A couple weeks ago, my order of Holmenkol Seal n Glide arrived. My 12m Speed 2 was looking a bit faded and the fabric not as clean as when I first got it used 1 year ago, so I hoped that this would bring new life back to it. I cleaned the kite up and made up the batch. The product is actually quite easy to use. Although due to nano technology, I was careful to no get any on my skin. The whole batch mixed up in two liters of water. I thought that I could pour the mixture into a bottle to use later, but realized that it must be used within two hours of prep.

With the my gloves on and the kite laid out, I used a sponge to effectively wash the kite with the solution. Once I had one side done and let it dry in the sun for about 45 minutes (the instructions state 3 hours of dry time but the kite was dry to the touch)I flipped it over and did the other side. All in all the application took about 3 hours from prep to finish with both sides dry to the touch. I didn't even use half of the mixture, so I put the rest on some work pants and a hoodie, so it wasn't a complete waste. I finished the dry im my basement with a fan blowing air through an intake for about 3 more hours. At first glance in the sun the fabric looks brand new, it feels smooth and has a bit of crunch to it.

I got to finally take it out for a test flight this evening. First thing I must say is that the kite in the bag has a bit of weight gain added. I should have weighed it before, but it does feel a bit heavier. (I expected a slight change, not sure how much it is though) In the past I have been able to setup and launch this kite with absolutely no breeze to be felt. Today I felt the cool wind blowing and had a fair bit of trouble getting it to launch. Now I was testing this at a spot with lots of trees all around, so that might have been a contributing factor. The leading edge seemed to just flop over limp. I think that I might have lost some bottom end due to the added weight. Once the winds picked up to say 12km/h I was able to successfully launch directly downwind. The kite took a bit more than usual to fill and climb, but once it was at zenith everything was business as usual. Actually swinging the kite around you can here a bit of whizzing and singing, something it has never done before.

My impression is that I wouldn't apply this to a larger wing. Especially if you are used to riding in low wind speeds. It might ruin the bottom end enough that you lose riding time. Myself I never find that I fly the kite in anything less than 18km/h so hopefully I won't be affected. I'd imagine it would do wonders on a well used lei with only one skin. But I don't think it is really meant to work the same on a foil with two layers. On a plus side my weights were really dirty, and none of it clung to the kite like it normally would have. I'll update this more when I get a chance to fly in a more open location under stronger steadier winds. I really wonder how many hours of use it will take for the coating to wear off.

Thanks
Shaggs

Thanks for the info

... as the sail flaps around, it may shed the excess and keep only whats soaked into the material ...?

Didn't somebody post that Seal n Glide was discontinued by the manufacturer?

yeah I posted that a while ago when I ordered my batch. The salesman stated that he had no more 100ml packs and could sell me a 1000ml pack at a discounted price. I didn't need that much so asked for my money back. He came back a couple days later that he had found a pack that was opened but the product was still sealed if I wanted that. I said yes and the rest is history.

nice, hope the weight isn't an issue.

i can imagine what life it would bring back to some old arcs /FS

I guess this leaves us the Nikwax products...still want to give that a go sometime. Well, there is apparently spraying on a diluted silicon too, that sounds a bit dodgy though, easy to mess up the application.

I've used a variety of the Nikwax stuff. Some of them have worked awesome, some not so awesome. Longevity was the issue.

Got another session in today and about 75% certain that something ain't right. I tried out a new spot that did have a huge apartment building in the way of the wind. None the less I had the wind fully blowing at my back and had two botched launches before it would fly. I found a lot of backstalling even with it fully depowered. Now that harvest time is here I'm gonna search for a fresh cut open field and try in the cleanest wind I can find. If that proves my assumptions wrong, I'm gonna try for a way to remove the coating. Every other report I've read has shown this stuff to be effective, don't know if I did something wrong.

the weight will add stalling behavior. esp. if the TE is altered may take a fraction more breeze. removal? nylon may dissolve, careful.


i can only imagine for removal.... SUN, TIME and USE.

maybe you've done this, but at this point, I would pretty much check everything else on the kite...could be coincidence, but maybe your kite tuning at the mixer has shifted subtly around since your last tune, and maybe adding the weight could make it more obvious.

I would bring in your front lines as well at the black rope to see if that helps.