Current Thoughts on Waxing Kite Lines?

[dracop]

Whats the group consensus on waxing kite lines? Attract sand causing abrasion or protects the kite line?

I just finished having some fancy custom linesets created for a pair of Duotone Click Bars (Liros DC-701 2mm SK99 center lines). Love the new lines, want to give em max lifespan as they were a pain to get done (getting a center line loop done that could easily go through the TPU Depower Plastic was a nightmare - took several vendors/solutions before I got someone able to do it well).

I live in Hawaii so warm weather and sandy beaches are the norm. After two days on the new lines, the area where the lines cross during a kiteloop or backroll shows discoloration vs the rest of the lines (no fraying but if I keep looping/spinning it will eventually).

Regular candle wax? Applied cold?
Surf Wax? Bow wax?
Fancy new product?

[Onda]

My perception is that the SK99 material tends to "fray" very quickly. This has been a topic in the German kite forum already. I own a custom made bar with SK99 lines as well, and they look worn after a very short time of use already, even though I hardly do any kiteloops or line crossing at all. It is rather dissappointing for me. The builder of the bar claims that this is not an issue in terms of load capacity, but anyway...
I generally wouldn´t apply any wax to the lines. I think this will have more downsides than upsides: Attracting sand to stick to the lines, unknown ingredients of the wax which might impact the chemical structure of the lines etc.
Contemporary Dyneema lines are real high-tech products with several chemical, thermal and mechanical treatments at the factory to reach these incredible performance characteristics. I think every "additional freestyle treatment" can only create negative impact.

[Janus]

Waxing is fine and does not have negative sides is my experience.
Warm applied, normal candle wax, it will nicely soak into your line. Don't overheat the wax..that's not good for your line.
I mainly waxed depower ropes and sometimes the crossing section of the flying lines.

when entering the water I always put the kite to the side and rinse the lower part and depower area with fresh water so there is no sand on the depower rope and lines.

[edt]

switch to qpower if you want long lasting lines. Just be careful and use one of the methods that lets it work with modern control bars

[Matteo V]

Regular candle wax? Applied cold?
Surf Wax? Bow wax?
Fancy new product?

Wax that stays sticky is bad. Waxes that are hard at operating temp are better because they wont "pick up" sand on thier own. But in certain conditions, sand can still be physically pushed into, and embedded in harder wax.

I switched to a sheath of line over my center lines where they cross on a loop. Wax or coatings just never gave me close to the same result.

[Oldman]

Regular candle wax? Applied cold?
Surf Wax? Bow wax?
Fancy new product?

Wax that stays sticky is bad. Waxes that are hard at operating temp are better because they wont "pick up" sand on thier own. But in certain conditions, sand can still be physically pushed into, and embedded in harder wax.

I switched to a sheath of line over my center lines where they cross on a loop. Wax or coatings just never gave me close to the same result.

What do you mean by 'sheath of line over centre lines '?
thanks

[knyfe]

What sheath did you use and how long? G

[nixmatters]

Sticky wax that can collect sand and fine particles isn't good. Can increase wear inside the line and cause higher shrinkage.

Even the original coating can soften and become slightly stick if you leave your lines on the hot sand.

On the other side, wax applied on depower lines and flying lines crossing section can have more pros (lower surface friction) than cons.

Onda is right - SK99 frays faster than SK75 or SK78. The explanation is very simple - SK99 single filament is 2x thinner (~7µ) than SK75 (~15µ). The advantage of the the slightly higher breaking strength (per weight or diameter, however you wish) is outweighed by the deterioration of the breaking strength caused by abrasion.

And the claim that SK99 lines are stronger than SK75 is not always true. I have solid evidence (series of lab tests with SK75 line that showed a higher tenacity than a very well known SK99 line).

The main advantage of SK99 is lower elongation, which again can be achieved with SK75 and proper pre-stretching.

There is no chemical reaction between UHMWPE/Dyneema and wax (unless solvent based). Unfortunately this is the case with line coating too - it doesn't 'chemically' adhere, that's why it comes off so easy. Technically it's possible to solve this, but not feasible and commercially viable.

P.S. It took me a while to finish this post, just seen similar replies above

Qpower lines - forget about the single front line safety on bars with PU tube.

[dracop]

So household candle wax

In the past I’ve simply rubbed it on cold, any value to heating the wax up?

My new SK99 lines are WAY stronger than anything Ive seen in SK75/78. They barely feel tense while riding at full power. I tested them last weekend in 35-40kts (100kg rider currently) on a 10m Rebel. The lines were yawning at it (the kite was absorbing all the energy, lines felt slightly dull and lightly loaded). In contrast the OEM Teufelberger SK75 lines from Duotone feel like they are constantly springing back and forth in that setup.

So thats elongation - now to work on the abrasion problem!

My prior experience with Liros SK99 lines (used em for custom lines on my Torch) went quite well in terms of the lines holding up. Waxed those with cheap household wax from Walmart, waxed em cold. The wind and ocean smoothed out the uneven application in just a couple of sessions.

Posted this to see current thoughts/products on the subject since some of you seem to be pretty technical on this subject.

As fat as Q-Power, not sure how they will work with all the PU tubed power lines on the market. Also elongation is a serious problem in my case as I represent an extreme - a heavyweight big air rider frequently riding in strong conditions on a powerful kite. So the abrasion reputation of Q-Power is nice but they need to get thicker SK-99 lines out into the market.

[Matteo V]

What do you mean by 'sheath of line over centre lines '?
thanks

My main bar is a mini fifth 2013 North quad control bar. It has been "Franken barred" to some degree. I upsized the line from the top of the trim system to the "Y" from 7/64" to 1/8 Amsteel. Since I was having to replace this line so much, and this line is 18 feet of the 1/8 Amsteel, I decided to take another piece of 1/8 Amsteel and slave it on top of that line when I was splicing it. To do this:

1. Sleeve the main line inside of the sleeve line before you make your final splice loop. It helps if the main line is not significantly pre stretched before you do this. If you have a highly loaded pre stretch, work the line in loops to shrink it.

2. At one end, fray the sleeve ends and weave them into the main line in a staggered arrangement over 2 inches or so. This stops you from winding up with a bulge at one point in the line.

3. Work the sleeve tight over the main line to the other end. Do this many times. Then fray the other end and weave it into the main line on the other end.

When the main line stretches again, the weaves will get tight, and it will be locked with no stitching.


If you do this with smaller diameter line, that line should still be slightly over sized to account for strength reduction at the weave. Also, consider that increasing the diameter of the line will not allow certain single front line flagout systems to function. Test before you rely on any modification.