Pro tip: cheap rubber mallet trick for stubborn lift bags

Been fighting a lift bag that kept snagging on a wreck frame off Galveston for two days. Tried the usual yanking and swearing routine, nothing. Then an old tender told me to tap the valve stem with a rubber mallet, just a quick thump, before inflating. That little vibration freed the pin every single time, no more wrestling in low vis. Cost me $12 for the mallet at a hardware store and saved maybe 4 hours of bottom time. Anyone else got a weird fix like this that sounds dumb but works?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sandra4d ago

Did you try warming the valve with a heat pack first, or does the tap just work better alone?

lily_schmidt533d ago

Warming the valve with a heat pack is a solid trick, but I found it only works if you let it sit for a good 10 minutes first. @the_sandra, if you rush it, the tap will still fight you. My old shower valve would seize up every winter morning, and the heat pack alone wasn't enough. I had to pair it with a light tap from a rubber mallet to break the crust inside. Now I just run the hot water for a minute before I touch it, and it's way smoother.