Nitrogen Fill in a dinghy

[sailcapt340]

Has anyone used Nitrogen to fill their dinghy, like you would use in your cars tires? In an effort to offset the loss of air in temperature swings, and the softening of dinghies that happens. Is there an adaptor available for the conventional air valve to do this?

 

[MetricMountie]

Capt340, I've never used nitrogen to fill the dinghy but you may have something there. As to the fill with the present valve, that shouldn't be a real problem. I have an Avon 8 ft. with the usual valves that I also fill from a vehicle type valve. I use a valve from a transport truck tire cut big enough to fit over the entire Avon valve. I actually coat the underside of the valve with a little spit, hold it tight to the Avon valve and apply the air from my compressor, works like a charm. Any idea what a nitrogen fill would cost.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Use HELIUM

You'll get up on a plane a lot faster! :dance::dance::dance:

Seriously though, the reason the dinghy deflates is the outside air temperature, and unless nitrogen has substantially different thermal volume characteristics than plain old air, it won't make any difference. And where would you get nitrogen "out there" which is where most of us use our dinghies?

 

[MetricMountie]

Stu, on the initial fill it would be no problem around my area, secondaries would mean putting the dinghy on the trailer and heading to the tire shop where in the town where we keep our boat. In general temp shifts around here are not that drastic except of course in the late fall when it gets pretty chilly after sunset. Don't know what affect an air/nitrogen mix would make with the dinghy if you needed to do that. Physics wasn't my strong suit in school.

 

[Bob 04 H260]

Air is about 80% nitrogen so I don't think it would make any difference at all. I don't think it makes any difference in car tires either.

Bob

 

[northptsailor]

On race cars the tires are filled with nitrogen from a large heavy cylinder. The nitrogen has no water vapor which is the culprit in too much " build" or tire growth when the tire gets up to operating temperature of around 180 degrees. Bottom line- try to fill the inflatable with a low pressure pump on a a relatively dry day and don't worry about slight variations in pressure.

 

[Benny17441]

$$$$$$

 

[ebsail]

Not worthwhile in boats or cars. Unless you're running at 150 mph+. Just a way to up the dealer $

 

[centerline]

On race cars the tires are filled with nitrogen from a large heavy cylinder. The nitrogen has no water vapor which is the culprit in too much " build" or tire growth when the tire gets up to operating temperature of around 180 degrees. Bottom line- try to fill the inflatable with a low pressure pump on a a relatively dry day and don't worry about slight variations in pressure.

MOISTURE is the biggest culprit that causes expansion...... bottled nitrogen has no moisture in it.

here are a couple more thoughts..... scuba air is dry also, and can be used to minimize expansion when necessary...

rubber is permeable to some small extent.... a balloon filled with normal air will prove this over time... and if you fill a balloon with pure nitrogen, it will stay inflated many times longer, because nitrogen does not pass as easily thru a rubber membrane as does oxygen....

the oxygen content in air can cause the rubber to begin to deteriorate, however slight the process will be at 21%, but nitrogen can preserve the rubber almost forever.
the down side is, its the suns rays that is the major degrading factor of a dinghy, and not what its filled with....

so add the pros and cons, and the nitrogen kinda wins.... but the trouble and expense for the value is just not there, when air is free and available everywhere at our fingertips....

 

[spraygun]

I happen to have access to this machine for free anytime. I run it in my vehicles. It's great for performance cars and tires. Also have it in my utility trailer. I really like it for the tire pressure monitoring system. Nice dry air going in. Since those monitors are electronic and don't like moisture. One of the big problems we see is swings in air temperature. It really is not all that stable. I personally would never pay for it. Putting it in the dinghy is a novel idea though. But at the end of the day it's not really worth it.

 

[spraygun]

Sorry for the sideways picture. I took this late last night

 

[Don Lucas]

really, seriously ????????????? :cry:

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

really, seriously ????????????? :cry:

Hope this comes back April 1

 

[dilligaf]

Rare gasses in dingy's

Once I did try Argon for a substitute gas in the Inflatable due to having the argon for dry diving in cold water. It seemed to hold the Argon longer than the Air flling. It has been explained that the molecule is larger it might be harder to evacuate the porous rubber in the skiffs. I found it worked well but because I would deflate the skiff on deck on ocean passages it was a problem keeping enough gass to refill the skiff each time
If I as to keep the skiff inflated all the time then I would use
argon

 

[Mariner356]

Nitrogen molecules are larger and therefore are less inclined to pass through the membrane skins. As for as cost. Costco only uses Nitrogen to fill their tires. There's no surcharge. I think they've done the math and find it's in their interest to add Nitrogen. It's only little more than 20% additional nitrogen beyond the normal 78.% found in our breathing air.

 

[artboas]

Why not fill it with ....

Nitrogen molecules are larger and therefore are less inclined to pass through the membrane skins. As for as cost. Costco only uses Nitrogen to fill their tires. There's no surcharge. I think they've done the math and find it's in their interest to add Nitrogen. It's only little more than 20% additional nitrogen beyond the normal 78.% found in our breathing air.

Helium.

Would have less drag when you 're towing it.

 

[Mariner356]

Re: Why not fill it with ....

Yes, but where can you buy Helium in quantity?

 

[spraygun]

Walmart.

 

[artboas]

This was meant to be

Helium.

Would have less drag when you 're towing it.

My version of a sense of humour.
I don't think that towing your dinghy like a blimp has much practical application

 

[sea_casper]

Has anyone used Nitrogen to fill their dinghy, like you would use in your cars tires? In an effort to offset the loss of air in temperature swings, and the softening of dinghies that happens. Is there an adaptor available for the conventional air valve to do this?

First, all gases even water vapor, expand and contract with temperature the same there is no advantage to any, per Charles' Law.

That said, Nitrogen is used in race tires because, although a smaller molecule than oxygen, it is significantly less permeable to rubber than oxygen, and therefore will "lose" less air per race.

In normal passenger automotive tires nitrogen being inert does not react like oxygen with rubber, producing less cracking in the inner liner of the tire, and thus less loss of "air' with aging.

Nitrogen in a dingy however is probably another story, as with a tire, temperature effects will be the same as "air filled", loss due to permeability will be different as Hypolon, PVC, and Neoprene are all better than rubber having less gas permeability.

Over all not worth the effort is MHO.