DIY Neo Strutless?

[bragnouff]

I wonder if you could dissolve all the inked graphics away. There must be a good cup/100g of useless ink in there. Plain is always lighter!

[nixmatters]

I wonder if you could dissolve all the inked graphics away. There must be a good cup/100g of useless ink in there. Plain is always lighter!

Not a good idea. You are very likely to dissolve the canopy coating as well.
Better use a kite with less dacron in the TE/tips.
3 to 1 strut or 5 to 2.
Get rid of the one pump, so you can inflate the strut/s harder. You might need to change the strut valve with an old one that has the ball inside against pressure loss while closing the cap.

[S2000kitesurfer]

I removed 3 struts on a dyno 10m going from 3.1kg to 2.6 what a difference amazing drift minimum flutter.

[jumptheshark]

Here's an update on taking struts off a WH. The struts are easy enough with a pair of good scissors but he 11 gold embossed scuff guards are not worth taking off. I did it and it was tedious picking and too easy to damage the canopy. They are made of a weird foamy material that tears and is difficult to remove at three spots where they are stitched through. In the end, when you look through the canopy now it looks like it has been purposely perforated to tear when loaded. Most of that is on dacron and I use light sail tape on the rip stop bits to ease my mind, but I'm not going very far from shore for the first while. Figure the Gypsi (6.25m), formerly only for 25 knot plus conditions is now a 15 - 20 knot max kite. Not a lot of load while foiling, but I could see the whole thing exploding on the first hard impact. Mod your kites at your own risk.

The kite now weighs 1.8 kg.

[Jfoil]

I don’t like the flutter of strutless kites.

Of course North/Duotone experiment with strut less kites.

[thekitemonster]

I tried flying a kite I don't like when it's going over powered conditions, a bagged out 12m Airush Wave, with deflated struts to see how it behaved. In the lightest wind's it flew almost normally. When I got blown down into the heaviest windstream though I got badly OP and it wouldn't easily rise up higher to slow down, and I had my first major kitemare in years. So glad I didn't go chopping off those struts. If I only ever flew it in it's lowest range it would be great, but where I live the wind has streams and shadows and your kite needs a ton of range. Struts are good! Thanks for the warnings to try it first with deflated struts.

It seemed to not really need the center strut for it's shape. But for relaunch it was absolutely hopeless. I can't wait to go fly it today with all 3 struts, it's gonna be awsome! I'm pre-inflating them double my normal pressure just to further enjoy having them.

[jumptheshark]

I tried flying a kite I don't like when it's going over powered conditions, a bagged out 12m Airush Wave,

Taking off the struts does not do good things for a kites top end. If you already don't like that kite overpowered with three struts, its strutless range is going to be something like 8=12 knots max.

You definitely have to be happy with the idea that you are completely repurposing the kite to a much lower range and the gain is the easier/faster handling in that low end.

I have a 12m Cloud that has a really narrow range in which it's gold, but certain up and down wind conditions like you describe are not much fun at all on that kite.

[NYKiter]

Just an update on this project.....I rode the strutless NEO (buddy calls it the "CLEO") in low teens on a moses 683.

Surprisingly good. No major ruffling in the canopy during turning. It does stick a little in the flight path like the cloud.

VERY SMOOTH....

It seems to have lost some low end....consistent with the comment above....makes the range smaller? Could not get a feel for drift as it was too light for lots of downwinding......Will have to ride it more before removing the struts on the rest of my quiver...but so far so good...

[bragnouff]

It seems to have lost some low end....

Wasn't it the whole point of trimming weight to improve light wind handling, at the cost of sacrificing the top end

[wheat]

Awesome thread. Great to hear what struts you are removing and which to leave.

Quick Question on removing struts.
Option 1: Use a seam ripper to cut the stitching holding the strut to the canopy.
Option 2: Cut both layers of fabric of the strut close to the canopy with scissors.
Option 3: other?

Which do you prefer?

I am looking at two older kites. 7m EH and 9m Best Yarga (early bow/bridle with one pump)
The EH looks like one canopy panel stretches across the strut.
The Best looks like it is two canopy panels meeting with 3" of overlap and 3 sets of stitches holding the two canopy panels together; Left edge, strut attach, and right edge.

Thanks, Blair