Hey guys and gals,

I know a lot of you like to mark your gear with sharpie, or some other permanent marker, but is there anyway to remove it from the material? I am specifically concerned about sharpie marker on the leading edge bladder of an LEI. Is there anyway that I could remove the bladder, and soak it in something (maybe highly concentrated soap water) to wash it off? I am concerned about damage to the leading edge material. Worst case scenario, I just cross it off with more sharpie...

Unless the markings on the LEI bladder are your social security number, or CC # with CVID number (if it is the latter, could you PM me a close-up photo :bigok: ), I am not sure I would worry about it.

The fact that I am saying this means the universe is well on it's way to imploding as I tend to be OCD about this kind of stuff. :o


If you absotively need to get the stuff off. I would check with the manufacturer. It would be a shame to find out about variances/tolerances in LEI bladder material by trial and error.

Under the spilled milk category, unless it has really set in, you can remove Sharpie marks, by using a Sharpie over the area and IMMEDIATELY wiping it clean. In some cases this is material dependent, but easy to test on a small area.

ATB,
Sam

Allow me to clarify. When I said leading edge bladder, I meant the outside material that holds the bladder, not the bladder itself. It's not really important to get it off, it just bugs me. Especially since the name and contact info displayed isn't mine, it's the previous owner.

I really would contact the manufacturer.

The only thing that I have had to do that remotely resembled this was removing markings from the sail of a Level 1 Thor's Hammer (14 ft dual line stunt kite).

I used a product called Goof Off applied to a cloth and not the sail itself. As soon as the mark was gone, I flushed that area of the sail (both sides) repeatedly with cold water and wicked the area dry with paper towels on both sides of the sail.

Nylon is one thing, but what is or isn't safe for the sail coating is a crap shoot.

From the Goof Off manufactuer site:
Removes dried glue, adhesive residue, latex paint, caulk, marker and pen ink, white correction fluid, crayon, asphalt, tar, lipstick, chewing gum, oil, grease, scuff marks, candle wax, printer ink and more!

For use on: Wood, Metal, Glass, Brick, Concrete, Most fabrics, Laminated counter tops, Nylon, polypropylene, and wool carpets
Fully cured varnished and oil-base painted surfaces

Not recommended for use on plastics, fiberglass, vinyls or oxydized metals.

Fumes and flamability caveats apply.

And again, I really would contact the kite manufacturer.

This post carries no warranties, expressed or implied. My cat is taking law courses at the night school and made me type that.

ATB,
Sam

Ok IW, thanks for the help.

take an ice pick or knife and jab vigorously--sharpie marks should dissappear........:megan:

Remind me not to spill any food on myself in your presence. :o

ATB,
Sam

If any of the solvent ideas work... just pull out the bladder first to keep it from being turned into mush.

You are probably more likely to damage the fabric than get sharpie off. There are solvents that will get it out, but the ones I know of will certianly degrade the fabric.

If you just want to cover it up well just get some dacron tape or sail tape. Usually leading edges are black so the tape is really easy to color match and come by. It will be impossible to see when flying the kite, but you will be able to see the tape on the LE if you look for it. But that'll be your choice between a matching color rectangle or sharpie

You could also just cut the section out and send the kite in for reapir. Porbably a $20 repair... but that's bordering on a crime :D

Quote:

Originally posted by indigo_wolf Remind me not to spill any food on myself in your presence. :o ATB, Sam

i wouldnt do that, id just take you to the laundromat and toss ya in one of those big double loaders--30 minutes later you would be looking spiffy........:P

Your fine . Just don't poo poo on your leading edge.

bottom line: ugly sharpie marks vs kite, confidence vs. paranoia.

situation normal with a kite....

:bigok:

I'll attempt to offer some input about sharpie ink...

The other night, I was *trying* to repair a bicycle tube -- and I was using some isopropyl alcohol to help clean the area that needed to be glued. Well, I had a t-shirt in my lap that had writing on it with a blue sharpie marker. To cut it short, there's now blobs of blue ink on the shirt. I don't know how well ripstop allows liquids to penetrate it, but it's worth a shot. It's some generic 70% rubbing alcohol I had gotten from the dollar store.

Hope this helps!

oh, also - this ink has been on the shirt for some years now, too. almost 5 years.

I think I'll follow Sam's cat's advice too, :P

how about leave it alone, NO SOLVENTS!. non-polar solvents will change the material. thats why the mark is so well fixed is part of the material now.

sail tape is far the best choice , but why waste it!

you could mark through it, better yet let a 3year old do it and let write their name.

then it will be beautiful.

Just an update in case anyone else has the same problem that I do... I bought some sail tape, cause I thought that was an excellent idea and the perfect solution, and... it didn't work. Sail tape only works well with ripstop nylon. The stuff peeled right off the LE material. So I went with the worst case scenario and defaced the kite even further with more sharpie. Took quite a bit of time to get the edges straight and make it look like it wasn't a big deal or completely obvious, but it just about killed me coloring on my kite...

Quote: Originally posted by indigo_wolf

Under the spilled milk category, unless it has really set in, you can remove Sharpie marks, by using a Sharpie over the area and IMMEDIATELY wiping it clean. In some cases this is material dependent, but easy to test on a small area. ATB, Sam

I See this is an old post but if anyone does search as I did, this might help...
I hear Baby wipes takes that kind of thing off. It's safe enough for a babys butt, it should be ok for the kite. If it's set in, you're probably SOL

I Googled " how to remove sharpie from fabric"


http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-get-permanent-marker-ou...
http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Permanent-Marker
http://diyhshp.blogspot.ca/2012/03/your-ultimate-guide-to-re...