If you’re shopping for an inflatable boat, you will have probably come across the term Boston valve. It sounds impressive as it is part of the advertising material, but wait a minute.
What on Earth is a Boston valve?
A Boston valve is one-way check valve with 2 ports, which allows for easy inflation and quick deflation of inflatable items. It is used in larger inflatable products, such as inflatable boats and mattresses, to speed up the process of inflation and deflation.
As you can see on the image below, it has 3 core elements:
- The base, which is built into the rubber tube (far right)
- The middle part, which is screwed into the base (mid)
- The top cap, which is screwed onto the middle part (far left)
Contents
How does a Boston valve work?
You can efficiently inflate and quickly deflate inflatable boats equipped with a Boston valve. In purpose, it is like a Halkey-Roberts valve, but it works differently.
Inflation
Unscrew the top cap, and you’ll be able to inflate your inflatable, without it losing any air while this first cap is open. This is because the Boston valve is a check valve, which allows air to flow in only 1 direction.
Insert the pump, and inflate the boat. After you reach the desired air pressure, simply remove the pump from the valve. There is a return flap built into the mid-section of the Boston valve, which prevents leakage.
Remember to screw the cap back on, and you’re ready to go.
Deflation
If you want to quickly deflate your inflatable boat, just unscrew the middle “cap” from the base of the Boston valve. You will expose a large opening, so the air will escape very quickly.
If you have a pump which can be configured for deflation, it will speed up the process even more.
What kind of pump does a Boston valve need?
You can use any pump, but you will need to have a special Boston valve adaptor. The good news is that most pumps will come with one, since Boston valves are common.
Here are the manual and electric pumps I can recommend.
How to check the air pressure in a Boston valve?
Checking the pressure in a tube inflated with a Boston valve is a bit tricky, since the valve does not let air out. This is the main feature of Boston valves.
You need a specialized pressure gauge to check the air pressure inside your inflatable.
The makers of K-Pump have a gauge to check the pressure of Boston valves, check the current price here.
To use it, you insert the gauge into the valve, where it will register the pressure. The only thing that can go wrong here is that the length of the pins are not long enough to push the valve diaphragm open. If this is the case with your inflatable boat, you can just return the gauge and get your money back.
This gauge registers up to 20 PSI, so you can use it on high-pressure air floors and SUPs as well.
Boston valve losing air
It is imperative that the valve seals tightly, otherwise air will escape.
If you have a Boston valve which is losing air, you’ll want to do 2 things:
- Unscrew it and clean the valve to make sure it is not dusty and that there is no sand caught in the threads. This is the number 1 reason why Boston valves lose air.
- Re-thread it making sure it is not cross-threaded.
If it is still losing air, it is probably defective and you’ll need to buy a new one.
TIP: If you have an inflatable boat with multiple Boston valves of the same size, you can swap them to check whether it is, in fact, the valve losing air. This is a good way to make sure the valve is the culprit, not something else.
Also, you might want to read this article on how to find air leaks in inflatable boats.
Boston valves sizes
There are 2 sizes of Boston valves:
- Normal
- Small
This relates to the mouth of the valve, where you insert the pump adaptor.
Replacing Boston valves
While the Boston valve adaptor on pumps will fit 99% of the time, you cannot get generic replacements for lost/damaged valve caps for example. The threading and exact measurements vary by brand, so you need to find the specific size your product came with.
This might make the replacement of a defective Boston valve a problem, especially if you have an inflatable boat for which the manufacturer does not offer replacement parts.
First of all, you should do a Google search for the name of your boat + boston valve. For example, doing this for Intex Excursion Boston valve yields this result, the parts page of Intex.
If you can’t find the Boston valve specific to your boat, you should measure the diameter and length of the threaded part.
With this info in hand, you have a good chance of finding a generic valve that will fit. The only unknown is the exact threading. Threading standards do exist (NPT, BSP), but you never know what the manufacturer in Asia used.
Your best bet is to go to the Boston valve page on Amazon, and look through the many sizes you can get.
Do you have a 25mm thread boston valve available?
Sorry but I don’t sell anything on my site directly, you can search for it on Amazon.
The valve sticks up. Am I supposed to somehow push the whole thing down into the lining so the cap sits flush? One of them protrudes out right wherea person sits
No, Boston valves stick out from the material. It is an unfortunate design flaw, if they placed it right where somebody would sit.
Any tricks (or devices) to undo the middle cap to deflate?
My old arthritic fingers are not strong enough sometimes and there is not always anyone around to help
Thanks.
Hi, putting a rag over it helps in not letting it slip while twisting. Other than that, a wrench might be your best bet.
Can or have you replaced he entire valve. The threads of the inner/female portion of my valve is stripped and no longer holds air.
thanks
Yes, you can definitely replace the entire valve. I had one replaced on a PVC boat, but didn’t do it myself because I didn’t have a heat welding tool.
Have a look at this video, it describes how to replace the valve:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkshJaBhNR4