Addendum on Henderson Chimp footpumps: They can fail. If the plastic nut on the inside of the diaphragm isn't tight enough, it can screw itself off, causing the push plate to fall off and the suction to fail. This happened to me once on a week-long trip and to Linda once while playing around at the pool. In my kayak the loose pieces merely fell into the cockpit, but in Linda's the pieces fell to the bottom of the pool when she made a wet exit, and took a while to recover. The pump is field repairable if you have a screwdriver and a plier (or a couple of multi-pliers) with you, but it involves removing the pump and taking it apart. However, it is almost impossible to make a permanent repair without putting the assembly in a vise and tightening it with a large wrench. Finger-tight won't do it, though it will probably last till you are home. The way to test if the nut is likely to unscrew is to try to turn the push plate with one hand while it is mounted to the pump. If you can turn it, it will eventually work loose; if you can't, it is safe for now. Also note that though the pump kit includes a rectangular push plate, you can cut it down to a square if you like. It might have been pushing off-center on the rectangular plate that caused the nut to loosen in the first place. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue May 11 1999 - 12:44:48 PDT
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