fourboy - 30-8-2006 at 02:14 AM
Hi everyone,
I'm a beginner, please forgive me if my questions are too naive.
I bought a practice 2 line 4m power foil kite on web, tried to fly it, the kite works well but the lines broke oftenly.
I would like to retie the kite with better quality lines, here are the questions,
1. what kind and how many pounds of lines should I use?
2. is there any instruction or precise measurement of retying kites?
Thanks for all your help, love you guys. :tumble:
New lines on your kite
Lack-O-Slack - 30-8-2006 at 02:07 PM
Greetings, and welcome, fourboy!
Your question begs a little clarification: are the lines breaking at the flying lines, or are the bridles (the lines attached to the sail) breaking?
New flying lines are a pretty simple process, and if your kite's a 4-meter, I would suggest a good line like Spectra Gold at about 300-pound breaking
strength.
If, however, your bridle lines are breaking, that's a problem on a couple of fronts:
1. Your kite is probably old enough that if you replace the bridles, the sail will blow out. When bridle lines are the weakest point, and you
strengthen them, the next weakest point will soon manifest itself.
2. Re-bridling is almost an art form, and requires a "jig" for setting up the different lengths at the A, B, C, (and sometimes D) line attachments.
Get these measurements wrong, and the kite will be virtually un-flyable, as the angle of attack, curvature of the wing, and inflation characteristics
will all be changed. I leave this sort of work to an expert, and pay a good kite repair guy to do it for me.
3. What's the kite worth? The labor costs to re-bridle a high-end, fairly new kite make some sense. An old, faded, stretched-out sail is not worth
rebridling... you could buy a good used or new kite to replace it for much less money.
Anyway, that's my $0.07, adjusted for inflation. I'm sure some of the more experienced in the kite biz could add to these remarks. Corey-lama...
what say ye?
-Dooley :moon:
fourboy - 1-9-2006 at 12:41 AM
Dear Lack-O-Slack!
Your information is very helpful, the lines are breaking at the flying lines, but the bridles are also seems weak, thay's why I consider to retie the
kite.
My kite is a cheap one, but I think it is good for a beginner like me, after trying to fly it, I feel I'm addicted in kite-flying, if the bridles
break in the future, I would really like to know and learn how to retie it.
One last question, is Spectra Gold a brand?
Thanks for all your help.
fourboy