As we start to pull the boards out for the coming Spring and Summer sessions, a little gear maintenance will go a long way towards ensuring you’re ready for the season and your gear is up to the task. While we were gaining the pounds of our own winter coat, the equipment has also likely been left to sit patiently awaiting its next outing. With this is mind, let’s take a look at one of crucial bits of gear for inflatable stand up paddle boards, the SUP pump.
In the video above, head honcho at Red Paddle Co, John Hibbard, walks us through a quick “check over” and maintenance routine for the Red Paddle Co HP Ezee pump. SUP pump maintenance is extremely straight forward thanks to the simplicity of the pumps themselves. This tutorial can of course be adapted to the Red Paddle Co Ezee and Titan SUP pumps, as well as many other similar SUP pumps that ship with Naish SUPs or Starboard inflatable paddle boards. View the video or read the transcription below:
Red Paddle Co SUP Pump Maintenance
Maintaining your pump is easy. We’ve designed the pump to be as maintenance free as possible, but if you do need to maintain your pump, here is how to do it.
First thing you’ll need is a screw driver to remove the screws from the top of the pump. You can then pull the pump apart. First thing to do is to check inside for any dirt or sand, this can be cleaned out. Do the same for the end of the pump’s shaft here.Â
This grease is lithium grease, it’s available from cycle shops, it’s used widely in the cycling industry and it’s quite cheap and easy to get hold of. Things to check: make sure the o-ring is in place, make sure the gasket is also in place. At the top of the shaft you have the handle, this can be removed by hand, if you ever have a problem with this, and it can be replaced with a new one, which is easily again, just screwed on and fitted like that.
There’s a filter at the top of the pump which you may need to clean but it is unlikely.
Putting it back together is the reverse of taking it apart. Put the screws back in. Unlike other brands, we try to make our pumps as simple and as easy to operate as possible, to reduce the amount of maintenance you require, so you can paddle more often.