[matt man]

So up in another thread, I kinda unleashed my frustration and even all out hatred, of the current pressure relief valves that many of us have to deal with.

I do understand why they exist in an I-Beam style floor, but the problem is,
that they are in a spot where they are constantly plugged with grit and other debris from the river, especially during high water, when the water is turbid, and you need air in your floor the most

Now you can clean the thing, put a screen on it, or plug it and keep an eye on the pressure, like I’ve done for a long time, but you still have problems, or could do something dumb, and explode your floor.

Someone in the other thread compared them to the necessary pita of wheel bearings.
Well, the standard greased bearing now has a better option, the sealed oil filled design. It gets rid of a lot of the problems from before.
We also figured out how to build a better valve for rafts, by replacing the old military valves, with som of the modern ones we have now.
Why couldn’t we do the same with PRVs? Build one that don’t suck?

I think it would be more challenging, but not impossible, if we put our collective heads together. Bet there is a bunch of money, to, for somebody who started making one that doesn’t blow, all your air out when it shouldn’t.

Anyone got ideas?

 

[jeffro]

I think a rupture disk would be a good solution. If the pressure is too high the sucker blows and you have to replace it.

 

[noahfecks]

I think a rupture disk would be a good solution. If the pressure is too high the sucker blows and you have to replace it.

That was the first thing that came to mind when i was reading the other thread. Some sort of cap that kept it from getting damaged as people step all over it. Carry spares in your repair kit so it was as simple as pulling out the ruptured disk, dropping a new one in, screwing on the protective cap, and blowing up the floor.


happy that the new boat has a drop stitch floor. I guess that is option 2 for Matt, out with the old and in with a drop sttich floor.

 

[caverdan]

It needs a small micro processor in it to manage over pressure situations which Bluetooth's to your phone and gives you alerts when the pressure is low and the floor needs air.

 

[matt man]

It needs a small micro processor in it to manage over pressure situations which Bluetooth's to your phone and gives you alerts when the pressure is low and the floor needs air.

Haha! With that much technology, gonna have to get rid of the old technology like me, as well!

Maybe a ribbed, drop stitch floor?
Could always just go Cataraft, as well. Whenever I’m in my paddle cat, I always get this happy realization during the trip, that I have no inflatable floor to have to screw with.
The I beam floor really does track nice, though, maybe the solution is to change how we make the things...

 

[90Duck]

Aire

Aire's standard floor design is a pretty good solution too. The PRV is under the outer hull, so it doesn't get all the crap in it that an exposed PRV does. I've had my boat 15 years now, including trips in the southwest, and have never had to do anything with my PRV. In my previous SOTAR the PRV was a constant point of annoyance, and I'd kind of forgot what a PITA they are until the last couple of trips with a friend who was struggling to keep his floor inflated due to his PRV. There are some other compromises with the standard Aire floor that I've learned to live with, but the PRV benefits are a huge + on the boat balance sheet.

 

[markhusbands]

While my inexpensive outlaw with a quirky drop stitch floor has other things to worry about, like stuff getting trapped under the floor if you're careless, you DON'T have to worry about pressure or pressure valves. I have yet to top off or bleed the floor mid-trip. I probably get it up to 6 or 7 at launch and ignore it thereafter.

 

[jeffro]

It needs a small micro processor in it to manage over pressure situations which Bluetooth's to your phone and gives you alerts when the pressure is low and the floor needs air.

If it streams it all online I wouldn't even need to go to the river.

 

[caverdan]

Haha! With that much technology, gonna have to get rid of the old technology like me, as well!

If your going to design or improve on something, you need design perimeters. It's hard to improve on the simplicity of the current relief valve design without coming up with something totally new, improved and the ability to run it from an App you download to your phone. We're talking modern day all the way. :mrgreen:

You could incorporate this design into the pressure fill valves and do away with the pressure relief valve altogether. The fill valve could monitor and relieve over pressure situations in your tubes as well as the floor. This would come into play both on and off the water for those traveling over mountain passes with inflated boats or the paddle boat that gets pulled up on the beach at lunch time.

Personally....I doubt I'd ever buy one. I haven't been able to figure out how to download any app's to my flip phone. Any help would be appreciated.....

 

[MT4Runner]

Maybe a ribbed, drop stitch floor?
Could always just go Cataraft, as well. Whenever I’m in my paddle cat, I always get this happy realization during the trip, that I have no inflatable floor to have to screw with.
The I beam floor really does track nice, though, maybe the solution is to change how we make the things...

No PRV's in my dory, and the floor was nice and rigid, too. Oh, and tracked well, and...

I have an idea for how you can radically change things. :twisted:

 

[matt man]

Why the angry face?

 

[ColoradoDave]

I find it strange to begin with that someone could blow out their floor, unless it is due to overloading the boat with gear on the floor itself. I thought the idea with gear rafts was to have a frame and the load goes on the frame which bears on the big tubes, not the floor. If the gear is bearing on the tubes, the only thing on the floor should be occasionally feet or maybe beer cans.
On my duckie, I just put a cork in the PRV that's sawn off just to stick up enough to get it out. I carry a spare in my drybag in case it pops out, which it hasn't done yet. They were about a dollar.
My duckie has been submerged when wrapped around rocks several times when fully pumped up which probably at least doubled the pressure in the tubes and also floor and everything came out of it just fine. The cork didn't even pop out and it's not in there very tight at all. Just enough to keep it from falling out by itself. Before the cork, every time I went over a drop my body weight would cause the valve to squirt out some air until the point where I had to top it off. There's no leak, just a poor design.

It's obvious the PRV copied a car radiator cap principle. However a car engine does not have bursts of overheating and rises in pressure. When the pressure rises, something is wrong and you want it to leak. But with inflatable watercraft, intermittent increases in pressure are normal and if a PRV is rated at x PSI, the point it ' leaks ' some air out is probably only .1 PSI over that since the floor is usually initially inflated up to where the PRV leaks. Hence the air squirting out on drops, rocks, etc. Is that going to pop the floor if no PRV ? Not unless there is a ton of weight on it.
So, what's better ? A calibrated PRV + a Calibrated cork. Just a cork is no good, because if it pops, you lose all the air. Nobody wants that. Just lose enough air to stay just below floor design pressure danger level yet ride out short intermittant increases that are absorbed by the crafts flexible materials.
Maybe like the flappy thing that goes on some weatherproof cigarette lighter plugs.They have a kind of round rib on the cap and a matching groove in the socket to keep it in place. And a very short tether going to a ring around the underlying surface so as to not lose it if it pops. Have that calibrated just below the maximum design and tested pressure of the floor then have the conventional PRV part under it calibrated to the pressure you like your floor at.

 

[Jamesdking]

My RMR 16 Dropstitch doesn't have one. I have wondered if I wanted one in the past and then I hear discussions like this, and figure I like the design. Now if I was in warmer climates I may change my mind. Montana gets hot but unexpectedly and I am pretty careful after trailer loading to empty that sucker almost all the way. Then again I never put it past maybe 2psi since its plenty firm to fish from and move about the boat on there. And with a dropstitch floor, no way I'm cutting into it and trying to add a valve now! Make me an all in one valve design and change my mind.

PS. anyone know why my floor's valve stem is red? Its the only one I've ever noticed.

 

[zbaird]

DS runs at a much higher psi and is unlikely to blow, thus no PRV. You would really benefit from a few more psi in that DS floor.

The valve stem is red because it is a DS specific valve that has a screen inside to keep the threads from getting stuck in your valve plunger.