Foilzone

[foilholio]

hopefully he comes here or somewhere else.

[Partydk]

Thx for this great post/pictures..

Best Regards
Kent Ellegaard

Kite danmark - Liquid Force - Kitesurfing udstyr - Begynderkite

[sparkin_larkin]

I was looking forward to the guy posting about resealing the old kites...

Yea he was doing methodical testing of varying concoctions ..shame that

[kitexpert]

I have tested sealing leaking kites with silicone. Two methods I've used are: solving silicone with turpentine (white gas?) or using silicone spray. First one is quite messy and laborous way, but it gives thick layer when brushed to kite. Drawbacks: it stinks, it adds weight and needs to be cured properly (or sand and dirt stick to kite, disaster). Solving silicone takes some time and agitation.

Silicone spray is the easy way. I once sprayed two 400ml bottles to leaking wingtips and considerable improvement in internal pressure happened. Quite wrinkly and worn-out looking fabrics became amazingly good, they really shine and got back their original or even better deep color.

I have not a very long term experience, but so far silicon spray seems to work. Big kite needs 4-6 400ml bottles, but because near air intakes pressure problems are not so critical two bottles to wingtips is a good start.

[foilholio]

Silicone caulking works well but it needs to be diluted very thin and sprayed on. Painting it is not going to work well. Silicone oil which is what would be in those cans will only be temporary.

The guy doing the research had rounded it down to two types of coating, one a yet unnamed product off the shelf and the other shoe goo diluted with toluene. I liked his test methodology, which included weather and durability testing. He was using a home made porosity meter, which would quite easily eliminate things like silicone oil. Shoe goo has much better physical properties than silicone caulking. If you do a bit of reading on the net about shoe goo or goop(same thing) and toluene, you will find it is well known as a good fabric coating for waterproofing.

[kitexpert]

Everything is temporary. Spraying silicone is cheap and easy method, and it gets fabric more airtight. There is no harm done in any case. Old kite looks much better after silicone spraying.

Practical before-after testing is enough for me, I have no such interest or time for old kites that I could justife doing more. If effect is not strong enough I spray more. I've used sprayed kite now twice and it is good.

I don't know shoe goo, never seen that product.