Fishing Forum

I managed to make a device that signaled me when my tube was losing air. Unfortunately, I thought I was only building a rod rack.

A few weeks ago, I was fishing my local spot when I noticed that my rods were tilting inward. I knew something wasn't right and soon I figured out that my left bladder had gone soft. I managed to find an open spot where I could reach shore (not an easy task). Turned out that my valve wasn't sitting correctly (not gonna go into detail). I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I could get my tube nice and tight using good ol' lungpower. I continued to fish for a couple more hours without event.

Yesterday, I was out at a different spot with even less shoreline access (the shoreline is almost completely blocked by vegetation). To make it worse, the banks are undercut so it is basically a vertical drop from the shoreline down to about waist deep, before it quickly goes deeper than where my waders are gonna have my back.

This time, I was about an hour and a half into fishing, towards sunset, in an area where the homeless locals are not always trustworthy (or sane for that matter).

The "indicator" started reading low, and this time I realized that both bladders were soft. Luckily I had seen an opening nearby, but it's always tough to judge if the water's shallow enough to get out of your tube if you can't solidly reach the bottom. My fins were ticking something that at least seemed like bottom so I got out.

I should explain that I was probably not going to be able to actually get on shore, but I was trying to find an opening because the closer I could get to shore, the more likely that I would be able to stand.

Anyways, I was lucky enough to find myself in waist-deep water. Bad news was that it wasn't my valves this time. I blew up both bladders, but it was really difficult to get into my tube when it was basically at my chest level. I was a little worried that I might flip it in the process. Eventually I was successful though. For awhile I went back to fishing, but 15 minutes later I could feel my tube softening up.

I pretty much hurried back (not enough to completely stop fishing) at that point, due to the whole combination of factors. Got a couple of bass out of it, plus one that came unbuttoned.

The moral of the story is... well I don't really know. Just sharing I guess.
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Bummer! That puts a damper on your trip. I hope you find the leaks. So far I am crossing my fingers on my inflatables every time I go out. It's worked so far.
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For the time being at least, it might have been for the better. I always have a hard time pulling myself away from the water. In the grand scheme though, I'm probably gonna have to inspect my bladders before going out again. My tube has served me well for about a year and a half without any worries, hopefully it's just an easy patch job.
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[cool][#0000ff]Before stripping down the bladders and going through all that you might wanna do a bubble test on the valves. Once you get one seated a bit crossways it is tough to get a perfect seal again.[/#0000ff]
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Sounds like a plan. Start with the easy fix first before checking the hard stuff.
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Another way to tell if you have a slow leak that sometimes works is if you find yourself sitting LOWER in the water than normal after a period of time. Usually you will feel an abnormal lack of support, tightness, or discomfort in sitting position which you can't quite pin down, like something is not quite right. At that point you can squeeze your inflation chambers to see if something is amiss...

Pon


[quote OlDirtyBasser]I managed to make a device that signaled me when my tube was losing air. Unfortunately, I thought I was only building a rod rack.

A few weeks ago, I was fishing my local spot when I noticed that my rods were tilting inward. I knew something wasn't right and soon I figured out that my left bladder had gone soft. I managed to find an open spot where I could reach shore (not an easy task). Turned out that my valve wasn't sitting correctly (not gonna go into detail). I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I could get my tube nice and tight using good ol' lungpower. I continued to fish for a couple more hours without event.

Yesterday, I was out at a different spot with even less shoreline access (the shoreline is almost completely blocked by vegetation). To make it worse, the banks are undercut so it is basically a vertical drop from the shoreline down to about waist deep, before it quickly goes deeper than where my waders are gonna have my back.

This time, I was about an hour and a half into fishing, towards sunset, in an area where the homeless locals are not always trustworthy (or sane for that matter).

The "indicator" started reading low, and this time I realized that both bladders were soft. Luckily I had seen an opening nearby, but it's always tough to judge if the water's shallow enough to get out of your tube if you can't solidly reach the bottom. My fins were ticking something that at least seemed like bottom so I got out.

I should explain that I was probably not going to be able to actually get on shore, but I was trying to find an opening because the closer I could get to shore, the more likely that I would be able to stand.

Anyways, I was lucky enough to find myself in waist-deep water. Bad news was that it wasn't my valves this time. I blew up both bladders, but it was really difficult to get into my tube when it was basically at my chest level. I was a little worried that I might flip it in the process. Eventually I was successful though. For awhile I went back to fishing, but 15 minutes later I could feel my tube softening up.

I pretty much hurried back (not enough to completely stop fishing) at that point, due to the whole combination of factors. Got a couple of bass out of it, plus one that came unbuttoned.

The moral of the story is... well I don't really know. Just sharing I guess.[/quote]
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One and a half years old? Please keep us updated on this. I had no problem with my SFC in 10 years.
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[quote flygoddess]One and a half years old? Please keep us updated on this. I had no problem with my SFC in 10 years.[/quote]

Yeah, to be honest the only slow leak problem I've ever had in over 20 years of tubing was on an old tube that used an actual inner tube.

Something doesn't seem right about it though. I'm hoping I didn't get a hook or something inside my cover, since valves are located in the pockets. I always have a handful of loose baits in my pockets.
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