Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Help needed on Trim settings

Forum for kitesurfers
AIR-TASTIC
Medium Poster
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 4:56 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Winchester
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Help needed on Trim settings

Postby AIR-TASTIC » Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:26 pm

OK
5 lines North bar, bow kites (Fuse)
I tend to ride with the bar close to me
With my current settings, this means that the kite is over-trimmed, and flaring outwards quite badly
As a result, I have to almost stop, slow down, bear away down wind with a big kite action deep in the wind window
This happens especially in lighter conditions
So I think I need to shorten the front lines by one knot on each side so that pulling the bar almost to its max, it is less over-trimmed versus the front lines
Q1. Is this thinking correct
Q2. If so, am I going the right way
Q3. What else should I do?

User avatar
Toby
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 50343
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2001 1:00 am
Kiting since: 2000
Weight: 95 kg
Local Beach: Cumbuco, Brazil
Barra do Cauipe, Brazil
Favorite Beaches: same
Style: Airstyle
Gear: Rebel 2015 18
Brand Affiliation: None.
Location: World (KF Admin)
Has thanked: 831 times
Been thanked: 2364 times
Contact:

Re: Help needed on Trim settings

Postby Toby » Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:49 am

I don't understand what happens.

A: If back lines too short, the kite will loose power and backstalls when bar pulled towards you.
B: If back lines too long you will not have power and the kite is less responsive.

Which one happens?

User avatar
edt
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 7316
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:27 am
Kiting since: 2010
Local Beach: Michigan
Gear: ride hard, no regrets
Has thanked: 529 times
Been thanked: 662 times

Re: Help needed on Trim settings

Postby edt » Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:55 am

AIR-TASTIC wrote: Q3. What else should I do?
step 1 tune the bar.

remove bar from kite, and tie the ends with some lark's head to a strong pole. stretch out the lines and set the trim at maximum power, pull the bar all the way in.

All 4 lines should be exactly equal tension, both rear and both center lines should be exactly the same.

If the rear lines are too short you can pull hard on the bar and stretch them out a bit. Or you can adjust the knots on the bar.

Once you have the bar tuned, go back out and see how the kite behaves and at this point we can start talk about setting the trim. But don't do anything until you have first properly tuned the bar and made sure the lines are exactly equal.

I believe on a fuse the 5th line is slack so that doesn't have to be tuned.

TheJoe
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1738
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:13 pm
Local Beach: Texas city levee, Galveston, El Jardine and Crystal beach.
Style: Freeride, Foil, Surf, a lil freestyle
Gear: North Reach 7,9,12
Brunotti TT
Moses 633/483
Dwarfcraft Micro
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 118 times

Re: Help needed on Trim settings

Postby TheJoe » Sat Jul 05, 2014 9:43 am

If your wing tips are flaring you could be under-inflating your kite. This will cause them to flare especially on delta's which tend to have thin leading edges at the wingtips.

Other than that tune your bar as Edt suggests.

Westozzy
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2918
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:25 am
Local Beach: Mandurah
Style: Freeride, wave
Gear: Rebel, Vegas 2012
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Help needed on Trim settings

Postby Westozzy » Sat Jul 05, 2014 9:47 am

Leave the front lines alone...they have stretched by the sounds of it, so lengthen the bAck lines as explained.

AIR-TASTIC
Medium Poster
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 4:56 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Winchester
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help needed on Trim settings

Postby AIR-TASTIC » Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:05 am

Toby wrote:I don't understand what happens.

A: If back lines too short, the kite will loose power and backstalls when bar pulled towards you.
B: If back lines too long you will not have power and the kite is less responsive.

