where do foil kites start to leak when they get old?

[rnelias]

I wonder how much performance is lost after say 200 hours on the Soul 1/ Sonic 3

I have my Sonic 3's for a while and I don't see much of a difference in performance.

According to Amir on this video, Soul uses a PU silicon coating that should last 500 hours.

[darippah]

I wonder how much performance is lost after say 200 hours on the Soul 1/ Sonic 3

I have my Sonic 3's for a while and I don't see much of a difference in performance.

According to Amir on this video, Soul uses a PU silicon coating that should last 500 hours.

Yes but what about the seams?

[airsail]

I wonder how much the tiny leaks from the seams matter, considering the size and number of the intakes. Could it be more to do with bridle tuning causing tip folds the low pressure in the kite?

[PugetSoundKiter]

Do you have any suggestions for goop? I know people have talked about thinned silicon sealant in the past to completely coat the kite. I'm wondering if applying the same across the seams might be a good shout?

To dab silicone on thread holes would take forever. Solvent thinned silicone can be applied very thin and most of the solution evaporates. I agree you can look at the sewn seams and guess where it is less air tight. To reduce porosity I coated a few very leaky kites and the improvements were durable enough to last many sessions since. Leak timing tests with fan inflation before and after coating was helpful to verify improvements and re-flying was proof.

Referenced post link: viewtopic.php?p=964584#p964584

1. Speed2 15m Silver Arrow.
Bought used and after I got it the guy told me he had washed it and used a strong fan to dry it, which blew out all the coating. This was the worst/lightest/silky fabric I had seen on a kite. The Silver Arrows were known to get porous quickly. I tried several waterproof coatings, none changed the porosity. I then used Marine Goop thinned with Xylene and it helped. I tuned the bridle and it flew but the old worn Silver Arrow fabric was still silky. I coated it a second time and it flies fine now.

2. Speed3 19m DLX
Bought used, worn but flew OK, tuned mixer/speed system. Deflated quickly on the beach when landed. Used Marine Goop thinned with Xylene and it improved quite a bit. I still use this kite and the chemical smell went away after about 5 sessions.

3. Chrono1 12m
Bought used, worn out, tuned the speed/mixer system and extended shrunk bridles. Wing tips folded often. Used Marine Goop thinned with Xylene and it improved quite a bit and can have used the kite since. Fixed the tip folding. The metal bucket I used had a finish that kind of went into the Xylene solution so it was not fully clear/opaque but I used it anyway. Areas of the kite had a gray sheen but after a few uses the gray sheen is mostly gone.

[edt]

I think it's useful to actually watch where the kite leaks. A friend of mine with a leaky silver arrow was going to put some smoke in it and fill it with a blower too see where it leaked. If my testing is correct we do not have to coat the underside. Only the back. If this is true it saves a lot of work even if you still want to paint all the panels.

Id like to see more people test their kites i think it's valuable information if it turns out you don't have to coat the entire thing. Just keep it in mind next time you have a leaky kite. Or at the very least only coat the back then fly it see if that's all it needs.

[lopor]

In second post of this topic nothing2seehere gave us a link to another topic where I was discussing and showed a picture of a little loose seams. However, if you visit that topic, I think my main message is in my following post (viewtopic.php?p=1160447#p1160447) - we probably should not worry about the stitches (especially on the Soul V2) as the dirt outs seem to leak a significant amount of air (I know they are meant to be open to let dirt and water leave the kite but I do not think that the seams are a problem since our foil kites have such a big dirt outs)

[edt]

In second post of this topic nothing2seehere gave us a link to another topic where I was discussing and showed a picture of a little loose seams. However, if you visit that topic, I think my main message is in my following post (viewtopic.php?p=1160447#p1160447) - we probably should not worry about the stitches (especially on the Soul V2) as the dirt outs seem to leak a significant amount of air (I know they are meant to be open to let dirt and water leave the kite but I do not think that the seams are a problem since our foil kites have such a big dirt outs)

I remember that post and I remember thinking that you shouldn't worry about the loose seams but I have changed my mind since then. After watching how much air comes out of the seams I think at a guess it's 5 times more than comes out the dirt out holes. I'm hoping more people test their kites. This is just one test and so far everyone has just been guessing. Let's figure out exactly where it leaks and how much.