Hi everyone,

Hoping I can get some advice from people around here. I picked up a 2010 Cabrinha Convert SE 9m kite on ebay a few months ago... Unfortunately I've only gotten to take it out a few times. The kite seemed to be in perfect condition, and flew beautifully. Today I flew it for a bit, then stakes out the bar and was flying a different kite... Anyway, I ended up coming back to see a 12" rip going vertically from the just above the LE towards the trailing edge. I've been in the sport for a while but been blessed enough to never have a kite rip (minus one that was 9+ years old and it had a whole seam of the foil blow out).

I'm not sure what to do in terms of repair, as there's no where local to me. I'm hoping someone might recommend some places I might consider sending it to get it fixed, and any guesses what it might cost? I'm guessing at most the kite and bag and bar could be worth $325 were it without the tear (I know I overpaid by a fair amount when I got it... Stupid bidding war), so not sure how whether I should try to sell it torn, get it repaired, or if the kite is headed to the garbage... I'd love some member input and advice. And for that matter if someone wants to make me a reasonable offer for the kite alone or kite/bag/bar feel free to comment or send me a U2U

Here's a gallery of the kite with the tear: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sgbc3yzrntgxrjp/RnAtnZl1vS

Simple repair, less than $100 fixed from airtime/fixmykite/powerzone.

this is one of those you decide problems. send the kite in to get repaired, do it yourself, or bag it.
shipping and the repair is subject to the shops ability and the kite. LEI kites get a patch, foils get a new panel if you want and pay for it or you get a patch. if the kite is worth it, pay the $$$ to fix it in a shop. if you dont think its worth the bucks to pay someone, there are a number of repair kits on the market. one of the best I have found is sold at a marine store. it is sail tape. this is the stuff that sail boaters use for temporary repairs on the very large sails. after which they spend thousands of dollars to replace it.
PSP Heavy Duty Sail Repair Tape is the white version, it does come in clear.
I know of a 2.8m kite in Mexico that is call the frankinkite with 8 blown cells we repaired with kite fix 3 years ago and they guy brings it to Ivanpah every year to buggy with, looks like crap but is still his goto kite.

Thanks for the advice guys.


@Erratic I actually had sent in estimates to one of those, thanks for the names on the other two. I honestly had no clue what it might cost or how long they'd take to get estimates, so figured I'd ask here.

@BigKid Thanks for the input. I had a feeling it might be one of those things, but wanted to get some input from others.

there are a number of shops that repair kites. the better ones will use the material and thread from the manufacturer for the repair. if thats what you want be sure to ask that or they will do the repair with a mismatch material, color, and thread. I sent in a black kite to one shop because they were the cheapest. I drew on a piece of paper the areas of the repairs, the number of repairs and all the other important info needed for the right repair.
got the kite back 2 weeks later and they missed 3 of the areas and they used another material that was black and USED WHITE THREAD FOR THE REPAIR ON ALL THE PATCHES. who in the world would use white thread on a black kite with black EVERYTHING? after a very brief phone conversation the kite was off for a second trip for the last 3 patch jobs. I received a refund and got my kite back 3 day later, all patched up and ready to fly, just dont look any closer than a few hundred yards away or you will see the bright white thread on the black kite. a bit of black sharpie work would have been a wonderful fix but the nylon thread didnt let the sharpie stick. but the new owner is very happy with the kite.

ask to be sure of what you want is what they can do. I bought a machine to do my own repairs if the tape doesnt work. or repair the area with tape and them sew around the edge of the tape. works for me.:D

if all else fails you can send the kite back to the manufacturer for a repair job 2nd to nun.

if you don't wanna spend the money to get it fixed, I will gladly accept it as garbage, and I will even pay S/H.

:D

Just wanted to thank everyone for the input.

Repair is a lot less than I was thinking it would be. I was worried it'd be expensive / possibly an issue given the size and placement. Airtimekite quoted me $35-45, so am waiting for the other quotes, to see what the other repair shops I asked for an estimate (fixmykite and powerzone) are so I can see. Anyone have any experience (good or bad) with airtimekite?

I just had my kahoona patched a few months ago by airtimekite.

They did great work and the cost was cheap ($25). They used the same color ripstop for the patch.

Shipping on the other hand was crazy. Found out that the kite weighs 10 pounds. So shipping it to Florida and back cost me about $40.

Total cost was between $65-70.

Now since I have been building an npw I have gotten very familiar with sewing ripstop. If it were to happen again I would just grab some of my spare ripstop and patch it myself. It is very easy to do once you get the hang of it.

I had a LE to TE tear on my Cabrinha crossbows, 13m & 7m due to over inflation. The shock wave if landed nose first creates the vertical rip. I wonder if you over inflated it? Maybe something to watch out for next time.

I've had bigger rips than 12" and simply patched it myself with those self adhesive sail patches you find on eBay for $10 but then again I'm not too fussy how my kites look as long as they hold up.

Charlie in OBX (nicekites.com) does awesome repairs. He does warranty repairs for many of the shops there and all the locals go to him directly. Shipping is where the money is in a repair that easy though. PM me if you want his number.

When shipping any kite in for repair, when possible-try to ship the kite, and not the bar, lines, and bag, just increases shipping cost and gives them more pieces to lose. ;D Removing bar/lines/bag, I cut shipping weight(and associated cost!) in half on my last repair.

Quote:

When shipping any kite in for repair, when possible-try to ship the kite, and not the bar, lines, and bag, just increases shipping cost and gives them more pieces to lose. ;D Removing bar/lines/bag, I cut shipping weight(and associated cost!) in half on my last repair.

This! I went into the mail store and refolded my kite on their floor in order to get it to fit in the smallest box possible. The people looked at me pretty funny when I unrolled the thing!

Just ship the kite. No bag, no lines, no bar. Just jam the kite into a box.

I decided to ship it into AirTimeKite and am going with black thread/nylon so hopefully the patch won't be too bad (they warned me their orange doesn't age color wise / blend well with the Cabrinha orange... Got it down to a 15x8x9 box that weighed 9lbs.... *fingers crossed* I'll be sure to post pics post repair, so if anyone stumbles along this thread, they can see before/after of the rip and repair from airtimekite.