Sea Kayaking Finland
Bosworth Kayak Bilge Pumps
Bosworth
is a major U.S. manufacturer of sailing boat bilge pumps. They
have been kind enough to customize their product for the fringe market
of sea kayakers to work as a kayak foot pump as well. This was
first brought to our attention by an article in Sea Kayaker Magazine
back in 2003, and subsequently one of our U.S. instructor friends
(Kelly Levely) installed a Bosworth into his kayak, and Jukka got to
study
the product design vs. the European made pump in my own old Nordkapp.
A modified Bosworth Guzzler 450 proved to be superior for kayak use compared to the other foot pumps I had used before due to:
- No rubber diagphram visible on the outside of the pump and getting dinged by kicking it in the boat
- A well-made 'Duckbill'-check valve in the outlet of the pump. We actually measured the workings of a Bosworth vs. other brand bilge pump check valve by putting the kayaks on their side and measuring how quickly the check valve would leak the volume of a regular plastic pop bottle. The Bosworth check valve leaked hardly at all compared to the competitive brand.
So far we have experience of Bosworth pumps mounted into our fleet kayaks since 2003. No service whatsoever has been required after the installation. Added weight to the kayak amounts to less than 1 kg. Safety factor regarding an instance, where a wet exit and subsequent re-entry and roll would be needed is huge. If a skilled kayaker has capsized, the conditions are likely to be such, that hand pumping the kayak is not an option!!
There is a good description of how to mount a foot pump into a kayak in the abovementioned Sea Kayaker. However, after installing them into several of our own fleet kayaks, we think we have come up with an even better way of installation.
Price list: Price list pdf
References:
Finn, T., Foot-Powered Bilge Pump. Sea Kayaker February 2003. p. 29-33.
Linnonmaa, J., Seaworthiness of a Kayak and Paddler. Meloja (Finnish Paddler-magazine), 1/2008. p. 20-24 (in Finnish)
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A modified Bosworth Guzzler 450 proved to be superior for kayak use compared to the other foot pumps I had used before due to:
- No rubber diagphram visible on the outside of the pump and getting dinged by kicking it in the boat
- A well-made 'Duckbill'-check valve in the outlet of the pump. We actually measured the workings of a Bosworth vs. other brand bilge pump check valve by putting the kayaks on their side and measuring how quickly the check valve would leak the volume of a regular plastic pop bottle. The Bosworth check valve leaked hardly at all compared to the competitive brand.
So far we have experience of Bosworth pumps mounted into our fleet kayaks since 2003. No service whatsoever has been required after the installation. Added weight to the kayak amounts to less than 1 kg. Safety factor regarding an instance, where a wet exit and subsequent re-entry and roll would be needed is huge. If a skilled kayaker has capsized, the conditions are likely to be such, that hand pumping the kayak is not an option!!
There is a good description of how to mount a foot pump into a kayak in the abovementioned Sea Kayaker. However, after installing them into several of our own fleet kayaks, we think we have come up with an even better way of installation.
Price list: Price list pdf
References:
Finn, T., Foot-Powered Bilge Pump. Sea Kayaker February 2003. p. 29-33.
Linnonmaa, J., Seaworthiness of a Kayak and Paddler. Meloja (Finnish Paddler-magazine), 1/2008. p. 20-24 (in Finnish)
back to products