how long does it take for kite canopy to show signs of use?

[vela99]

Hi

A reknown kite repairer said that 15 minutes of flapping does far more harm to the fabric than a 2 or 3 hour kite session.

He really insisted to a friend of mine to get into the habbit of limiting the exposure to flapping by having everything prepared before pumping up. Same but reverse when finishing.

Another point, as a reference. My 2017 North Neo 11m has about 300 hours flight and it looks like it can take another 300 easilly. (I never leave it on the ground flapping).

[fabkites]

guess that is good advice for practice for all of us that need our gear to last longer

[Kitemenn]

What I do: clean them with non salty water, get them as dry as possible and put them clean in the bag.

Why on earth would you clean them on a regular basis with non salty water? Salty water is very effective against molds etc...in contrary to normal water

[vela99]

What I do: clean them with non salty water, get them as dry as possible and put them clean in the bag.

Why on earth would you clean them on a regular basis with non salty water? Salty water is very effective against molds etc...in contrary to normal water

And chlorine is not good for the fabric neither.

[dice]

A reknown kite repairer said that 15 minutes of flapping does far more harm to the fabric than a 2 or 3 hour kite session.

But it's important to know that the damage here is likely very minimal. My kites have been flapping for years and they look alright.
Especially the canopy at the tips flap a lot, I never put sand on that to stop the flapping. And they look no worse than the canopy in the middle, which I often put sand on to stop the flapping.

[PusherII]

I would not recommend to wash kite often.
I actually don't wash at all

I just make it dry and then scroll a little bit to quit more sand as possibile.
Water is not good for canopy

[vela99]

A reknown kite repairer said that 15 minutes of flapping does far more harm to the fabric than a 2 or 3 hour kite session.

But it's important to know that the damage here is likely very minimal. My kites have been flapping for years and they look alright.
Especially the canopy at the tips flap a lot, I never put sand on that to stop the flapping. And they look no worse than the canopy in the middle, which I often put sand on to stop the flapping.

For sure there are factors such as local conditions, the specific kite design and type of fabric that have an effect on the deterioration due to exposure to wind when on the ground.

But I believe nobody will maintain that leaving a kite on the ground flapping is good for the kite. Just look at a flag after a few weeks of exposure.

[grigorib]

Interesting. I see such wrinkles on 5m blue UFO but they don’t appear on the black one. Is it material specific issue?

[Havre]

Hi

A reknown kite repairer said that 15 minutes of flapping does far more harm to the fabric than a 2 or 3 hour kite session.

He really insisted to a friend of mine to get into the habbit of limiting the exposure to flapping by having everything prepared before pumping up. Same but reverse when finishing.

Another point, as a reference. My 2017 North Neo 11m has about 300 hours flight and it looks like it can take another 300 easilly. (I never leave it on the ground flapping).

Interesting. I basically never leave my kites on the beach and they look fantastic even after some years.

[dice]

A reknown kite repairer said that 15 minutes of flapping does far more harm to the fabric than a 2 or 3 hour kite session.

But it's important to know that the damage here is likely very minimal. My kites have been flapping for years and they look alright.
Especially the canopy at the tips flap a lot, I never put sand on that to stop the flapping. And they look no worse than the canopy in the middle, which I often put sand on to stop the flapping.

For sure there are factors such as local conditions, the specific kite design and type of fabric that have an effect on the deterioration due to exposure to wind when on the ground.

But I believe nobody will maintain that leaving a kite on the ground flapping is good for the kite. Just look at a flag after a few weeks of exposure.

I'm not saying it's good. I'm just saying that I don't think the damage is as bad as you make it look.
It's like smoking, it's bad in the (very) long run. Your body is capable of handling a few smokes before it starts getting cancer, but it's still not a good thing to start with.
Same with the kite, it can handle a lot of flapping before the damage starts to get visible and deteriorate the kite. Most people will have bought new kites long before that happens.

I don't understand your reference to flags, if a flag can't handle a few weeks of exposure, maybe you should've bought better quality flags
The flags around here take a lot longer than a few weeks before they don't look fresh anymore.