Which one happens?
Firstly, thanks for taking the time to answer, most appreciated
In answer to your question/s
DEFINITELY it would appear to short as when I get riding, the bar is usually a couple of inches from closest to me, but the kite is way over-trimmed and is flaring badly
NB The lines are all the same length

AIR-TASTIC
Medium Poster
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 4:56 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Winchester
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help needed on Trim settings

Postby AIR-TASTIC » Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:09 am

edt wrote:
AIR-TASTIC wrote: Q3. What else should I do?
step 1 tune the bar.

remove bar from kite, and tie the ends with some lark's head to a strong pole. stretch out the lines and set the trim at maximum power, pull the bar all the way in.

All 4 lines should be exactly equal tension, both rear and both center lines should be exactly the same.

If the rear lines are too short you can pull hard on the bar and stretch them out a bit. Or you can adjust the knots on the bar.

Once you have the bar tuned, go back out and see how the kite behaves and at this point we can start talk about setting the trim. But don't do anything until you have first properly tuned the bar and made sure the lines are exactly equal.

I believe on a fuse the 5th line is slack so that doesn't have to be tuned.
To you too, thanks for your input and time taken
In answer:
All 4 lines are identical in length. This was true of an old bar that I have just dumped, and a new North bar that I have replaced it with (so its not even a case of new lines stretching)
I tend to ride with the bar quite close to me, but that makes the kite flared as if it's over-sheeted and then I have to bear away, fly the kite up and down a few times and get some "way" on again

AIR-TASTIC
Medium Poster
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 4:56 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Winchester
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help needed on Trim settings

Postby AIR-TASTIC » Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:09 am

TheJoe wrote:If your wing tips are flaring you could be under-inflating your kite. This will cause them to flare especially on delta's which tend to have thin leading edges at the wingtips.

Other than that tune your bar as Edt suggests.
Good idea, but I am taking the kite up to 6 psi, which is what it says on the tubes as ideal pressure

User avatar
Peter_Frank
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 12734
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2002 1:00 am
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Denmark
Has thanked: 1005 times
Been thanked: 1187 times

Re: Help needed on Trim settings

Postby Peter_Frank » Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:30 am

AIR-TASTIC wrote:OK
5 lines North bar, bow kites (Fuse)
I tend to ride with the bar close to me
With my current settings, this means that the kite is over-trimmed, and flaring outwards quite badly
As a result, I have to almost stop, slow down, bear away down wind with a big kite action deep in the wind window
This happens especially in lighter conditions
So I think I need to shorten the front lines by one knot on each side so that pulling the bar almost to its max, it is less over-trimmed versus the front lines
Q1. Is this thinking correct
Q2. If so, am I going the right way
Q3. What else should I do?

Q1. Is this thinking correct
Yes
Q2. If so, am I going the right way
Yes
Q3. What else should I do?
You could simply use the trim adjuster instead, thats why its there :thumb:
And only change knots or similar, when the difference becomes a lot more than now.

PS: whether the lines are equal lenght or not, is not important so dont ever think about this.
The kite should just be trimmed to fly like you want it to, when the bar is pulled towards you.
And yes, this flaring or stalling gets worse in lighter wind, so you HAVE to use the trim adjuster to depower the kite a bit, when out in marginal conditions :naughty:

8) PF

User avatar
edt
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 7316
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:27 am
Kiting since: 2010
Local Beach: Michigan
Gear: ride hard, no regrets
Has thanked: 529 times
Been thanked: 662 times

Re: Help needed on Trim settings

Postby edt » Sat Jul 05, 2014 3:43 pm

AIR-TASTIC wrote: I tend to ride with the bar quite close to me, but that makes the kite flared as if it's over-sheeted and then I have to bear away, fly the kite up and down a few times and get some "way" on again

If the bar is tuned then you should be able to pull the trim or depower about 2 inches in that should prevent the kite from being oversheeted and flaring. If you have pulled the trim in and the kite still behaves strangely then something else is going on.


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Aberdovy kiter, arjas, ARK, Baidu [Spider], Bing [Bot], Bladebarry, DanielorDani, headintheclouds, htsc, i_love_storm, mede, nixmatters, nothing2seehere, Peter_Frank, Pitu, SolarSet, Yahoo [Bot] and 350 guests