There are a lot of items that are available day-to-day that are not only good for their intended purpose, they are also easily used for other "outside the box" applications

A few examples of items I've found to be good for kiting are

Muzzy Extreme Bow Fishing Line makes very good sleeving material. I've used it to sleeve mini-blind cord to make pigtails, bridle attachment points and main lines for my handles.

I also use an insulated soft cooler for my main kite bag.

Coleman tent stakes make great kite stakes. I usually drill a hole in a hi-bounce ball from the coin -op, use the metal part of the tent stake to go through it with a bit of glue, and get a kite stake for less than $2

A broken guitar string makes a great sleeving tool. Just fold it in half and lock the ends together with a split key ring and/or tape.



What have you found that does the job for you despite being made for something else?

My wife's sewing machine. She hated the sand so much I had to buy my own at a yard sale.

Golf ball drilled halfway on a head of a 10" nail glued in epoxy made an excellent ground stake.

3 lb wrap around ankle weights for holding kite down while rigging lines- great on beach so you don't have to use loose sand which ends up in the vents.

Ditto on the tent stakes- bright orange too!

Just make sure they aren't the ones filled with oil (floating driving range)...Learned that one the hard way...
Just recently used some mountain bike bar ends....cut to shape for the end of my footpegs....got an expandable nut w/ ss washer

for the top that then held my footstraps nicely.

Quote: Originally posted by djinnzfree

Golf ball drilled halfway on a head of a 10" nail glued in epoxy made an excellent ground stake.

sorry...here's the pic....this allowed the strap to stay on top without sagging down..The straps then just got fed through forks with plastic clip (just like flexifoil set up).

I used boat trailer bow stops for axle holders on my buggy rack.

Pipe insulation and/or pool noodles for siderail padding.

i use 15ft of 1.5" rope doubled up to hold down trailing edge to launch when on grass...save the sand thing.

great ideas here, keep sharing.



As a scuba dive instructor, I have many of these SeaSoft neoprene skin lead shot bags, 2, 3, 4 pounds each........they're like a nice soft bean bag with wet-suit neoprene skin.

I Still need to pack some of these in the kite bag(s) to try them in the field.

they also make them with clip on brass clips, so you could put them on your pants belt loops as you're setting up to carry them around or in storage.



http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/SSTSB.html?&&
http://www.leisurepro.com/Catalog.aspx?op=BrandItemDisplay&a...

Tennis Racket, Baseball, Softball and even bicycle handlebar grip tape can make handles/bars more comfortable.

Hockey elbow pads when riding my little buggy.
The back wheels rub my arm just below where skate style elbow pads stop. + they stay in place much better when I fall.

I have ( as a Canadian ) always wondered why hockey helmets aren't used by kiters ? We wear helmets from all sorts of other sports, eh!.

One of these guys on your desk ,will help the no wind blues. Check out my page https://www.facebook.com/kokopelli.kiter

I have an order in right?

Here's an obvious one to many... an electric leaf blower for filling ARCs and other closed cell kites.

Ice screws for tie down on hard water.

Velcro computer cable ties for bars to be 100% sure your lines don't get cranky on ya. Or is it the pilot that gets cranky when lines start to unravel. :D

Quote: Originally posted by thanson2001ok

Velcro computer cable ties for bars to be 100% sure your lines don't get cranky on ya. Or is it the pilot that gets cranky when lines start to unravel. :D

My favorite for this is Velcro One-Wrap which has a lower profile hook section. It grabs on fine to itself, but doesn't snag the individual strands of flying lines. It's also less likely to pick up stray debris, lint... cat hair

For weights, I like lacrosse balls in spare kite (dual line) sleeves. They're fairly cheap and they don't get sodden like sand bags. Get them wet and you can just take the them out of the sleeves and let everything dry seperately.

There's a bunch of non-kite-related stuff that's been commandeered for kite duty in this thread/post.

Despite alternatives, I still find myself partial to HQ kite stakes. They aren't overly sharp to damage bags, stout enough to go into most terrain, orange cap is visible from a good distance. It it's really tall grass, you can always supplement them with surveyor's/flagging tape. My only nit, is i wish HQ had built in some kind of rention strap into their stake holster.

ATB,
Sam

Quote:

Here's an obvious one to many... an electric leaf blower for filling ARCs and other closed cell kites.

Also handy for keeping regular foils inflated while getting sand out Just don't overdo it.

I forgot about the ryobi arc inflator! Awesome for the large kite low wind sessions.

on the HQ stakes as well.

I use water bottles for holding down the kite while on grass.

Quote: Originally posted by BeamerBob

I have an order in right?

Oh snap! That's right. I'm supposed to make a phanny II . Blame it on my ADD. Sometimes ,I get busy and just plain forget . Ya gotta stay on me Bro.

In a pinch, an old bicycle flag can be modified to replace a spar.

lately, i use proper paragliding harness for landkiting. twice the price, 10x more durable, safe, checked (10G shock test) and prooven quality.
one example among many: kortel karver
http://www.korteldesign.com/spip/?Karver-144


or any kind of tree climbing harness:
http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=24533
thats safety gear with high quality. the usual kiting harness is not...

I always have a small water sports style wet bag (like for canoeing or kayaking) with me that I use on the beach to keep my wallet, phone, keys and insulin pump in. When I'm not in an area where I have to worry about stuff getting wet I keep my weight bags in it and its a great help when packing up kites.

I also wear a camelback if that counts