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finding a pin-hole in main bladder

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cglazier
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Re: finding a pin-hole in main bladder

Postby cglazier » Fri Nov 21, 2014 5:12 pm

Starsky wrote:...the bubbles can migrate under the dacron to a seam and bubble there a small distance away from the actual pin hole(s). ie. the soap spray is really only an indicator of the general area of bladder affected ..
Agreed !

Pump up the kite hard. Bigger holes can sometimes be heard leaking or can be felt if you put you face in the area (your face is more sensitive to air flow than your hands). If this doesn't work we spray the whole leading edge area with dish washing soap diluted in water from a spray bottle. Be sure the kite is pumped firmly. This always finds the general area of the leak. Then remove that section of the bladder from the kite and hopefully you can visually locate the actual pin hole.

:wink: CG

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Re: finding a pin-hole in main bladder

Postby harviento » Sat Nov 22, 2014 1:06 am

Another good reason to use the soap method to find the hole BEFORE removing the bladder is that you often don't need to remove the whole bladder after all. Half the time the hole turns out to be near one of the tips or near the middle, and in either case, you can just pull out a little bit and fix it. Even if it's in the middle of one side, you can just remove that half of the bladder. But if you pull the whole thing out to dunk it in water or start squeezing it to listen for a leak, then you're giving yourself a lot more work than necessary.

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Re: finding a pin-hole in main bladder

Postby windrupted » Wed Nov 26, 2014 4:04 am

Miltsface wrote:After finding the hole with the soap method, I poke a big needle into the spot to make a bigger hole that is easy to find once the bladder is removed. Even though every fiber of your being will be screaming "NOOOoooooo", you're putting a patch on anyway, so it doesn't really matter if it is a tiny, imperceptible, pin-hole or decent sized pin hole.
This is pure gold! Maybe there's a way to poke it with a certain type of ink pen, tattoo the spot. Thanks.

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Re: finding a pin-hole in main bladder

Postby Tinbasher » Sat Nov 29, 2014 4:31 pm


321kiteboarding
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Re: finding a pin-hole in main bladder

Postby 321kiteboarding » Fri Dec 05, 2014 6:41 am

You can use a permanent marker "sharpie" to mark the pinhole.
You can also use the same marker on black leading edges and hold the marker on firmly with the bladder in the kite. The ink will transfer, so when you pull the bladder out: Magic, you have a black mark where you leak is.

For really small pinholes, or lots of small ones, a great way is to have your bladder completely out, pump it up firm (not too much) and simply run a garden hose on low pressure over the bladder so that the water fans out. ANY hole will make a stream of bubbles. Have a marker handy and mark the spot. All done.

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Re: finding a pin-hole in main bladder

Postby Don Monnot » Sat Dec 06, 2014 1:12 am

I've probably patched 40 pinholes in my kites--18 of them at one time on a leading edge. Most of them worked with the soap on the pumped-up bladder trick, but I had two pinholes that drove me crazy. Both were super tiny, and never leaked when out of the kite. I spent hours trying to find the pinholes. I finally got some bubbles on the outside of the kite when it was pumped up hard, so that gave me a general idea of where to look. The bubbles were not exactly where the leaks were, but in the vicinity. I finally spotted them visually. Both times there was a very, very small (0.5 mm) "crack" in the bladder material. No air leaking from the crack, but when I kind of pinched the bladder at the crack I could feel the air coming out when I got my lips close to it--"kissed" the bladder. So good luck finding them all when you know you've got multiple leaks.

Don


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