Reinforcing Soakers

[Impending Flood]

With the rather high likelihood that I will get a CPS some time soon and the fact that most CPS super soakers are now ancient, I was wondering what methods are there of preventing a blaster breaking.

Some questions for the more experienced people:
So how do you preserve the rubber bladder of CPS guns?
And how do you make sure the firing valve doesn't blow up?
So basically how do you prevent a 10+ year old soaker disintegrating upon use?

Thanks in advance.

[isoaker]

These are great questions; sadly, I don't have any definitive answers, though others here may. That said, I'd like to take whatever insights come of this thread as the foundation for a future wiki reference article.

Back to the actual topic, I have some thoughts, but nothing definitive.
So how do you preserve the rubber bladder of CPS guns?
- as far as I know, there's no real way to preserve/repair a mistreated CPS bladder. Bladders should be kept clean and relatively water free (and depressurized when storing), but having a CPS bladder in a totally dry environment is also bad for the rubber. In the end, rubber is a natural product that breaks down over time. Need to look into ways of slowing the process, but I'm not sure on this one.

And how do you make sure the firing valve doesn't blow up?
- valves use rubber and/or springs that also suffer from aging. Depending on the blaster, some of the springs and seals can be replaced or reinforced, but that is blaster specific.

So basically how do you prevent a 10+ year old soaker disintegrating upon use?
- when it comes down to it, a 10+ year old blaster should be handled with a little more care if you still intend on using it. If you are comfortable opening it, inspecting tubing, reinforcing connections, and being prepared to replace parts if they do give up are all highly recommendable. If you have a specific model in mind, perhaps can offer more specific advice.

[HBWW]

Bladders eventually have to be replaced, with LRT being one of the more popular options for doing so. Still, more possibilities remain to be explored.

Firing valves never "blow up". Nothing blows up but instead, almost always leaks first if it's having a problem. Leaks are sealed typically with epoxy or epoxy putty. (Non-putty is often better so it can get to the cracks of the opening.)

You might be surprised to find that many 10-year old soakers still operate far more reliably than more recent blasters. Others have fairly common problems, such as the trigger pieces breaking, the firing valve not closing properly, or leaks in the pipe. All are relatively well-documented repairs and the community is generally good at fixing them.

ALL blasters ALWAYS must be handled with care. Never drop them, never leave free pumps extended, and most certainly never pick up a free pump blaster by said pump. Unfortunately, if you lend blasters you may eventually find an idiot who does one or more of the above.

[atvan]

So get a 2100. It solves 3 of those.

[HBWW]

As long as its not the 2100 that I have, then yeah, sure.

I really do like the 2100 and 4100's designs (flawed versions notwithstanding). The reservoir intake is actually designed to work properly unlike the crappy setup on the CPS 1000/1200/2700, etc., and the 2100 is generally k-moddable. I don't like how easily the pump handle breaks of course, but there are remedies for that.