Messages

1

Gear Talk / D-ring on bottom of board?

« on: July 09, 2023, 09:14:27 PM »

We bought 2 more paddle boards, for a total of 4, so we could paddle with our kids or friends. One of the new ones had a D-ring on the bottom! Can someone tell me why? This calls for a top ten list:

• Slows down novice paddlers who are going too fast
• Acts like a car spoiler, to prevent lift (in this case, sucking down into the water)
• Helps the hydrodynamics like a vortex generator
• You could tie a rope from it to the nose, on the bottom of the board, to flatten it out to reduce drag
• Good for towing a sinking paddle board
• Good anchor attachment
• Attach a fishing line for subtle fishing
• Marketing gimmick and makes your product unique
• Allows attachment of radical new fin design, trailing a rope behind the board
• ... add to list ...

2

Gear Talk / Fast compressor fill success

« on: July 09, 2023, 08:56:43 PM »

I first tried filling my iSUP with a bike Schraeder valve attachment. It took a long time, about as slow as pumping up by hand, despite running high pressures. The Schraeder (and the tire fill attachment) apparently have small air passages.

My compressor is huge (two cylinder, and around 60 gallons, 230 liters). I have 3/8 inch inside diameter connectors. The pic shows how we twisted in a quick release coupling to an iSUP pump connector hose.

We set the output pressure to about 14 psi (close to 1 ATM, or 100 kPa). We let the tank fill to its usual 120 psi.

It pumped up an 11 foot long, 33 inch wide, 6 inch thick board in 2 minutes and 30 seconds!

I was careful, and checked with an iSUP pressure gauge on another pump, as I didn't want to trust the compressor's gauge at low readings. They agreed perfectly. My big tank had enough air to fill 2 paddle boards.

If you do this, take care, it would be very easy to blow up (literally, as in explode!) an inflatable paddle board if you forgot to turn down the output pressure.

Too bad this solution isn't more portable!

3

Gear Talk / No gauge pressure check?

« on: April 18, 2021, 10:07:26 PM »

I leave my iSUP pumped up, as I live walking distance from the water. It's not very accurate, but on my bike I can pinch the tire to see if I have enough air pressure.  I'm curious if anyone has a quick trick to save the trouble of hooking up the pump. Hmmm, maybe I can calibrate finger pressure next time I pump it up.

4

Sessions / Re: First 3 times Jellyfish and Sting Rays

« on: April 11, 2021, 01:23:04 AM »

I went out again the next day. The night before I read up on sting rays -- the stings are very painful. I looked carefully when I went out -- no sting rays. I got back and looked carefully -- no sting rays. I stood in the water about a step from shore and surveyed the water. Sure enough, here comes a sting ray from around 4 or 5 meters away, shooting arrow straight towards my feet like a low flying fighter jet! When he was about 2 meters away I shuffled my feet and he u-turned very quickly and shot away even faster.

SUPCreek, many thanks for the tips. Some I did and some I need to start doing.

Still water, no wind -- check
Tides and wind -- I'm in harbor with fairly narrow channels. I have been going on channels that parallel the beach and are across the wind; the houses block the breeze. The channels perpendicular to the shoreline do get much more wind (I know from using my inflatable kayak). I haven't been able to detect tidal flow, I'll have to start paying attention.
Deep enough to not hit the ground -- check
Standing up while moving -- whoops! The first try was motionless. I paid more attention and the board does seem more stable if I'm moving.

Turning: You are right, now that I'm going a little faster it is hard to turn by paddling harder! Paddling backwards saved me from a collision with a docked boat!

Leash -- check. I used to surf when I lived by the ocean and always used a lease for that.

I have been very impressed how straight the iSUP tracks. I even had stretches of 7+ paddles on one side and was still going pretty straight. My inflatable kayak is hopeless without the skeg, and it is hard to get the skeg on straight. The iSUP is much better.

Almost everything has been on my knees. I did get my heels down and started to stand with the board moving, but the shore came up. I wimped out on more trying as the sun was down, it is 60's air and 50's water temps. I'm looking forward to trying again soon. I fell many times my first day skiing, I'm ready to do that for paddle boarding... when it warms up a bit more...

