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Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

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Piotr S.
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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby Piotr S. » Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:32 am

tube on my Ozone Sport 9m popped open, I will have the tube fixed but bladder is a problem - it ripped on circa 20cm and Ozone will not sell you a single piece - they force you to buy a COMPLETE SET :angryfire:

can you think of a substitute replacement? if not a repair method?
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Goddy
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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby Goddy » Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:53 am

For tubes we can help you, please check www.u-stick.nl and search for the next dealer/ distributor.

Best regards

Martin
U-Stick Germany

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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby Dockmonkey1 » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:51 pm

Hi,
I had a 2.5 inch hole blown out on the tip of my leading edge bladder and I used duct tape and the bladder still holds air. It's not pretty but it did the job.

I also used small siphon clamps that I got from a do it yourself wine shop. They are the same ones Liquid Force use on there one pump system.

Brian

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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby Hooked-onKitesurfing » Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:32 pm

Tie a knot in the end of the bladder if it blows out.

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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby tladd » Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:05 pm

Repair method that works like a charm for me. Clean repair area on both sides with alcohol. Use masking tape to align and hold edges of ripped area together. Flip over and use sail repair tape (polyester ripstop tape, comes in two inch roles in several colors) cut in half, one inch wide, to run length of repair, Match colors as necessary or use white, looks almost clear. Flip over again, take off masking tape and tape other side with sail repair tape also one inch. Use a heat gun or hair dryer to lightly heat tape while rubbing tape to set adhesive. Then sew on with a polyester thread, ( I use a roll labeled anefil poly BT-46/2, because I found it somewhere), and a triple stitch on a cheap home sewing machine, can usually be found for very little used. I use a Kenmore.
Leading edges and tubes need the heavier dacron sail tape. If the area is small I usually try to tape it, to avoid having to take the tube apart, with either tear aid or sail bandage (from West Marine) In both case set the adhesive with a heat gun while rubbing it in. Don't over do the heat, rubbing it in by hand lets you know when it is just warmed up a bit. Cleaning with alcohol, rounding corners of tape patches, and using heat, keep small repairs on for a long time without sewing.

Tom Ladd

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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby lewmt » Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:25 pm

Help Please?!

I have 2 kites I may need this weekend. Both have exactly the same issue & I've been waiting for 2 weeks for U-Stick valves to show up as a warranty thing(actually well over a month on 1 kite) as they're brand new kites.

Since the U-sticks haven't showed up is there any way to repair a crack in the rubber in the valve at the point where it necks up from the wide part of the valve to the thin part? Is there a glue repair that may have a prayer of holding? I tried crazy glue but it didn't hold. Both valve cracks are on the leading edge bladder & below the point a plug could seal it off - Any advice much appreciated if I can get at least my 9M flying on Saturday :jump: Its where the valve looks like _||_ & right in that 90 degree corner

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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby tladd » Fri Jul 04, 2008 4:13 pm

I've had good luck with aquaseal. Sand lightly, clean well (I would probably use acetone),
And put a thick fillet around the fill neck. Be sure to let the glue set over night before use.

Tom Ladd

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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby SLOKITER » Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:48 pm

SloSails in San Luis Obispo is a sail making shop and they have lots of experience in kite repairs. They have fixed out our whole gangs kites (quickly) and some had pretty bad damage. Slosails.com.
Check them out on the web.

cheers!

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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby lucie » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:40 pm

I bought a used 2007 9m Roo from someone on this site. Love it, etc, but thought it had a slow puncture on the LE. It'll fly for a couple of hours at a time though without losing too much rigidity so haven't been overly frantic about repairing it. However... I realised on Tuesday when I pumped it up that its the dump valve on the LE that is slowly leaking, could just hear a little hiss, even when pushed in and the velcro bit done up nice and tight. Any ideas about getting over this problem, without replacing the valve? I am thinking glue the bugger shut and rely on the inflate valve to let it down ; or wrapping an elastic bandround the pluggy bit and seeing if that creates a tighter fit; or good old gaffer tape on it every time I inflate the kite.

Any thoughts on my heath robinson suggestions, or has anyone fixed a similar problem before?

Chars.
x

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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby klimber » Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:12 pm

lucie wrote:I bought a used 2007 9m Roo from someone on this site. Love it, etc, but thought it had a slow puncture on the LE. It'll fly for a couple of hours at a time though without losing too much rigidity so haven't been overly frantic about repairing it. However... I realised on Tuesday when I pumped it up that its the dump valve on the LE that is slowly leaking, could just hear a little hiss, even when pushed in and the velcro bit done up nice and tight. Any ideas about getting over this problem, without replacing the valve? I am thinking glue the bugger shut and rely on the inflate valve to let it down ; or wrapping an elastic bandround the pluggy bit and seeing if that creates a tighter fit; or good old gaffer tape on it every time I inflate the kite.

Any thoughts on my heath robinson suggestions, or has anyone fixed a similar problem before?

Chars.
x
dip the plug in hot water and use something to stretch it out?

or

go to a hardware store and find a rubber O-ring with an inside diameter a bit smaller than the outside diameter of the nipple of the plug and slide it over.


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