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Drying out inside of kite

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neilhapgood
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Drying out inside of kite

Postby neilhapgood » Tue Apr 30, 2019 2:58 pm

Hi folks I dropped a 12m soul in some very small waves and have a bit of moisture inside, it's not sloshing about but I can see specks of water all over the place, and a few grains of sand, it's salt water. Do I need to do anything or can I just leave it?

I was wondering if flying with the air vents open would help it dry?

Thanks all

Neil

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Re: Drying out inside of kite

Postby jakemoore » Tue Apr 30, 2019 3:21 pm

It will dry by flying it. Another alternative is to leave it in the garage unrolled and let dry overnight.

At some dried salt in the kite will condense water especially if you live in a humid area. If you get to the point that the kite is always wet then I slosh som fresh water around in the kite, drain it and fly until dry. Very important not to put away when wet with fresh water.

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Re: Drying out inside of kite

Postby JakeFarley » Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:26 pm

If you cannot fly it, lay out the kite, preferably in a shady area, and inflate it with a low powered leaf blower or battery powered air pump after rinsing it out.

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Re: Drying out inside of kite

Postby andylc » Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:53 pm

The odd time my Soul has ended up with water inside it, last time was when I went to try and help someone with a downed kite in a bowtie, got it in the air then dropped mine! I didn't like the idea of leaving it wet inside so laid it out in my lounge (when my other half was out!), luckily we have a big enough space for it, then inflated it a few times from a distance with a hairdryer on low temp setting! Seemed to work well...

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Re: Drying out inside of kite

Postby Kristan » Wed May 01, 2019 9:52 am

Hairdryer does the job. Not perfectly, might require an hour or more, several cycles of inflation, but still better than nothing. If you have cold air mode then inflate it that way first, then adding some hot air as it deflates, just don't stick it directly into the valve, keep some distance.

I can't dry it outside most of times, too populated area and at most bad weather conditions. So I'm drying it at my room that way, folded in half.

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Re: Drying out inside of kite

Postby drsurf » Wed May 01, 2019 2:21 pm

Salt water won't hurt your kite. UV rays from the sun will kill it first.
I would be reluctant to rinse it with fresh water as unless it's absolutely dry, it will get mould stains. Salt water stops the mould.

Have fun Dave

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Re: Drying out inside of kite

Postby geokite » Wed May 01, 2019 3:03 pm

Salt crystals can abrade the fabric and bridles.

Guess how you treat your kite depends on how much room you have to dry it off. I leave a car out of the garage, string up the foil across, rinse, inflate, let dry. Not every time it gets wet, but when we have dry air conditions. If I didn't have the room/time, I probably would not do this.


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