Hey I need some advise on repairing my 9.5 Kahoona. the canopy tore along the right center strut from just short of the leading edge to the trailing edge (Maybe 40" or so). I'm debating between sending it in for a professional repair (Any suggestions of who?), or trying to repair it myself. Anyone try any of the "Kitefix.com" products? What about using adhesive dacron on both sides of the tear and calling it good? Thanks for any input!
repair advise
Mon, 02/15/2010 - 11:04am
Mon, 02/15/2010 - 5:35pm
#2
Hello, We have a great repair
Hello, We have a great repair guy in Kalispell, He has experience with kites and has done a great job for us and its cheaper than Airtime in Hood River., Give Tony a call and he can take care of it Tony's cell 530-356-2758
Joel
Tue, 02/16/2010 - 12:28am
#3
Our guy here in Kalispell
Our guy here in Kalispell does a great job and is less expensive than the others for sure. The best part is his turn around time is usually about two days. Give me a call and we can make this happen for you.
Tony
530 356-2758
Tue, 02/16/2010 - 10:48pm
#4
Thanks! I gave the damage a
Thanks! I gave the damage a closer look and I'm thinking it would probably be better for someone else to give it a shot. As good as I am with duct tape...this job is a little bigger than I'm willing to take on as a first attempt. Glad to hear there is someone local.. I'll give you a call soon.
P.S Good wind today on the east-side, all we need now is some snow - damn you El Nino!
Sat, 03/27/2010 - 9:59pm
#5
The repair came out sweet! I
The repair came out sweet! I 'd recommend that guy to anyone. Great to get it done locally and quickly (sorry you had to sit on it until I got back from CO). Thanks for the recommendation!
Dude, Too bad about the breakage. All of the remedies you have described are bandaids being a strut tear it should really be professionally repaired. Kite tape for small tears are fine.
Kitefix is awesome but beware you will have lots of trouble in resell. It leaves a hideous mess although its super duper strong. IF you don't care about resell try it I've done repairs with the breakage described the entire canopy sliced down and is still holding.
Your pro repair are 3 choices.
Airtime (hood river and florida)
fixmykite.com (texas)
Windfiredesign (florida)
There are many others that will do you'll have to search.
The advantage of pro repair is it will look like it did before it broke they know what they are doing in not effecting the kites original design as the ones listed above are approved OEM warranty centers. They stand behind the fix if it breaks in the same area again they will do it for free.
I know in foil cell rebuilds they still use tape although they sew around the tape (gives it the bulletproof warranty)
If you use tape remember to round out any square edges they tend to peel if you don't.
Pro repairs also have access to original fabric. (you'll need to know where the damge was to actually find that it was repaired)
hope this helps.