Soft or firm?

[condensatelover]

How tight do you inflate your inflatables?
I always blow them rock hard, especially beachballs. It is a ball, so it must be tight. If it pops, which rarely happens, it won't endanger anyone.
If it is a toy for swimming, I will be more loyal to it, because someone can drown, if it pops.
What about you? Tight or not?

[Marenko]

Re: Soft or firm?

I like it tight. Just not too tight. I’m afraid it will pop when it’s too tight, and I don’t want that to happen. I like tight because it gives a sense of aliveness.

[ExerBaller]

Re: Soft or firm?

depends on the inflatable
If its an exercise ball, I don't mind it being tight or soft. (from my experience, if its really tight it seems to be very bouncy and nice to rub up against compared to if its soft.)
but if its an inflatable, I would have it a bit soft and a bit tight so it doesn't pop.

[RLMI]

Re: Soft or firm?

Always nice and hard. Beachballs and pool toys wrinkle free and bulging. Haven't had many pops but some do spring leaks.

Love comparing a fully overinflated one to an identical item that's normally inflated.

[fairskies15]

Re: Soft or firm?

I inflate mine just enough to be springy when I ride, firm but not too firm, soft yet not too soft. But for inflatables with weaker seams, however, like my Swimline Unicorn rocker, I put less air in because I don't want the poor thing to pop. I found it out the hard way when the neck seam split while I was riding it.

[Buzzsaw258]

Re: Soft or firm?

I will do very firm when I'm in a mood for popping something. It will always be sit or bounce to pop, never pin or stabbing. Other than that, firm enough for a good ride and hope not to a spring leak. If it does spring a leak and it's one I have multiple of, it gets rode harder until it pops. After it pops I shoot a big load on it!

[SirSquishy]

Re: Soft or firm?

I like soft. What I especially like is when I lay or sit on, or hug a soft balloon or inflatable and it stretches to become very tight, like it's at it's limit when I'm riding it. That's the biggest turn on for me.

[heaviest]

Re: Soft or firm?

The joy for me is in the possibility that it'll pop under a load. The best experience for me is that you expect it'll pop but it doesn't. No matter the size of the inflatable, I inflate it enough that it'll be under stress when it is being used. So, a big, sturdy float needs to be overinflated quite a bit. Unfortunately, a big float is more likely to just spring a leak than it is to pop, so I prefer floats that are small for the people using them.

[bill.mcgavok]

Re: Soft or firm?

I always blow the wrinkles out of my toys. If it's not a rare toy, I'll usually add a few more breaths past that too, especially if I'm gonna ride it.

[heaviest]

Re: Soft or firm?

Always nice and hard. Beachballs and pool toys wrinkle free and bulging. Haven't had many pops but some do spring leaks.

Love comparing a fully overinflated one to an identical item that's normally inflated.

Yes. I like to stretch them with weight, reinflate them, stretch again, reinflate, maybe a third time, and then compare the size of a new one with the stretched one. Love doing this. If I'm pretty sure I want to pop it, I'll load the same side over and over so the other side gets ridiculously large.

Single chamber slim air mattresses are fun. The pillow gets super large before it pops, but it takes over 1000 pounds to stretch it until it pops with weight alone. Maybe less than that, but definitely over 600, since I've weighed that much and they stop stretching with just 600 on it. It takes two people, or sand bags and weight plates, to make it interesting!

[Vicci]

Re: Soft or firm?

Single chamber slim air mattresses are fun. The pillow gets super large before it pops, but it takes over 1000 pounds to stretch it until it pops with weight alone.

I used to love those, you could get the pillow absolutely huge after a day on the beach. You don't seem to be able to get them in the UK anymore.

[heaviest]

Re: Soft or firm?

I used to love those, you could get the pillow absolutely huge after a day on the beach. You don't seem to be able to get them in the UK anymore.

Intex seems to have stopped making the transparent ones, but as of last year they were still selling the "economat", a cheap, matte-finish, opaque single chamber slim mattress. I prefer the transparent ones. Walmart sells their own, and I haven't opened the ones I bought last year, but I think they may be old Intex stock. They are selling them again this year, so maybe not.

Some time ago I posted a video of two women getting on one of the economats while the pillow was already super stretched, and you can see the thing getting bigger as they ride it, and it pops. I can't find it here or on youtube, but it's a favorite of mine.

The only thing I can think of that it happens to ordinary people is they think it's leaking, so they keep adding air.

I can't reliably get one of those things to stretch that much in the sun. Added air or heavy load or not.

Anyway, I think the tendency of the pillow to stretch so much and pop is probably why Intex doesn't sell the more expensive transparent mats any more.

[seancody]

Re: Soft or firm?

Really like to underinflate. But at the end, I do both. Depends on the stiffness of the PVC.

[bbhumper]

Re: Soft or firm?

I prefer my beach balls firm.