Hi everyone,
I was chatting to one of the guys at work about the price of co2 bottles for lifejackets, which led to the discussion on cost cutting for educational purposes. I was thinking about rigging something to show how a lifejacket looks when it inflates. Rather than spending $30 a pop every time I need to replace the bottle.
Is there a way I can hook up an air pump with an air line and the thread fitting like what is on a lifejacket co2 bottle so I can demonstrate an inflated lifejacket without having to spend all that money on new co2 bottles? Just turn the air pump on, bladder on the lifejacket inflates, and switch the power off on the air pump when the bladder is full. Then I can deflate the jacket, fold and pack the bladder, then inflate again.
Here's a lifejacket on a mannequin:
And here's the thread on the co2 bottle for this jacket:
The automatic jackets I use are all 33gram bottles. The other thought was using a big co2 bottle with a regulator set to use the same amount of co2 as a 33g bottle would use on activation. Not sure if that would be possible.
Would love to hear peoples thoughts on this.
Is there a sponsor fish shop that would like to work on this with me? As long as you take credit card, I can pay for time and parts.
Thanks,
Jason