Seaplane pilots combine paddle, pump

Dan Dufault and John Hartz created the lightweight Paddle Pump to combine a bilge pump and paddle for watercraft and seaplane users. The two-in-one product allows pilots to pump their floats without bending over and grew out of Dufault and Hartz’s experience flying seaplanes, where space and weight are at a premium.

“We fly our seaplanes throughout the state,” said Hartz. “Maine’s got over 5,000 lakes and ponds and many of them are still only accessible really by seaplanes.”

The Paddle Pump is a beavertail-style paddle with a telescoping anodized aluminum shaft. For paddling, the shaft can be adjusted from 36 to 60 inches and locked in place with a collet. When pumping, the inner shaft moves freely within the outer shaft, using a series of valves to draw water up through the bottom of the blade. Hartz said the valve design is different from other pumps.

“Most of your bilge pumps that are used in both seaplanes and watercraft are pumping up, drawing the water and pumping it overboard in the same stroke, whereas ours kind of splits that work,” he said. “So the down stroke … discharges the water out and then the upstroke charges the paddle. So the work is split in half, making it twice as easy to do the same amount of work.”

The tool weighs 1.4 pounds, which Hartz says is comparable to a traditional paddle and saves the weight and space of a separate pump.

The company sells a watercraft version in addition to the seaplane version, which has an attachment compatible with the pump fittings of floats (either standard or PK). A low-profile, lightweight pump stick is tailored to kayakers, and an amphibian pump is designed to be easier to operate from the ground without standing on the pump. Hartz said Dufault builds the pumps himself in a hangar in Maine. He said the duo plan to roll out additional products, including a double-ended kayak paddle and filtration options.