Welcome to the pontoon world! Yes a hand pump will fill the pontoons when the valve is in the closed position, it looks like he valves are Halkey-Roberts (HR) valves. They're simple mechanisms but work well. You can buy an air pressure gauge for them (search using the valve name) but due to slight differences sometimes you have to get creative to make a gauge work. For my gauge I simply replaced the rubber grommet with a thinner o-ring as it didn't go deep enough to open the valve. I can post a picture after work. I bought my pontoon used and it gets folded up into my car after each use, never clean or dry it. They're great cheap vessels

On 5/1/2017 at 8:08 AM, CybrSlydr said:

Am I correct in that with a hand pump, I can leave the valve in the "closed" position but still pump air in because the pump can force the valve open?  

 

This way we're not losing air when removing the pump in the "open" position?

That is correct.

2 hours ago, Dirt said:

Welcome to the pontoon world! Yes a hand pump will fill the pontoons when the valve is in the closed position, it looks like he valves are Halkey-Roberts (HR) valves. They're simple mechanisms but work well. You can buy an air pressure gauge for them (search using the valve name) but due to slight differences sometimes you have to get creative to make a gauge work. For my gauge I simply replaced the rubber grommet with a thinner o-ring as it didn't go deep enough to open the valve. I can post a picture after work. I bought my pontoon used and it gets folded up into my car after each use, never clean or dry it. They're great cheap vessels

The instruction manual specifically states that they're "Boston Valves" but by description I'm finding they're called "Military Valves".  Now you're saying they're a third type -  lol  

 

The case of the infinite valve!

 

Essentially they're 1/4 screw-in with a sprung stem in the middle that you press down and can turn to lock open.

 

The image below is exactly the kind of valve.

 

Well that could very well be why I had to mod my air pressure gauge to work with it, mine look exactly the same but maybe there's slight differences. There was a nice difference with float height and speed when fully inflated (2.5psi for mine)