One has to wonder if all this damage would have been completely avoided with traditional blow outs?

Did folks have this kind of damage with older deluxe skin models?

I am sure you will cherish this kite for a long time. Great Job!

the kite feature is its light weight , vents are a distance secondary addition. Not sure the rate of damage across series with DLX fabric, i would tend to think the rate of damage would be a little higher, the amount of damage certainly may be greater as in this case.

if thats the case more units may be around for work like this.

thanks Ken, happiness in learning....it will deliver its due with TIME , that i will cherish indeed

finally got a tune session in with this unit. all looks good ...after considerable tweaking took a couple laps with it , not as snappy as the P4. in general kite seems ok.

internal pressure just seems weak, LE never produces solid shape the "depower dent " not filling out.

took a lap on the water and the land board and then jump onto P4 . P4 so much more powered and serious pop available...did only about 15min with it. may take few more tweaks , compared when i started with it had definite major improvements esp. after mixer reset and letting out top adjuster. very stable, well behaved , just weak and fades at peak power stroke. few more sessions this week and i'll try and get it sorted, very close. may put it on leaf blower try and find the leak(s). may have to recoat it. we'll see maybe just need more ride time on it to locate whats left of the sweet spot.

will get some pics as well

Hopefully just some leaks you can fix? Where do they tend to leak most? seams or through porous fabric?

fabric in this case. once lines bed and heavy/weak spots balance through bridle in couple hours of loaded rides, i will definitely get closer on sweet spot, next hour i take it out i will get better bar feel and load rate wired for light bar speed setting...may have to do a measure on bridle ,some may be sprung

for me , land board in 10-15 is best for super fine light wind tuning, most of my stuff is set for about 10-15 and will get me on water in same. when i can throw powered land jumps , even huck loops, i can get on water with TT. and this kite should that easily esp. for land

Just want to say I really like following this thread. Its interesting to see what you do and the effort you put in this kite.

thanks, helps me stay on it. hopefully it will start pulling regular sessions this week. loving my P4 ATM!

nice project to follow Chad - i can really appreciate the amount of work that goes into fixing split and shredded internal structure - good work!

thanks mark, just glad to be thru the repair , one of those looming projects that had to be done before i could move onto other stuff. looks like its gonna be a solid unit

heres the first flight, after fooling with the gopro it worked for like 10 min then nothing! glad the file was there!

https://vimeo.com/132894701

Wow, Chad if you can bring a gutted kite back to that, you can do anything.

thanks Bob!

Looks pretty

I didn't quite follow what was involved. Did you have to cut the thread on the seams, open it, then make internal repairs, then sew back together?

Chad is the kite whisperer...

Wow- that is really impressive work.

Quote: Originally posted by ssayre

Looks pretty I didn't quite follow what was involved. Did you have to cut the thread on the seams, open it, then make internal repairs, then sew back together?

A most valuable nugget of advice was given to me by Tim at windfiredesign, NOT to open outer skin, unless it was within scope of damage or a nightmare level situation would be at hand.

so its a inverted look to get to the inside, ie pull half the kite through the deflate to deepest damage profile and work backwards from there. staying oriented is the education! the cross member placement/ orientation, working thru the center and any LE /valve involvement was tedious indeed.

handling the material and machine work was the essence in the work which just took time to get up to speed.

the pics just don't do it justice , even just looking at the load of ripstop it becomes overwhelming just to get going.

thanks guys for checking it out.

figured the vid action beats out pics, now if i could just get the gopro battery to charge!

Like said before, WOw!
I can't imagine wrestling that much phabric through a sewing machine!
Phricin' phantastic, awesome job Chad!

thanks man it was kinda phun!

Funny, just before you wrote that the shape is nice I was noticing how the leading edge dimples in as you speed the kite up. Like the internal pressure is low?

How strong was the wind? Are your inlets working O.K. ?

The thing looks beautiphul !

My gopro battery died. I think they can be replaced?

I haven't been following this until just now reading through the whole thread... AMAZING work Phree!

Quote: Originally posted by Bladerunner

My gopro battery died. I think they can be replaced?

Glad to you and Phree, yes, Batteries Plus carries a facsimile for $20 I think. Or even GoPro Batteries are available at Target now.

Great work. I hope you get the pressure sorted out. Maybe you can see what the problem is if you fly the kite towards the sun. The sort of see through look.

for repairing this kite.

the "depower dent " was present and as i tweaked the setting reduced it some. checked the valves and seems to be fine. the internal pressure at first seemed like an issue , but not as much as i thought. when i first got my P4 the tip tuck thing was driving me crazy...the more i flew it the less it occurred now it rarely does it. its me not the kite.

wind was about 12+

as i was out on my P4 yesterday the LE is black and can't see it as well as the lighter colored fabric and has fairly same LE look , slightly dented, a little dimple i am considering to be normal. gopro battery charged on computer, thankfully! we'll see how long it last, it has been dropping the charge pretty fast.

a little more fly time, my hands and feel for S3 will be good to go, i have it pretty much set now and will allow time at the current settings to bed in and trim in at the strap for wind speed. got to fly it to know it! every FS i have really liked seems to take a decent amount of time to get used to, and S3 definitely sensitive ...more so with light air , than 15-25 where net power is quite large and sensitivity fades and is turned into brute power

thanks Ken

ok just banged a 3 hour session with this unit on the land board 12-15mph.

unit is all wired up ready to rock! i did tape closed the drip vents and a few small holes <2mm about as tight is its gonna get.

the reverse concave on LE seemingly of little consequence. all powered pop and jumps, different than P4/ pulse 2 for sure... actually more like old phantom15.

the firing action a little different approach but man what great kite. big smooth swings thru the top with predictable pop, nice and floaty. it has not bumped my P4, yet ...but getting closer! may not have as grunty low end like the P4 but zoom it has got !

heres side by side S3 and P4



loving this INFINITY 2


lotta goodness right there!

idk...i thought i always see the leading edge on the speeds convexing in...thought it was normal???

yeah man!

it is normal and within normal operating behavoir, its the visual on the internal pressure, smaller the dimple better pressure. theres basic shape threshold pressure then and the dimple is ...room to grow ! with more wind or just better overall seal. once i tape sealed the dirt out trickle slits things improved considerablely.

Bar looks awesome. I need that bar on my peak 1.

Concave LE is not supposed to be normal - if you close the nose-valve in the center intake, it deforms the LE and over-all reduces power. Nobody I know of uses that feature, but all the Speeds I've got do the concave. I seem to remember messing with the bridle can fix it, but I could never be bothered... my 15 is noticeably concave, but boosts like a MoFo and still has excellent range. 21 too.

Not trying to teach your grannie to suck eggs, but line length and mixer are vital for bottom end performance, and the Speed should outperform the P4. With my 21 and 15, I pulled the lines and carefully measured them relative to each other then chopped and spliced the centers about 8 inches shorter! Good tune of the mixer, pulling the knots real tight. Bottom end is scary now...

With the bar end pig tails... the little short ones; you can use the outside setting and push the tail down the center to make it clean. You have to pull the knot out as far as it will go, tuck the tail down the hole, then pull that and push the knot to make it go in cleanly. I hate the idea of stuff flapping around :D

Looks great dude, excellent repair work! I was really impressed with the 12 I had, in both high and low wind...