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DIY Foil Kites

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Schietwedder
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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby Schietwedder » Tue Mar 02, 2021 9:59 am

Thanks!



Here the video of the light "wind" tests yesterday, I guess its quite obvious to hear in the camera sound and to see on the water why you had to move it all the time :D

Anyway for testing the steering behaviour and if the bridle-lines are correct length the wind was enough and I´m quite happy with that.

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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby Rein de Vries » Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:44 pm

Congrats! Very much impressed with your result and the flying characteristics. Curious to whether you'll encounter any instability in the higher winds. Are you satisfied with the power during flight and the depowerability? A comparison with a Soul or Hyperlink would make sense I think.

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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby Jyoder » Tue Mar 02, 2021 7:43 pm

Nice job! Impressive!

Did you cut and splice all the bridle lines yourself or outsource that work? If so, to whom? Thanks

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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby Schietwedder » Tue Mar 02, 2021 8:10 pm

Hi Rein,
Thank you! Until now I´m really happy but we will see in more wind this is only a first grasp. But I am quite content there will be no major stability issues and good depower as it´s the same profile, same ABCD attachment points same LE battens etc, as on my 12 and that one is rock solid in gusts and depowers just fine in a long range. I worked on the steering, bridle, canopy curve and internal structure mostly and used lighter material so that improved a lot compared to the 12m I can already say. The real testing when the water is a few degrees warmer or when I have some spare money to spend on a new wetsuit :D



@Jyoder I spliced and sewn just a few stitches (for locking the splice) the bridles from Liros DC-Pro material. It was important to do every splice and seam the same length, stretch the splices after every working step and write down the delta how much shorter the line gets from the splice and sewing to get to the exact measurements desired by adding that delta then beforehand.

On the kites before I just have sewn the loops of Liros DSL covered material together with a special pressor foot and zig zag stitch as is done on most paragliders.
This is the easiest and fastest method as you sew them together to the exact dimension you want as it shortens hardly by the seam.
The lines are a bit more prone to tangle but also less maintenace intensive as the covered material shrinks less.

I might get back to the sewing method if the spliced material gets out of tune too fast and as just sewing is way faster (4h for a complete set of bridles with some practice) compared to 1-2days when splicing.

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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby Jyoder » Tue Mar 02, 2021 9:15 pm

special pressor foot
Which kind? I’ve used a plate guide with a slot that worked ok on standard foot.

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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby Schietwedder » Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:05 pm

Yes exactly.
I use a zipper foot which guides a bit better than a single slot but the principle is the same.
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Screenshot_20210302-220647.png

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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby Rein de Vries » Fri Mar 26, 2021 1:16 pm

Finished and tested my 5m2 AR6.3 foilkite. Flies great even in gusty conditions. I am very pleased!

First I'll experiment a bit with the bridle and then up to the hydrofoil :)
20210326_121911.jpg
20210326_121830.jpg
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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby Rein de Vries » Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:32 pm

Some in flight movies and another picture.
20210327_181921.jpg



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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby Schietwedder » Sun Apr 04, 2021 8:24 pm

Nice work Rein, as always!
Looking forward to some HF footage!

The 6m now works really well, a bit adjustment at the bar so it stalls a bit further down the bar throw so I don´t do it accidentally and good to go for this season.
Meanwhile started working on the 9m version.

Video, or it didn´t happen:

Sorry for it being just going back and forth without any cool tricks and loops, I´m still very new to kitboarding.

Best regards, Niklas
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Re: DIY Foil Kites

Postby kitexpert » Mon Apr 05, 2021 12:44 pm

Well done and congrats to both Niklas and Rein for their achievements :thumb:

6m highish AR foil kite is not the easiest kite type for TT because water has so much drag. Much more suitable for hard surfaces and on hf.

IDK if you have much or at all experience with LEI's but they are easier because they sit deeper in WW. Single skin structure allows more grunt, back stalling later (or not at all) and recovering it faster. Small foil kite needs much more kite skill, you have to be able to feel what kite wants to keep it flying and at the correct part of WW and producing force. With slow high drag board kiting can become jerky, i mean controlling pull can be a challenge.

Bigger foil kites of course have constant pull which solves that issue. But even then you have to be more aware not to choke kite if wind is not that strong. Simple "sheet in and go" doesn't work that well on foil kites. On the other hand when you get speed up foil kites are faster.
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