hey I just bought 5.5 meters of bright orange ripstop for whatever reason...its really soft...why isn't it crispy like a new kite...should I wash it?

DQ

probably clothing grade Art.

The crispy is the coating. More than likely you have uncoated ripstop.

For most kites, as the coating wears/breaksdown, the kite gets softer and bleeds air.

Wouldn't be production line grade, but you could alway treat it with Holmenkol Seal N Glide (not overly cheap) to make it more airworthy if you had your sights on something ambitious.

Wouldn't use it for boosting or any serious winds unless you knew a WHOLE lot more details about the actual fabric.

ATB,
Sam

Yup, non-coated ripstop is very soft and not crispy at all. It can also be very porous which means it probably won't work well for kites. The coating used by the different manufacturers makes all the difference in the world. One of the reasons that the higher priced brands (Ozone, Flexi, Peter Lynn, HQ, etc...) seem to work better and last longer than the cheaper brands. There are several coatings out there that you can buy but they can be costly and very hard to get an even coat on the fabric, especially if it has not been coated properly beforehand. Nikwax is a very good brand to use and probably one of the less expensive - but it still runs appx. 19.95 per bottle and you would need about 5-6 bottles to coat 5.5 meters front and back.

Kent...

Hypothetically, would it be more cost effective to use NikWax TX.Direct due the the fact that it is soaked in rather than brushed on?

ATB,
Sam

Quote:

The crispy is the coating. More than likely you have uncoated ripstop.

Unless he got hold of some Toray... Nice and soft and Very good.

But it is most likely uncoated:sniff:

Indigo - YES Nikwax TX.Direct is what I have used in the past. I should have clarified the type of Nikwax as there are so many different types.