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Should I fully dry my foil kite?

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dave1986
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Should I fully dry my foil kite?

Postby dave1986 » Mon Jul 19, 2021 2:23 pm

I dropped my foil kite in the water (sea water) last week. I flew it for about 5minutes after it went in the water, but I noticed that it was still slightly damp inside when packing away.

I would of course dry my kite if it was soaked through, but is it important to fully dry my kite after it gets wet? My assumption is that kite packed away slightly damp will not cause any degradation.

Opinions please ? 🙏

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Re: Should I fully dry my foil kite?

Postby Schietwedder » Mon Jul 19, 2021 4:30 pm

Yes I would!
I know many kiters don't but I talked to some paraglider designers and they strongly recommend even if they are not in contact with salt water, laying the gliders on moist lawn and then not drying affects the bonding between the coating and the cloth really badly, so your mechanical properties decrease and air tightness also of course.

Paragliders use PU coated material mostly so this is also true for kites like Ozone, PL, F-one (correct me if I'm wrong)
Flysurfer uses Silicone/PU coated hybrid cloth and Silicone is a bit more resistant to moisture so there it might be a bit less of a concern. Ask them directly in that case.

I just hang my kites on the ceiling in my basement and inflate them one or two times in the eve with a fan and they are good to go on the next day.

Am extra careful with my material as I sew my own kites and know what work goes into it, if you sell yours anyway after a year of use I would be less worried.

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Re: Should I fully dry my foil kite?

Postby DAnderson » Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:37 pm

Dry it. I have used pvc pipes for suspension combined w/ a fan overnight. Might be a hassle, but eases any worry.

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Re: Should I fully dry my foil kite?

Postby jakemoore » Tue Jul 20, 2021 4:08 am

Fresh water will encourage mildew and this is where moisture is most damaging. Always dry completely if wet with fresh water.

Salt water is less of a problem.

But the salt in the kite will attract moisture when it’s humid and then stick sand.

When it gets bad then I rinse the kite and dry completely.

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Re: Should I fully dry my foil kite?

Postby nothing2seehere » Tue Jul 20, 2021 8:37 am

jakemoore wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 4:08 am
Fresh water will encourage mildew and this is where moisture is most damaging. Always dry completely if wet with fresh water.

Salt water is less of a problem.

But the salt in the kite will attract moisture when it’s humid and then stick sand.

When it gets bad then I rinse the kite and dry completely.
Out of interest how do you rinse a foil kite? Mainly interested as my second hand one had some evidence of sand inside and since then it has been dropped into salt water long so has had a little water inside. Do you rinse the inside too or just spray down the outside?

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Re: Should I fully dry my foil kite?

Postby evan » Tue Jul 20, 2021 9:26 am

Best to fly it on a rainy day to wash the salt off, heard that the chemicals in tap water are more damaging for the coating than sea water. So just dry it well before long storage and keep it out of the sun as much as possible.

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Re: Should I fully dry my foil kite?

Postby jakemoore » Sat Jul 24, 2021 3:33 pm

nothing2seehere wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 8:37 am
Out of interest how do you rinse a foil kite? Mainly interested as my second hand one had some evidence of sand inside and since then it has been dropped into salt water long so has had a little water inside. Do you rinse the inside too or just spray down the outside?
Generally less is more with regard to aging kites. So a little sand is no worry but if you are taking a kilogram of sand home with you from moisture condensing on the kite it is time.

On most cases I just rinse the outside and dry it in the shade on a day with little winds.

Very rarely I might rinse the salt out of the inside. I put a little water in a small plastic wading pool for kids. I dunk the kite, get a little water in it and carefully work the water through the kite. I only do this on a sunny day that I am planning to fly the kite to dry it. With the polyurethane coated kites they would dry out easily within an hour. With the newer silnylon cloths there is usually a little moisture at the end of the session and I leave the kite unrolled inside overnight.
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Re: Should I fully dry my foil kite?

Postby elguapo » Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:08 pm

Thoroughly rinse kite inside and out with tap water..

The secret.. dry the kite in an cold air conditioned room.
..the lowest/coldest you can get it.

This lower the humidity and gets the kite nice, crispy and like new again

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Re: Should I fully dry my foil kite?

Postby Windigo1 » Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:15 pm

Yes you should always dry your kite before putting it in the bag. I have seen many kites where it said so right on the kite backpack. For foil kites that I leave the bar attached if the kite is dry I leave the wet bar on top of the bag so i don,t get the kite wet. When my kites are wet I just unroll them on the concrete floor in my basement after 24 hours they are fully dry basement is very dry.


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