It's getting better, but I'm definitely getting "tense tired!"

Good discovery: The board is more stable than it feels. I was very impressed to see someone just put one foot on the side, and stand right up! My old surfboard would have for sure flipped over.  I wasn't paying close attention, and noticed my left knee kept getting wet. My knees were shifted way over to the left, to the point the left rail of the iSUP was under water! Whoops! It was a good moment, though, it that it taught me the board is pretty stable and you don't need to micromanage balancing it.

Thanks for the pics. I love your YouTube channel. I'm hoping to get good in the still waters of the harbor, and then try SUP surfing this summer.

5

Gear Talk / Re: Glue for pump?

« on: April 11, 2021, 12:28:20 AM »

Thanks for checking that a newbie knows! I know about pressing and turning the valve to deflate the board. I might have had it not quite turned enough and seated, or maybe managed to turn it a bit as I took off the hose.

Fortunately I can leave it pumped up for now.

Desired feature: Board with a permanent pressure gauge in the board itself. Then you could look at it, and not bother topping it off if it held pressure well enough. Obviously this is for people who can leave the board pumped up!

6

Sessions / First 3 times Jellyfish and Sting Rays

« on: April 08, 2021, 08:51:10 PM »

I was all excited to try out my iSUP. My first time I put the board in the water, and then saw all the jelly fish. They were very clear and hard to see, but had I kept going I would have waded into a school of them. I decided to make my first iSUP adventure another day.

The 2nd time I only went on my knees. I was wobbly at first, until I relaxed some. I was surprised how tired I was after a mile. I think it is like starting skiing. You don't have your natural balance yet, so you just tense up everything and tire yourself out quickly. I tried standing up one time at the end, and promptly fell into the cold water.

My third time it was a little cool for falling in, so I went on my knees again. I was definitely doing better, and could do more strokes before having to switch sides. I arrived at my beach, and saw sting rays. I stood at the edge of the water. The sting rays had a surprising amount in interest in me. One kept hovering underneath my board. Another swam slowly towards me, but turned away when I hit the sandy bottom, with my paddle, when he was about a step away from me. Another kept circling my board and passing close to me. They ranged in size from about 20 to 30 cm across. I wanted to try standing up again, but didn't want to fall in near these curious sting rays!

7

Gear Talk / Re: Glue for pump?

« on: April 08, 2021, 08:03:10 PM »

Thank you Dwight and PonoBill, I'm all fixed up!

I sanded the surfaces along the circumference, put on some Gorilla Glue, plus held it with a hose clamp. Once it was dry I wrapped the clamp with some duct tape, so it wouldn't damage my board in the backpack.

I realized a mistake I had made was to twist the hose on and off using by the knurled knob part and the sleeved cylinder part. That likely twisted it apart. I'll only twist on the knurled knob part now.

When I started pumping, the board was at only 4 psi (I had left it inflated). Maybe some air had leaked out slowly over the course of a week, or maybe not, so I might have done my first paddle board outing on as little as 4 psi. It was still impressively firm.

I pumped it up to 15 psi, removed the hose, and the valve stuck open blasting out air. I reacted, I thought, pretty quick and tapped the valve and it shut. The board felt full, but I thought I should check. I hooked up the pump again, and it had gone from 15 psi to 8 psi!

I pumped it up to 15 psi again, and barely twisted on the hose and it popped off decisively! I'm learning, I'll need to keep a hand close by when I remove the hose.

My 2nd outing was fun!

8

Gear Talk / Glue for pump?

« on: April 04, 2021, 12:59:19 AM »

The sleeve fit for the air hose for my pump blew apart. It was obviously glued on original manufacture. What kind of glue is best to fix this? Thanks in advance for the help! I tried to attach a pic but it didn't seem to work.

I was at about 10 psi. Fortunately I had the presence of mind to quick slap my hand over the blasting air coming out of the end of the hose. I disconnect the hose from the board and estimate I was down to around 8 psi. Even at 8 psi it was way way stiffer than my Sevylor inflatable kayak, and I still had a fun first experience on the water. BTW, yes, I could ask for a new pump under warranty, but I think it is faster and easier to just glue it.