skymeat - 23-11-2006 at 04:16 PM
I just bought my first kite, used...It's a beamer 3.6 and it flies very nicely, but the chambers at the ends have a good quantity of sand in them,
very heavy when wet. I've tried shaking it out with little or no success. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Skymeat
Bladerunner - 23-11-2006 at 06:29 PM
Probably the cells have openings to each chamber at opposite ends ( my JoJo is that way) . It's wierd how crap will get in so easy but won't come out
without patients. Try working it back and forth until it gets to the open cells.
acampbell - 24-11-2006 at 08:53 AM
I fly on the beach all the time and the sand here is very fine; it blows into the kite when just sitting flat on the ground. It's insideous.
I have found water to be the most effective. I lay the kite flat on my back deck; any area with good drainage will do. I rinse it with a garden hose
with no spray attachment and the faucet turned on less than full. The point is no high pressure blasting. I flood the interior, letting water flow
through the vents to the tips. I then pick up the kite by the trailing edge gently and let water flow out the cell vents. I grab the tips too, since
they have no vents, and let the water flow to the center sections.
I dry the kite draped over the railing. Do this in the shade or dry it inside, away from the UV light which is not good for the fabric. (Yeah, we
fly in the sunshine all the time, but the point is to avoid it when you can.)
When I am done and the water has dried on the deck, there is sand everywhere. Very satisfying.
If I have to use any cleaners I use plain soap, not detergents, and I do so sparingly and by hand with a sponge. Never use a brush as it will tear
fibers.