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Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

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

Postby norcom » Tue Sep 09, 2014 5:35 am

Here's another view of the seam on both sides. It looks like the canopy is attached directly to the strut there. I would have to sew the repair on the ripstop tape directly to the dacron. Not sure if my basic machine will handle that though.

I believe the kite's a Slingshot as it has split strut written on it somewhere. It's 17m, 5 line C kite so I didn't unroll it all the way because of size to get full details.
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reyrivera
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Re: Tips and Tricks to Repair Kites - add your experience!

Postby reyrivera » Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:36 am

Okay, if its like my old slinghsot fuels, then yeah, for the split strut, the spinnaker ends right at the dacron edge, so as long as the dacron isn't ripped, you should be able to add spinnaker reinforcement on that edge without touching the struts. I would recommend sewing that area with really small 3 stitch zigzag, like setting your width between 1 and 1.5.

What sewing machine do you have? As long as it can sew through 3 layers of denim and can take say v46 thread, you should be okay.

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

Postby norcom » Tue Sep 09, 2014 3:13 pm

reyrivera wrote:Okay, if its like my old slinghsot fuels, then yeah, for the split strut, the spinnaker ends right at the dacron edge, so as long as the dacron isn't ripped, you should be able to add spinnaker reinforcement on that edge without touching the struts. I would recommend sewing that area with really small 3 stitch zigzag, like setting your width between 1 and 1.5.

What sewing machine do you have? As long as it can sew through 3 layers of denim and can take say v46 thread, you should be okay.
Thanks for the tips! It's something very close to a Brother XR40. My LCD screen isn't as big though. Something like this Image

Not sure I can get through multiple layers of denim. I did pickup a walking foot for it but that has even less room. I'm also still having issues adjusting the lower tension on the bobbin and can't get the 3 step zigzag to look as nice as anything on any of the kites.

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

Postby KYLakeKiter » Wed Oct 15, 2014 9:37 pm

Had a ball valve cause a valve trap repair to fail today. This is the first time I have tried to use a valve trap on an inflate valve. Used them on strut valves a few times and really liked them. Yesterday when I inflated the kite I noticed that the ball valve was stuck to some residual sticky that must have been left from me not exactly cutting the two layers of the trap the same. It didn't seem like a big deal so I just made sure the Velcro was secured. The kite stayed inflated for over 6 hours yesterday and didn't loose any air. Today when I went to inflate it, I could feel that the ball had worked itself well into the outer area of the valve trap. I pushed it back to the center of the valve, and then removed the ball entirely, but it was too late. As I inflated the kite it was evident that the ball had caused a crease in the repair that was leaking. Tried a desperate peal and restick on the beach (which never works). Will be fixing it again tonight. Not sure if I will put the ball back in or not (leaning towards not). So my advice would be either leave the ball out, or be very sure there is no exposed adhesive that the ball can stick to as air pressure may push the ball in between the layers of the repair.

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

Postby brightfuzz » Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:08 pm

I had a really bad time with the inflate valve
On my kite.send it twice for repairs to two
Different repair facilities.failed.bought several
Glues,adhesive valves.failed.i ordered online original
Manufactures equipment(OEM) adhesive inflate valve
9mm from Airtime.the nightmare was over.that
Valve fixed it all perfectly.
Kind regards.

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

Postby xenosd » Mon Oct 20, 2014 4:23 pm

Hi to all. I have a very small hole (about 2mm) at my canopy, near the LE. Should I use the north's repair kit? Is it for the kite or for the bladder only (manual doesn't help)?
If so, how much tape should I use? Jus to to cover it or more, in order to strengthen the area? Both sides?

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

Postby KYLakeKiter » Wed Oct 22, 2014 12:28 am

xenosd wrote:Hi to all. I have a very small hole (about 2mm) at my canopy, near the LE. Should I use the north's repair kit? Is it for the kite or for the bladder only (manual doesn't help)?
If so, how much tape should I use? Jus to to cover it or more, in order to strengthen the area? Both sides?
This video shows a pretty large repair, but as long as its just on the rip stop and not the Dacron, mesh tape and kitefix glue will work just fine. Hope this helps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8G_DFyKCO0

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

Postby jb92563 » Fri Dec 19, 2014 12:09 am

I have a couple North Rhino07 12m and 16m that I picked up cheap $100 for both. They are in great shape, barely used but
the 2 pump T valves on all 8 struts per kite mostly have the T busted off.
Looks like the T fittings became brittle and broke easily. UV?

I removed the bladders which were fine and removed the remainder of the old valves by using a whistling kettle on the stove and
Steaming the old valves off. This steam method is fast and easy and you can direct the heat where you need it with out all the fuss of
submerging in hot water.
It worked perfectly and quickly without damaging anything as the glue softened quickly and I could peel the old valves off
after no more than 5 seconds of steaming.

I bought 9mm fill valves (G-Stick valves $8.99) that I will stick in place over the old and then attach some
plastic nylon 9.5mm (3/8") T's from the local hardware store, Home Depot or order from McMaster-Carr online.

Its been quick and easy to DIY fix the kites.

I'm wondering if the newer generation of kites still have bladder/valve issues or are they more durable now?
From what I have seen the technology and materials seems to be the same so all the same issues still?

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

Postby kiteaid » Fri Dec 19, 2014 2:40 pm

Hi jb,

Glad that you decided to just fix the kite rather than trash it! :)

Valves materials have changed a lot since 2007. Most were made out of PU in the older generation kites and now they are more made out of PVC. The PU valves would yellow with time and I guess people did not like that... The issue with these PVC valves is that the welding proved to be difficult because manufacturers were trying to weld PU bladder material to PVC material. Some manufacturers started using plastic (adhesive) discs in between the valve flange and the bladders to help solve this problem. The issue is if the temperature required to melt this disc is too low, then high heat on the beach or in your car could cause the glue to melt. One of the reasons why valves started coming off. After some tweaking of the material properties, most manufacturers figured out the right chemistry.

On a chemistry level, PVC valves have plasticisers in the material to help keep the valves flexible. This is why you can have PVC as rigid as a water pipe and as flexible as a pool toy. These plasticizers tend to migrate into anything that is in contact with them. So for a PVC valve, if the adhesive that is holding it onto the bladder does not hold up well to plasticizers, the adhesive could eventually break down and the valve could come loose.

Hope this helps! I would like to hear more input from the manufacturers on this topic.

At http://www.KITEAID.com, we have been very successful using STORMSURE to fix leaky valves. This product tends to stick to most bladders and valves very well. Let me know if you ever need more repair products to help with your DIY repairs projects! :)

Thank you

Stephan

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

Postby LetsFlyaKite » Thu May 28, 2015 6:19 pm

Is there an easy way to find out where a kite is leaking? Should I go over it with soapy water while the bladder is still in the sleeve? Or take the whole thing out and try to find it that way?


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