Inflating Tower Paddle Boards: PSI Recommendations

What PSI Do I Inflate My Tower Inflatable SUP Board To?

The best inflatable stand-up paddle board PSI level is anywhere from 10 to 15. Most people inflate their board to about 10 to 12 PSI. A higher PSI will help if you are riding in cold or choppy water. If you need a bit more stability, try increasing the PSI of your board as well. We generally recommend to not have your inflatable stand-up paddle board PSI lower than 10, since the SUP will not be as stable and could potentially crease in the middle if there is too much weight on it.

NOTE: Different quality boards (that may look similar from the outside) inflated to the same PSI perform very differently. A single layer iSUP inflated to 15 PSI will still be very bendy in the water - you basically can't inflate them enough to achieve anywhere near the rigidity of a quality hand glued, double layer construction board like our Tower Premium Series. With our boards you're actually just fine at 10-12 PSI. With a single layer board, you can't put enough PSI pressure in them to ever make them super rigid. Same thing with 4" thick iSUPs - doesn't matter how much PSI pressure you put in them, they still give horrible performance. Fusion construction iSUPs are somewhere in between double layer construction and single layer construction, not just in terms of their rigidity but in terms of the cost to produce. Thus they go for cheaper. Check out our Tower Starter Series for fusion construction, which is the top construction most brands on the market even offer. And most of the cheap brands out there only offer single layer construction. You can learn everything you need to know about inflatable paddle board construction here.

What Is the Recommended Maximum PSI for My Inflatable Paddle Board?

The maximum inflatable stand-up paddle board PSI is 20. We don’t recommend inflating your SUP beyond a PSI of 15, as you will only see small, incremental gains in the board’s rigidity past that point.

How Should I Inflate My ISUP?

It is physically impossible to over-inflate your inflatable paddle board if you use our air pump for inflatables, which comes with every new ISUP package. For all Tower paddle boards, a PSI of at least 10 should be reached: You should find the last 30-40 pumps to be fairly difficult, but it’s worthwhile to get it to full inflation. Note that the gauge that comes with our pump will not register the air pressure until the board is at at least 7 PSI. Once you think your board is fully blown up, take a break, and then pump it up 10 to 15 more times.

If you buy our electric paddle board pump for your Tower inflatable paddle board, the PSI setting will be reached automatically, and the pump will turn itself off when it’s finished.

Please note that if you use an air compressor to inflate the board, your two-year warranty is voided. This is because air compressors can potentially over-inflate your Tower inflatable paddle board. A PSI past 22-23 could cause the ISUP to burst, and always best to cap it

Should I Deflate My ISUP After Use?

It’s up to you, but it’s not necessary to deflate your ISUP. Our consumer-direct inflatable paddle boards can hold air perpetually. At our shop, we only deflate them when we need to transport them in small spaces. You can leave your blow-up stand-up paddle board inflated for however long you choose. One of the benefits of an inflatable board over a hardtop board is that not only is it a great value, but it’s almost impossible to damage, so many users will even transport them completely inflated. It’s not necessary to inflate and deflate them after each use.