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Buoy Balls


mrnate450r

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You guys with the buoy balls, how are you inflating them? I bought a handheld basketball pump, but that takes forever! Do they make a 12v pump I can use with a needle? I know I could get a 12v compressor, but they are a little big.

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I actually fill the buoys with 1/2 air and 1/2 water. This makes buoy hitting much less painful and significantly reduces the chance of ankle injuries. A weed sprayer with a basketball air inflator tip works great for the water part. Also, make sure you inflate to correct diameter, easy to make them too big and hard. A gauge is easy to make from a piece of plywood (a simple slide through hole).

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ahopkins22LSV

I actually fill the buoys with 1/2 air and 1/2 water. This makes buoy hitting much less painful and significantly reduces the chance of ankle injuries. A weed sprayer with a basketball air inflator tip works great for the water part. Also, make sure you inflate to correct diameter, easy to make them too big and hard. A gauge is easy to make from a piece of plywood (a simple slide through hole).

I as you, thought he was talking about course buoys too! :)

I am pretty out of is this Monday! :Doh:

Edited by ahopkinsTXi
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I really want some of these, but I also want to avoid the PITA of filling and getting the air out of them.

I do have one of these Craftsman 19.2V compressors where you can put the air needle fitting, but not really looking to now carry this on the boat:

shc-911586_mh_ml.jpg

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I assume we are talking about the Exile balls everyone recommends. I was going to order a few of these as well and was curious about 2 things.

One being the same question being asked here. How easy are they to blow up? Pics on website shows a couple bikini clad girls blowing them up by mouth. Is that realistic?

Second question may be a stupid newbie one but something I was wondering as I was looking at the regular type fenders yesterday. Those longer ones seem like they would be easier to make sure they are positioned in the proper place when pulling up to a dock. Am I not thinking correctly that the round balls will take a little more thought when positioning? If we are headed to the dock and I tell my wife and son to tie the balls on will they be able to get them in the right spot and me not worried about bumping the dock?

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I assume we are talking about the Exile balls everyone recommends. I was going to order a few of these as well and was curious about 2 things.

One being the same question being asked here. How easy are they to blow up? Pics on website shows a couple bikini clad girls blowing them up by mouth. Is that realistic?

Second question may be a stupid newbie one but something I was wondering as I was looking at the regular type fenders yesterday. Those longer ones seem like they would be easier to make sure they are positioned in the proper place when pulling up to a dock. Am I not thinking correctly that the round balls will take a little more thought when positioning? If we are headed to the dock and I tell my wife and son to tie the balls on will they be able to get them in the right spot and me not worried about bumping the dock?

They're very easy to blow up. No harder than a balloon. I just pinch the sides of the airhole with the thumb and pointer of both hands and blow. I have an air pump onboard that plugs into my cigarette adapter, but I've never once considered taking the 3 seconds it takes to get it out.

For your 2nd question, you just need to give the rope enough length so that the balls hang against the flat hull rather than up against the angled top deck. Piece of cake.

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They're very easy to blow up. No harder than a balloon. I just pinch the sides of the airhole with the thumb and pointer of both hands and blow. I have an air pump onboard that plugs into my cigarette adapter, but I've never once considered taking the 3 seconds it takes to get it out.

For your 2nd question, you just need to give the rope enough length so that the balls hang against the flat hull rather than up against the angled top deck. Piece of cake.

Exactly what we do as well. I have never found the need to use a pump. Although I do have a large hand pump with an adapter in the boat that would work as well.

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They're very easy to blow up. No harder than a balloon. I just pinch the sides of the airhole with the thumb and pointer of both hands and blow. I have an air pump onboard that plugs into my cigarette adapter, but I've never once considered taking the 3 seconds it takes to get it out.

For your 2nd question, you just need to give the rope enough length so that the balls hang against the flat hull rather than up against the angled top deck. Piece of cake.

thanks, I figured I was overthinking it. How many should I order for a 23 lsv? I was thinking 3.

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I bought two. I can't imagine needing more than two to a side (they're pretty darn big). Granted, your boat absolutely dwarfes mine :biggrin: so if you have three cleats per side, I suppose it couldn't hurt. Or, if you ever tie to other boats or have objects on both sides or your boat when docking, 3 or 4 would be useful. 2 are plently to keep any boat safely off the dock in any normal docking situation though.

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I bought two. I can't imagine needing more than two to a side (they're pretty darn big). Granted, your boat absolutely dwarfes mine :biggrin: so if you have three cleats per side, I suppose it couldn't hurt. Or, if you ever tie to other boats or have objects on both sides or your boat when docking, 3 or 4 would be useful. 2 are plently to keep any boat safely off the dock in any normal docking situation though.

Thanks aggie, You go to A&M? My son's girlfriend is there now. Son is going to A&M Corpus for marine biology once he is done playing baseball. But he just accepted an offer to play at UTD so now it looks like he won't get to corpus until time for his masters.

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Yep, went to A&M to get a degree in Ocean Engineering. Got employed in San Diego when I graduated in '09, been here ever since. Loved the school...wish they didn't wait until after I left to get decent at football.

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I have 4 of these bumpers, 2 from Exile, 2 older ones that look like big baseballs. You can easily inflate them by mouth to very low PSI. I usually dig out the 12v air pump & pump them up to like 8 - 10 psi.... makes them bigger, keeps the boats a bit further apart, which can be necessary if each boat has racks on the towers. There is no needle needed but you will need the small fitting.

I looked for those skull fenders. $85 - $100 each. So I need $400 of these things to protect the boat? Pretty funny how they advertise that their much thicker than other fenders. So has anyone ever had a problem with their fenders being too thin? Or I guess people are popping their fenders?

The Hippity Hops, including the Exile balls, are not very thick at all, but they are tough as nails & last for years.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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For my front cleat, I tied a fender line to the handle on the exile bumper and let the ball hang around 6 inches below the cleat. I was nervous at first tying a line to the ball, but the bumper is stronger than I expected. My rear cleat is a little lower to the water so I did not need a line for that one, the handle fits right around the cleat.

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I have about 10 of the exile balls. New ones in packages actually sitting in the boat. I just leave a few of them inflated and throw them in the rear locker or tie em up on the tower. They are super easy to inflate , but I have a little hand pump that came with them . Looks like this......

imagejpg1_zpsf87f37c5.jpg

9 or 10 bucks on Ebay as I just found out.

Edited by Bobby Bright
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