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Bell Floatation Tank Relief Valve Repair/Replacement Question

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My Flashfire has cut-off relief plugs for the floatation tanks, evidently glued in. Maybe the previous owner thought this was an upgrade.

Should I relace nubs with this IM 20.jpg

The plug in the picture is something I picked up at a hardware store long ago. It is solid, but perhaps I could drill or burn a hole in it.

You can sort of see what the OEM plug looks like in the background here:


plug im.jpg

I am concerned that the carbon canoe tank might bulge or implode, especially as the carbon is thin and gets hot in the sun. Weather and altitude are the enemy.

As I understand it, Bell used a hollow rubber stopper of some kind, with slit in the bottom to allow the air to burp out.

I could call Northstar, or maybe Placid, Colden, Hemlock, etc., but I would rather find a universal part that would work, from McMaster or elsewhere.

A kayak drain plug might be a good idea, but more work. I suppose all air tanks eventually get some water in. The drain plug would allow venting for drying, but would not practically address the altitude/heat issues.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.
 
I'd call Dave at Hemlock or Paul Meyer at Colden.. Souris River for some reason does not install any holes at all in their tanks. We had to drill a small one because we were going to transport the canoe cross country and get to 12,000 feet. Having a canoe explode would mess up our trip. The hole was so small we did not put a plug in but yours is quite a bit bigger. I know Paul at Colden uses tank relief valves as well as Dave and neither is a high volume business. They have to get their plugs from someone else.
 
When I got my Bell Wildfire in 2009 it had no air relief plugs in the float tanks. Charlie Wilson, then at Placid, sent me two for free. So, I assume they can still be gotten from Placid and maybe Colden -- who, of course, get them from some general supplier, but perhaps have to order them in bulk quantities.
 
Please let us know if you find any good sources. I see that the Swift parts list offers 2 different float tank plugs. I'm just using a small piece of gorilla tape on my '99 Merlin II since the original plugs started to degrade. Just FYI the ones that came in my Merlin II did NOT have a valve in them, they were just like the plug in your pic. I assumed they would let any excess pressure escape since they aren't a super tight fit.
 

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