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

[edt]

[nothing2seehere]

I'd be interested to see how this is different to a new kite? If you look at the photos in the post here (viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2408576&start=145) you can see very similar threads under tension so ..... do they always leak at that place?

[jyka]

I had an old speed3 and it also leaked from the seams. Very hard to fix.
edt how many days you have used your soul when the seams were getting bad?

[Herman]

I have an old Speed3 which has stretched seams and very porous cloth. After a helpful suggestion on the forum I opened up the intakes by chopping out the top and bottom surfaces of the intake sock being careful not to damage the straps that lie behind the socks and across the top and bottom of that part of the cell.

So far only did a flight test in very low wind and it seemed to fly much better. Obviously no good for the water but I hope to get some use out of it with wheels and save other decent kite life. I quite like to use a kite that I don’t give a rats about when messing about on land. Time will tell!

[edt]

Got this used so I'm not sure how many sessions

[edt]

From watching the bubbles I'm almost certain that all the air escapes right at the needle hole. So if you smear a pin tip sized amount of goop (really really small amount) right on those holes I think it will seal it up completely. I believe only the back and top of the kite need this done.

I encourage anyone else who has an old foil kite to do this test, see if what you observed is similar to what I saw.

[nothing2seehere]

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?

Ultimately my soul still has big holes on each wing tip for the dirt outs so difficult to know how much difference it makes compared to air leaking out the intakes/dirt outs?

[jyka]

I tried to seal speed3 with thinned silicon, didn't make much difference. Then I found out it were the seams what were leaking and made thicker mixture of silicon and put it to the seams. Maybe it kept the pressure a little bit better but it was still far from new.
I think it's impossible to fix the seams without adding lots of weight to the kite.

[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.

[edt]

I tried to seal speed3 with thinned silicon, didn't make much difference. Then I found out it were the seams what were leaking and made thicker mixture of silicon and put it to the seams. Maybe it kept the pressure a little bit better but it was still far from new.
I think it's impossible to fix the seams without adding lots of weight to the kite.

The thinned silicon doesn't work because you want to apply it directly to the seams DONT PAINT IT.

What you want is about a tablespoon of pure silicone, and careful using your fingers, apply a tiny bit right at the thread not on the front but only on the back and top. Will add less weight to the kite than this stupid mixture of goop we've all been taught to do and which doesn't actually work.

Anyway that's my theory. People have been suggesting ways to correct the problems of old kites not holding air and they never once tested where the air was leaking so I think this idea is probably an improvement on the paint the entire kite.

Remember it's NOT the entire seam that is leaking. It only leaks right at the needle puncture holes. Apply pure silicone ONLY to the needle holes. Not the entire seam. Don't do the wingtips or front only the back and top.

Right where the fabric joins it doesn't leak it actually leaks maybe 0.5 mm from where the fabric joins at the needle puncture holes.