09-02-2009, 05:48 PM
Curious if you had any type of floatation whatsoever to keep your head above water when the tube blew out? Usually the backrest, waders, or other side of the tube where the seams were intact retain enough trapped air pockets so you won't sink. Unless you had a lot of heavy stuff strapped to the tube, which would cause a fast sinking. Floating for a while helps even though I understand hypothermia is the main enemy- 30 minutes maximum in cool water?
Pon
[quote pontoonman]Sorry to hear about your experience. Good that you survived without injury.
Your indication of how you inflated and the conditions would seem to indicate the correct pressure range. This tube appears to have boston valves from the description on the website, so the pressure has to be checked during inflation with a feedback guage found on an electric compressor. That's the only kind of guage I've seen that might work with boston, but maybe someone else can correct me on that...
A complete inspection of all seams might be in order if you decide on a repair. Maybe you had a defect, because the tube has some good durability reviews.
Pon
[quote solomonthered]yeah, I'm glad I survived as well, I can't really explain why I didn't have a pfd, just didn't think about it, though I now realize that it is require
d for both legality and safety. I felt about as smart as a bag of hammers when it happened. My brother bought the tube new about a month ago and gave it to me as a birthday gift, it is a White River Fly Shop, Lost Lake, open front. I imagine it was inexpensive. It was actually a cool, rainy day when it happened, I inflated the tube with a hand pump, I don't have any sort of gauge to tell you an exact pressure, I just inflated it until it felt firm, but still gave under slight pressure. Should I find a pump with a gauge?[/quote][/quote]
[signature]
Pon
[quote pontoonman]Sorry to hear about your experience. Good that you survived without injury.
Your indication of how you inflated and the conditions would seem to indicate the correct pressure range. This tube appears to have boston valves from the description on the website, so the pressure has to be checked during inflation with a feedback guage found on an electric compressor. That's the only kind of guage I've seen that might work with boston, but maybe someone else can correct me on that...
A complete inspection of all seams might be in order if you decide on a repair. Maybe you had a defect, because the tube has some good durability reviews.
Pon
[quote solomonthered]yeah, I'm glad I survived as well, I can't really explain why I didn't have a pfd, just didn't think about it, though I now realize that it is require
d for both legality and safety. I felt about as smart as a bag of hammers when it happened. My brother bought the tube new about a month ago and gave it to me as a birthday gift, it is a White River Fly Shop, Lost Lake, open front. I imagine it was inexpensive. It was actually a cool, rainy day when it happened, I inflated the tube with a hand pump, I don't have any sort of gauge to tell you an exact pressure, I just inflated it until it felt firm, but still gave under slight pressure. Should I find a pump with a gauge?[/quote][/quote]
[signature]