Northwest Fishing Reports

Hello everyone,

My girlfriend recently purchased a pontoon boat from costco. Its the 299$ one thats yellow and made by Colorado. The setup is great and everything I want. My only problem is the inflation. There is a valve that controls the intake of air. When the valve is pushed down (twisting it keeps it down) the air is released. Vice versa to keep the air in. Now here is where my problem arises. The directions states all of this but then says when inflating, keep the valve in the closed position. There is a attachment that locks where the inlfater can stick into it to inflate the pontoons. So I kept the valve in the up position and tried to inflate it. Obviously no air was let in. My only solution was to keep the valve pushed down and attach the air attachment to inflate. Once the pontoon is inflated i quickly removed the inflater and twisted the valve back into the closed position. That short period of closing the valve, air is released. If I was able to inflate while in the closed position like the directions state, then there would be no air release. I'm not too sure if I am missing something or the directions are wrong..

Anyone that has the same pontoon or same problem know a resolution to this? Any help would be much appreciated.. thanks!!

I'm sitting at my desk trying to remember how my toon valves work. I think that costco one has the same type. I'm guessing if you fully inflate you don't lose too much air, do you?

yeah well thats the problem. Just the short period of time of pulling the inflater out and switching the valve off enough air leaves that im not too happy. The air seems to come out quite fast.... hmm i dont know if i should return it. online at costco they have a similiar pontoon i think by trout unlimited. They look identical with a few differences (more pockets, only class 1 river) but it'd be worth it so I dont have to deal with this problem..

anyone else... with any solutions? Im dying to get out to a larger lake, perhaps beaver..

yeah well thats the problem. Just the short period of time of pulling the inflater out and switching the valve off enough air leaves that im not too happy. The air seems to come out quite fast.... hmm i dont know if i should return it. online at costco they have a similiar pontoon i think by trout unlimited. They look identical with a few differences (more pockets, only class 1 river) but it'd be worth it so I dont have to deal with this problem..

anyone else... with any solutions? Im dying to get out to a larger lake, perhaps beaver..

I have the same problem with my float tube. If you are using an electric air pump, keep it going while you unplug it and pull the valve shut. It will make a little difference, but not much. Just trial and error seemed to work for me, and fast mime hands.

Is the valve like this?:

http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp? ... &src=champ

That is the valve I have.


My Southfork has the same valve that you are describing, probably a Halkey-Roberts valve. Normally, while filling it the spring loaded stem is in the closed position. The stem is spring loaded, allowing air to go in, but not to come out while inflation. The only time that you use the valve in the locked open position is when you are pumping all the air out of the bladder.

I was looking at the specs on the boat. It has what they call an inflation regulator on it. I'm not familiar with that, but it is suppose to prevent over inflation.

You need a large capacity pump with a large cylinder to inflate the pontoons. Also, when inflating the boat, don't bring it up to "rock hard". You should be able to squeeze the points of the pontoons some. Remember, when inflating it in the morning, the sun during the day will cause it to expand. Many times on a hot day, I will bleed off some air. Then when the day gets late and it starts cooling down, I will pump it back up some.

My guess is that the pump you are using may not have a big enough volume. Or, the air pressure regulator is not allowing any more air to be pumped in.

These are just guesses without seeing the boat. I have a call in for a friend of mine that I think bought the same boat for a backup or guest use boat. When I hear back from him I will get back.

Thanks for everyones help. Yes my valve is about identical to the picture of yours. The directions do say to keep the spring loaded valve in the closed position when blowing it up. Yet when i did there was definatly no air going in. So like clam I have to master the quick hand solution.. errrr

other than that how do you like the boat?

Did you try blowing into the valve with it closed? It should take in air. If not, there is something wrong with your valve or you have a different type.
I use one of those cheap car pumps for mine, then do the final touches with the lungs.

This is the pump that I use for mine:
http://marine.srslucisano.com/hp.php

Marc,

Thank you very much for your input. I am using a electric pump with an attachment lock exactly like the one on your pump. The only difference is that its an attachment lock that I stick my electric pump into. The electric pump has one of those cone attachements that fits into the inflator attachement. (I hope this makes sense).

Jake,

Is it possible to blow into valve like the one picture in Marc's post? Or do you mean physically blow into the attachment thats connected to the valve? I guess I dont see the difference in me blowing or the electric pump doing it. Regardless when the valve is closed it doesnt seem to be letting any air in.

Mikey,

Well the only chance I had to use the boat was on sunday. Saturday I got tangled up pressure washing the driveway. Then come sunday with all the errands I had only an hour to test it out. I went over to Bitter lake (just down the road) and it was just pouring out. With that all said, when I can figure out how to get it fully inflated Ill love it. I weight around 170 lbs and still when I rested my feet on the footrests, about a quarter of my heels where in the water (is this normal?). The setup is quick and easy. Everything feels extremely well made. Ha, its been a while since I have rowed and it took me a bit to get used to it (living in hawaii the last 5 years I didnt do much paddling.) My next thing is to get a small minn kota to troll with it. I'll more than likely get the 30lb one. At costco again i found it for around 120$ which seems to be the best price. Now this leads to my next question, is there anywhere in the seattle area I could find a cheap battery for a trolling motor? Going out buying a brand new 150$ battery seems a little ridicoulous when im only using it for a small 30lb minn kota.

Obviously Im a pretty novice fisherman. I've taken a few years off and am now wanting to get back into it ( i need to take advantage of the beautiful NW).
So... with that said, I'd give the costco pontoon boat a 8-9 with my little experience with them. If only I could figure out the inflating problem I'd be set. for the price I havnt seen anythign else comparable.

cool, I can't say how many times I've been tempted to add that pontoon to my fleet.

you know, for quality you can't beat those optima solid core batteries (Costco again). They charge up fast and hold a charge much better than the wet cell batteries. I don't use a electric on my pontoon, I really prefer rowing. Maybe you should give it a few tries and try rowing when you troll. It's VERY relaxing and not bad exercise.

I think the heels in the water is normal for that type of boat. If you get flippers it allows you to kich the boat along so you can have both hands on your fishing pole (very handy for fly-fishing)

bp11139 wrote:Marc,

Thank you very much for your input. I am using a electric pump with an attachment lock exactly like the one on your pump. The only difference is that its an attachment lock that I stick my electric pump into. The electric pump has one of those cone attachements that fits into the inflator attachement. (I hope this makes sense).

Again, without seeing it, my guess would be that the pump is not pushing the spring loaded valve open. You need a large volume air pump. The small electric pumps do not have the volume you need to depress that spring.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... tid=114892