protecting air bags in oc's

[Yukon Bushman]

I run a canoe school and have about a dozen boats that need floatation. What to do othrs do tho protect the bags? As these are used by students they do nont realize how fragile and what a pain in the butt for fixing them.

Tired of pin holes at least I know have a biga butt air compressor to blow them up with.

Any ideas or suggestions wouldbe appreciated

[Kevin]

Tell them how delicate they are, and that there very expensive, that's all i tell my students. I do that when i go over boat construction and whatnot quickly, all gear is there for a reason and in some cases there to save your life therefore we don;t beat up our equipment be being inconsiderate or lazy. And there just caged in as usual by the rope system

[NZMatt]

Gudday

At the school where I teach, the whitewater canoes have very heavy vinyl (?) airbags. These are older ones, but have survived fairly well. They are very heavy though and unfortunately I don't know if they're made anymore. The only real and repeated issue we have had has been with the valves on them, but those are cheap and easy to replace and in an emergency duct tape works really well.

Several companies make airbag covers, although I don't kow exactly how effective these would be. Beluga up in Quebec make them - you can see them at

http://www.canotslegare.com/vente/acces ... rnisseur=5

Click on "couvre-ballon - FC-1" in the list of products for the picture. Not sure if these would help, but might be worth investigating.

Hope this helps

Matt

[Timzjatl]

ours all have small pinholes, but they hold air long enough for a river trip. You should definitely stress their care, but even well cared for bags can get leaks. Maybe if you conveniently lose that fast air compressor, and make your students blow them up by mouth they will see the need for leak free bags. Heck they may patch their own with that policy