Please help me with the inflation of my Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360

[Rijnton]

Today I bought a Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360 (in Holland, where I live) and would like to try it out tomorrow, but I am totally confused about how to inflate it.
I have (the apparently older ?) model with 2 Boston valves and 3 push-in valves. The manual says to inflate the safety chamber (valve 1) to the "A" marking of the Sevytest and then the main chamber (valve 4) to the "B" marking. But it also said that I have to inflate in the order of the valve numbers, so 1-2-3-4, but nothing is mentioned about the required pressure for the floor and side chambers.
How do I know if the floor and side chambers with the valves 2 and 3 have the correct pressure ?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Ton

 

[Chris in Indiana]

Re: Please help me with the inflation of my Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360

Tube pressure is a difficult thing and depends on a lot of variables. My guess is you don't have a low pressure gauge as they are hard to come by and often a pain to use. Anyway the Sevylor boats should be inflated firm but it's difficult to explain what that is exactly. Slightly less than the way a large, unopened plastic bottle of Coke would feel I suppose. The order of inflation doesn't really matter but you should alternate and inflate them all gradually instead of inflating one to full pressure and then the next. Most of the Sevylor boats have a gauge printed on the inside of one of the side tubes but they don't work for long as the material stretches. Anyway the intent is to measure between two points marked on the gauge to get an indication of the situation.
There are a couple of scenarios for those boats. If your going in deep water with a motor, inflate the floor and sides firm and get out on the water to see how it goes. if the boat folds up or behaves poorly boost the pressure a bit (The pump always goes with you.) Incidentally cold water will always deflate the boat a bit so you will need to top off once you get going anyway. If your headed for a river or shallow water the bottom still needs to be hard but leave the side tubes a bit soft so they can survive if you run into something. Hard tubes pop easily.
Hope this helps.

 

[Rijnton]

Re: Please help me with the inflation of my Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360

Thanks Chris for your elaborate reply.
I found a Sevylor pressure gauge online and will order one.
But am I right to assume that the pressure of the floor and side chambers is not th?t important as long as the pressure is not too high ?

And what is the best, easiest and quickest way to deflate the floor chamber ? I tried the boat today for the 1st time and although it took some time to inflate it (assume that it will go faster with some experience), it was very easy to handlle. I am glad I bought it. But I had a hard time to deflate the floor chamber (the main and safety ones were no problem of course) so that I could fold the boat far enough for transportation in my car.

 

[Chris in Indiana]

Re: Please help me with the inflation of my Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360

Yea, the floor chamber is a pain due to the built in flap down inside the fill port. I use the pump in reverse and deflate the floor and the hose adapter fits down far enough to open the small flap. I never really thought about it but I guess I get the hose adapter fitted in the floor first and then unscrew the valves on the sides and roll the whole thing up to get 90% of the air out. Then I use the pump to suck all the air out of the floor.
One thing that happened to mine that drove me nuts: I left the side valves unscrewed when I rolled up the boat and left it that way. The valve sat sideways on the hole and damaged the plastic seal ring by putting a small dent in it. Now I have to put that one in super hard with a pair of pliers to keep it from leaking. Grumble grumble... Anyway I recommend screwing the valves back in before storing the boat for a long time.
Overall pressure isn't critical unless you're running a motor on it. You can definitely inflate the floor hard enough that you can stand up on it but other than that don't sweat it.

 

[Rijnton]

Re: Please help me with the inflation of my Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360

Anyway I recommend screwing the valves back in before storing the boat for a long time.

Thanks again. Just to be sure: I assume that you mean the 2 Boston valves for the main and the safety chamber and not the push-in valves ?

 

[Chris in Indiana]

Re: Please help me with the inflation of my Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360

Right, the two Boston valves will damage themselves if left loose.

 

[Rijnton]

Re: Please help me with the inflation of my Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360

Great help Chris.
One thing is still not clear to me and that is which hose adapter I have to use for the small push-in valves of the floor and side chambers. I could get them inflated but I don't know if I did it the right way, also because I wonder how these valves work. I assume that inside the small protruding tube there is a small hole, through which the air gets in. Do I have to use an adapter that is long enough to go through that hole ? Or the adapter that just fits tight enough in the outer tube and will the pressure, while pumping, open the inside valve ? (And is a smaller/longer adapter only useful for deflating ?).

 

[Chris in Indiana]

Re: Please help me with the inflation of my Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360

For the floor you want an adapter that fits all the way through the flap, which allows it to be inflated or deflated. For the side tubes you just want a fitting that fits snugly inside the valve, the air only goes one way. Actually on mine I don't use an adapter, the end of the hose is the right size. The only way to deflate the sides is to unscrew the valves completely and roll the boat up. You can't use the pump in reverse to deflate the sides.

 

[Rijnton]

Re: Please help me with the inflation of my Sevylor Fish Hunter HF360

Chris or anyone else who can help me on this subject, I still have another question.
Yesterday I wanted to look at how the MM3 motor mount has to be attached and inflated the safety chamber (valve 1), first with a rechargeable pump and finishing with a foot pump until the "A" marking of the Sevytest (as the manual says). Because it was getting dark, I stopped and left the boat in my backyard.
This morning I checked the pressure with a Sevylor manometer (model 4280A) and to my surprise it read around 2psi/140mbar.
Now I wonder:
1) What reading is most probably correct, the Sevytest or the manometer ? And is it normal that there is so much difference between both ?
2) If the manometer reading is correct, should I be worried about the fact that my boat was inflated too much for some time ?
Thanks again in advance for any help.
Ton