Float-on-Air

[Erich]

Hi All,

Is there anyone making a quality replica of these. The late Bryan Purves made them, but I have not heard of anyone else doing so.

Many thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Erich in Mukilteo

[JonE]

3.00-4.5 Fatty mountain bike tyres with a couple of rubber ties around. A pair does two seats. See Nippy archive aus7in.wordpress.com for a report, somewhere on there

[Erich]

JonE, if I understand what you are saying, each seat cushion only has one tube(chamber). If that is the case, then it misses one of the key advantages of this type of cushion. The originals and the Purves reproductions had two chambers each. This meant the outer cushion could be inflated more than the inner, giving support at the front of the cushion while leaving the center more soft.

Erich in Mukilteo

[JonE]

Erich - agreed - I had them in a surround of foam walls. But if you can't find what you need in the way of "quality reproduction", then your bottom may tell you that the for $15 or whatever it is there isn't much difference... and I bet these last as long as the original rubber things. The repros I've seen were clear and seemed... thinner.

[Steve Jones]

I have these 'Fatty' tubes in the front seats of my RM. 26 x 4.0/4.9 Vittoria Fat MTB tubes. One tube per cushion. The pair cost me £11.97 including VAT and delivery. Yes, it would be very nice to have proper 'Float on Air' inners but they aren't available so I see two alternatives. The first is to not use the car because it has no seat cushions whilst I wait for someone, somewhere, to produce the proper cushion inners one day. The second is to use the Fat Tube alternatives that cost next to nothing, fit great, are readily available and result in a very comfortable seat. That second alternative means I can drive my car around and use it as was intended until the day dawns when that someone, somewhere, produces the correct thing - if they ever do.

Steve

[Peter Naulls]

Erich,

I used conventional inner tubes (3-50 I think). You can cut them to length and superglue the cut end closed, thereby making an outer 3-sided chamber and a complete, folded inner chamber. Use a couple of wooden battens and G-clamp the ends together until the glue is completely set. Getting the valves in a comfortable place is the trickiest bit.

[Erich]

Thank you all. I have a set of Purves cushions on my Ulster Rep I can use as a pattern. Peter, great suggestion. What I like about the air cushions, is that pressure is variable, both for the outer and inner. I wasn't sure how well they would work until I bought a set from Bryan. Though I've used them very little, they work well and don't compress the way foam can. So many cars had them in period, I'm surprised it was only Bryan who thought to reproduce them.

Erich in Mukilteo

[Robert Leigh]

The (probably Purves) replicas I saw were opaque plastic but did not have the elasticity of the more comfortable Austin originals which were natural rubber. I feel that the inner tube alternative is worth persuing, possibly with differing sizes for the centre section and the square U on the outside. My first vintage Riley 9 had inflatable cushions by 'The Self-Controlled Air Cushion Company' in Manchester; they had through tubes vulcanised in from top to bottom to prevent ballooning, and were also comfortable.

[Dave Mann]

I found an intact original recently     I'm just wondering whether to fit it as I've fitted some inflatable cushions I found in Decathalon which work well     they require very little puff to make them comfortable too much and you tend to roll off.

[Robert Foreman]

Father did a lot of work for an industrial rubber company over the years and we showed the chief engineer a Moseley float on air. He suggested taking an inner tube, cutting it and replicating the original folding over the ends and glueing with rubber cement.