Gluing back valves on the inside of the bladder

[Pemba]

I've got a kite with valves coming off. They've been glued on the inside of the bladders. Removing them (to glue back on the outside) seems a bit risky, it might tear the bladder. But it seems difficult or impossible to properly remove old glue remains and clean/sand with the valve still inside the bladder. Any ideas/experience ?

[Herman]

Had this with some flexifoil bladders in the past. I was able to remove the valves without cutting or damaging the bladder. I then just stuck replacement valves on the outside of the bladder. Worked fine. Pulling the old valve seat through the hole was fiddly but not that difficult as the valve base was nicely malleable.

The old valves came away cleanly with a hot water soak and so I may have been lucky in this respect! The hot water probably increased the malleableness of the old base which was also helpful.

[nothing2seehere]

The other way is to cut them off. Then when replacing use a large square of tear aid on the inside and a replacement valve on the outside. I had to do this with the new modern seam sealed style of valves that don't peel off.

The trick is to wet the tear aid and inside of the bladder whilst manoeuvring the inside patch into position as that allows a small amount of movement and also to peel the backing off when its inside the bladder.

[JaDan]

As mentioned , stick them on the outside.

I’ve done this many times, and if done correctly it will last a very long time.

[Pemba]

Thanks all. I'll try removing them from a strut first, if necessary with hot water. If that works I'll try the LE bladder. I've glued them on from the outside many times, should be fine. There are various threads on that. With PU glue they seem to last very long. With other glue (contact/PVC) not as long.