Tips on repair of multiple cells (Ozone R1v2)

[merl]

Picked up a well worn ozone R1v2 for small change. Owner said that it might need "some" internal repair. Indeed, 11 of the ribs - the ones with the holes in - have torn in the usual way. Some of the bits of material between the holes are only 1cm wide, so no surprises that they break.

I am sure some of you have done big repairs of this kind before. What is the best time-effort tradeoff method to fix these? I'm thinking that since most of the ribs are on one side of the kite it might be just as well to open the trailing edge. Or should I just work through the zipper (doable with some risk that more internal cells will get stressed). It is a long way from the zip to the outer cells!

Then for tape, many swear by tear aid type A. I'd need to buy some (and maybe shares in the company), but I have loads of ripstop tape and dacron tape. Dacron would definitely hold without sewing I think, as would tear aid. Not sure about ripstop tape (unless it is sewn of course, but then it will be an even bigger job). I'm inclined to try ripstop since the torn bits look narrow (not so much of this heavy tape needed)

Read good tips about using a chopping board sprayed with 3M 77 as a way to align the cloth before taping.

Any thoughts?

[evan]

I would use just spinnaker tape on both sides and stitch it just like a normal repair in any ripstop kite fabric. Use the original pattern to align both parts with painters tape first if you want to be precise.