The my blow pro blower is awesome! Call Bobby at profish WV, or check out his website, he is the RMR rep in that area. Bought one of these guys last year and for the price it’s by far the best little blower I have seen, and it sucks as well. Will top off my E150 hard, no barrel pump needed, and that’s not an exaggeration. He had them on sale a few days ago, check them out it’s a good product for sure.


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## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

I've had great success with my Makita battery powered blower. Its small, fast and pretty reasonably priced. All the major tool manufacturers make a similar one, so if you have battery powered tools you can get one that works with those batteries.

You'll have to top it off with a barrel pump though. I have to put 20-30 pumps in each of my chambers after doing most of it with the blower. I haven't timed it...but I wanna say less then 5 minutes to inflate the whole boat to 90% with the blower. You can get about 3-5 boats in before the battery starts to die too. Works great to deflate the boat as well.

If you are talking about doing it at home before the trip...the one that Critter mentioned seems awesome. Kinda hard to find places to plug it in at a lot of boat ramps though...so for me its the batter powered blower.


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## MNichols (Nov 20, 2015)

I have a Dewalt battery powered blower https://thd.co/3cYvOiK that I use on the road to combat changes in altitude softening my boat while it's on it's trailer, is great for that. At home I use a Mastercraft Big Red Blower, my choice as it also deflates and sucks the tubes down for a nice small roll up. If I were to buy another it'd be the Man O Rubber mini hurricaine blower, that unit will inflate your boat hand pump hard.. https://bit.ly/2Sqt99v Pricey though....


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## dsrtrat (May 29, 2011)

Check out the Rigid 1680 shop vac with detachable power head for at home use. I have an older model that we have raced with a Big Red Blower and it pushes about the same amount of air. You can have a raft pump and a shop vac for about $150. I have had the older model for quite a few years and it's still going strong. When I don't have AC power I use a LVM 12 volt blower and they work well if you don't overheat them and DON'T run the engine while connected to a car battery. Both these pumps do require a top off pump but I don't mind doing a top off manually as I like to be able to regulate my tube pressure as I go.


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## Whitewater Worthy Equip (Dec 11, 2013)

I have been using the Milwaukee cordless vac/ blower. It’s not as fast or high pressure as the master craft red gun but way more convenient. They also make a small leaf blower but it’s a bit weaker.


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## riversoul (May 12, 2005)

I also have the Makita 18v blower ...I am impressed at how well it works. love the cordless ...inflated 2 16'cats and a 14'self bailer with battery to spare and did it fast !!


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## unlucky (Sep 2, 2012)

Nothing beats the man of rubber inflators. Super fast and blows boats up to pressure too. You need power at put in or a generator so it’s reserved for the big group trips and home. 

https://rivergear.com/product/man-of-rubber-mini-hurricane-turbo-raft-inflator/

If ya see us at the boat ramp you are usually welcome to use it too!

We turned an adapter on the lathe that hooks on the back of the unit and allows it to deflate tubes too.


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## DoStep (Jun 26, 2012)

I have a rather large doodle that gets quite dirty ands needs a hosing off on an almost daily basis. I have a combo hot/cold hose bib so it's not too brutal, but this led to a need for something to dry him off before he comes back into the house. It led me to this: 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PLG4275/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It comes with an attachment that fits my valves and I'll say it will match the performance of big red blower, rubber man, and anything else that cost double, with little to no top off necessary. You can even inflate with warm air if you want. The doodle loves it too. The only issue is the short hose so I have to tote the unit around the boats, but that is no big deal. 

I am always amazed by the pricing of stuff marketed to rafters...


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## MNichols (Nov 20, 2015)

I'm not sure I need to hear any more about your dirty "doodle".......


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## Critter70 (Nov 22, 2016)

I agree the man of rubber is the industry standard for good blowers, but check out that blow pro, blows just as well, half the price. Been really impressed with this little guy.


