I use a Watermaster on lakes most of the time and they have Halkey-Roberts valves. No issues after 8 years of use. You need a valve adapter to inflate. I "splice" my adapter into the hose on my foot pump with electrical tape. Lasts for years.
Chef - it sounds to me like you are trying to fill your boat with valve open. It will fill just fine with the valve closed and not leak any air when you stop filling. I only open the valves on my boat to let air out at the end of the trip.I have a Halkey- Roberts valve and still having a hard time filling it. I must not have the right adoption piece for the pump because when I put air in it with the electric pump and then try to close the valve, I still loose a lot of air trying to close the valve. I need to play with it more and possible get that piece to help me out.
did you think of a tire valve.or an inertube valve?Can I use an automotive type pump with this type or do I need a special fitting?
I picked up a K-40 on fleabay for $50 including shipping. REAL Nice pump for $50. ~230 strokes on the low pressure/high volume stage and ~60 strokes on the high pressure/low volume stage fills my WM Kodiak to 3 lbs. Pumps a Halkey-Roberts with the valve in the closed position, 6 minutes tops vs about 12 minutes with the standard WM foot pump. It's compact too, but a chunk to carry any distance.Using my foot pump it takes me about 7-8 minutes to inflate my Watermaster. A float tube would be much faster. The K-pumps look nice but I haven't been able to justify the expense givin the minimal effort involved.
Ed nailed every point I would make except that a foot pump slides around a bit on rocky shores making getting the last bit of pressure between 2 lbs and 3 lbs rather awkward. Not sure if a float tube needs 3 lbs though. That said, if I were packing any distance I'd take my foot pump.My float tube has two boston and two halkey roberst valves. All of the pumps will fit the valves (some with adapters...that should be included). I have foot pumps, K pumps, floor pumps and electric pumps. Each has its benefit. If you are only filling it next to your rig and not carrying the pump along for hike ins or topping off while on the water then any of them will do. If you are hiking in and/or topping off while on the water then I think the best is the K Pump. My electric pump can fully inflate all four chambers of my float tube in under two minutes with most of that time being lost as I move it from valve 1-4. The K Pump is the next most efficient, IMHO. Since I'm not always at my rig when I want to put air into the float tube, the K Pump is the one for me. I carry mine in a pack when I hike in or strapped to my float tube when on the water. Hunching over a floor pump is not really up to my liking, I have better ways to ruin my posture like slouching in my chair in front of the laptop. The footpump seems to be pretty easy to pack as it compresses, but also seems to be the slowest. You can, with practice, put your rods together, string them up, tie on your files and step on the footpump all at the same time since it does not require much thought or use of the hands. How good are you at multi-tasking? Fit your budget, find your fishing outing and have a blast.
I think I've mentioned this before... my fairly new LVM electric pump came with a valve stem depressor adapter that *(semi-)permanently attaches to the end of the *(semi-)permanently attached Halkey-Roberts adapter so you can fill the chamber with the valve in the up-closed position. When you pull the *pump off, the valve springs up to close and no air escapes; that is unless occasionally like me you forget to close the valve before you start pumping. If you have a LVM check to see if you have it, or buy the adapter(s). *Or the depressor could be a simple thing to make; just a piece of plastic inside and across the end of the HR adapter, looks kinda like ---> (-) .I have a Halkey- Roberts valve and still having a hard time filling it. I must not have the right adoption piece for the pump because when I put air in it with the electric pump and then try to close the valve, I still loose a lot of air trying to close the valve. I need to play with it more and possible get that piece to help me out.