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## jerseyjeff (Apr 16, 2016)

I have tried 12 volt and 110 options. I have a tundra with an optima yellow top in it... for 12 volt I have used an LVM for about a decade, and then it puked it burned up the switch and I found a rule knock off, and it puked a bearing. The high pitched whine is enough to give you tinitus. I have also run an airpig, and the NRS knock off of the lvm. all meh. Back in my guiding days we ran a man-of-rubber pump of a Genny, and we could do 14 boats, and very little top off. depending on the statute of limitations, we may or may not have held the blow-off valve in so we would not have to hand top. 
My current set up is the top half of a craftsman shopvac blower run through a 2800 cobra inverter. I took a set of 8 gauge jumper cables, cut the handles off one end crimped on lugs, and that rocks. My buddy just got a high flow dog drier and it has impressive stats, so we will be trying that with the inverter too. 
I think 110 is the best way to go, I also think there is a theoretical limit to how many CFM of air we can fit past a leafield per minute!


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## rtsideup (Mar 29, 2009)

I picked up one of these when my LVM finally shit the bed.
https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/...RRDcVmlNiDDZjHAsqW8aAl03EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Works great. 
Cheap.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Whitewater Worthy Equip said:


> I have been using the Milwaukee cordless vac/ blower. It’s not as fast or high pressure as the master craft red gun but way more convenient. They also make a small leaf blower but it’s a bit weaker.


the 0882-20?


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

DoStep said:


> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PLG4275/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
> 
> It comes with an attachment that fits my valves and I'll say it will match the performance of big red blower, rubber man, and anything else that cost double, with little to no top off necessary. You can even inflate with warm air if you want. The doodle loves it too. The only issue is the short hose so I have to tote the unit around the boats, but that is no big deal.
> 
> I am always amazed by the pricing of stuff marketed to rafters...


That's cool.

My daughter raised 4-h hogs and beef. They'd use heated blowers like those, but again, when marketed to "show people", the heated blowers are $300-400!


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## Whitewater Worthy Equip (Dec 11, 2013)

MT4Runner said:


> the 0882-20?


Milwaukee 0880-20 M18 18V Lithium-Ion 2 Gallon Wet/Dry Vacuum


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Thank you! I just started acquiring M18 tools.

Also useful as a vacuum? 

How many pump ups for a given batt size, say 3.0ah?


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## Whitewater Worthy Equip (Dec 11, 2013)

MT4Runner said:


> Thank you! I just started acquiring M18 tools.
> 
> Also useful as a vacuum?
> 
> How many pump ups for a given batt size, say 3.0ah?


Vac works great. 
I keep boats partially inflated so can’t say how many fills but would guess 3-5 on 5 amp.


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## Steve Campbell (Mar 24, 2012)

rtsideup said:


> I picked up one of these when my LVM finally shit the bed.
> https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/...RRDcVmlNiDDZjHAsqW8aAl03EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
> Works great.
> Cheap.


I have had that one for 10 years with no problems. It is probably good to 1.5 PSI and you need to top-off with a manual


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## NoSteponSnek (Oct 2, 2018)

unlucky said:


> Nothing beats the man of rubber inflators. Super fast and blows boats up to pressure too. You need power at put in or a generator so it’s reserved for the big group trips and home.
> 
> https://rivergear.com/product/man-of-rubber-mini-hurricane-turbo-raft-inflator/
> 
> ...





I will 2nd Unlucky's suggestion. Not a big fan of their customer service but they do provide a product that pumps my 16ft cat tubes up in about a minute. Here's the criticism of the Man of Rubber product (not really criticism, just some facts I learned the hard way): 1) Generator needs to be 2000W generator. 2) No, this does not work on your 12V plugin in the bed of your Tacoma...)


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## Pinkturtle (Aug 4, 2011)

I installed a Cobra 2500w inverter in my truck so I can use the NRS Big Blower. With that, I can inflate my Aire 143R in 3 minutes. Love it!


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## taco tuesday (May 14, 2020)

rtsideup said:


> I picked up one of these when my LVM finally shit the bed.
> https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/...RRDcVmlNiDDZjHAsqW8aAl03EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
> Works great.
> Cheap.


+1 on the cheap airhead pump. Paid less than $30 for it three years ago, and it fills our minimax from empty (store it rolled/folded) once or twice a week for the past three seasons. Only takes a couple minutes. Needs 15-20 pumps top off with a k-pump. Still running strong.


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## yesimapirate (Oct 18, 2010)

I don't know how I missed this thread before starting my exact same topic "new inflation" thread. Oh well.


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