Thought I would start a spot to post the reviews for Kite-refit.

Anything to do with the stuff can go here I guess, or not, it's all good.

A couple of you guys have already posted bits of your findings, and if you want to add them here, Great.

The Cans of Kite-Refit have gone out to most of the winners and they are responding to the request of posting their findings. Thanks guys.

My hope was to use one of my older Centuries and apply the shampoo to 2/3 of the kite and then apply the coating to 1/2 of the 2/3 that was cleaned. Well everything was going great with before pics, and during pics, and the finished job pics. The it all went terribly bad. I wont go into details but it wasn't the Kite-Refit, or the kite that was the cause of the problem, it was me and THE DRUGS, mostly the drugs.
But I can say the kite is crispy and it is water proof. I know it will fly, the question is how much more wind will it take now.:o
I will post the findings about the flying later on.

I did talk to the manufacturer about the lack of instructions and also about the use of an electron microscope to read the back of the cans. They responded with this info,
" We will make an instruction video.
You do not have to shake the can. It has a new system. The product is in a small bag. The rest is vacuum. The vacuum presses the product out off the can. This way there will be no product left in the can and the can is safe without gas etc."
I think he meant to say the can is under pressure and that is what pushes the bag to empty the condense. I does sound as if there is a bag inside of the can, until it's empty.

I will look around for another kite to retry the picture thing, and the test again, wish me luck.

Sure it wasn't the fumes? I was outside and I really did feel the effects of the spray. A Mask is advised while using this- maybe it said that on the can but my daughter did not mention that as she read me the instructions!!

So I'm guessing that if you apply to much that it will bog down the kite a bit (especially a foil) untill the excess wears off in flight??? That's how it turned out with my 12m speed2 when I applied seal n glide. Still has a bit to wear off so its not affecting the bottom end for launch/relaunch. Id say that it has been about 20ish hours of flight since.

I've been so itching to try my Pansh Blaze I took it out in 15-20mph winds today. As I've said before this kite was soft, floppy loose, absorbent and porous, it has none of these qualities now. It rained considerably yesterday so I was laying it out on wet grass with the sun shining bright. The moisture from the grass just beaded up on the surface of the kite. As I pull on my front lines just a little bit the entire leading edge popped to attention and inflated all the way to the ends, this was a new response from this kite. My guess is that now that the kite is no longer porous (incredibly porous) its able to achieve and maintain a higher internal air pressure. 15-20 mph wind is more than I would normally fly this kite, though I was catching somewhat clean wind between a gap in the treeline I knew what I was doing was risky. I hot launched it straight down wind like I do all my kites and also like I always do I cranked it hard on its side and fly it to the edge of the window with the tip dragging the ground. Super crisp sharp control , tips inflated , hard sharp leading edge, not the mushy flopping collapsing kite that I am used to flying. As I eased it up the edge of the window I could feel the lift and thought "this is going to be a bad day if I don't get this thing back on the ground". Hopefully soon I will get a chance to fly it in more appropriate conditions but no doubt there are dramatic changes in how it inflates and the steering response. I'm guessing that the more ragged a guys kite is the more satisfied he'll be with the results of a restoration using Kite-refit.

Good news. I am already rather pleased with how the old 9m Blade fills the low wind job but it fits the " soft and porous " bill as well.
From what you are getting for results I have hopes that I will see a marked difference in how this kite comes to life !

Now we just have to deal with that pesky boarder ! :ticking:

Well it wasnt the fumes that was the problem, I had a big fan on the deck blowing the air across the deck away from where we were all at. Only a bit of smell was detected.

I set out 2 cans of refit sealer and 1 can of cleaner for me to use and demo. It took a bit of scrubbing to get the dirt off and make it suds up but I did get it clean and then washed it off with water. Hung the kite up on the deck with a fan blowing on it to speed the drying time and couldnt figure out why the kite wasnt looking any different after I sprayed 1/3 of the kite with the refit sealer. The entire kite was very crisp and stiffer than usual, what in the world is going on? The cleaner is good stuff, I might not need to use much of the refit sealer. Left the kite hang overnight on the deck and the next morning had a call asking for a few cans of the refit sealer, as I was putting the stuff on the shelf, I came up with an extra can of shampoo cleaner and was short 1 can of refit sealer.:puzzled:
After I shipped the order, I went out on the deck to have a look at the kite and look at the cans to see what was going on. Well as I was investigating the cans, I found 3 cans of refit sealer and no shampoo cleaner.
So after coating the other 2/3 of the kite to even out the amount on the kite and after drying the kite, I found that it wont have to have any wind what so ever to stand it up on the beach when it is set up to fly with the lines and handles staked out. I am a bit interested in if I pile drive it into the beach whether it will break or collapse like a regular kite.
I do like the refit sealer, dont know about the shampoo cleaner yet.

Well i guess you will give the "what if I doubled the amount" reviews!:frog:


Still have not had a chance to fly mine and tonight my car would not start after work- so $75 tow later it is sitting at my techs shop wih all my kites in the trunk!

Well, I finally got a chance to try my Kite Refit. Given the comments on spraying, I decided I'd try it on my smallest, least used so I could work on my technique without risk of over / under saturation.

It was raining all weekend so I didn't use the kite shampoo as the kite would never dry.

What I noticed when spraying it on black material is that it looked almost like lint was being applied to the kite. Now I don't know if that's because there was moisture in the air and it was beading up or if some material was less porous and the spray was creating little bubbles when it hit the material, but I thought it strange and worth noting.

When spraying it on the black material I also found it difficult to determine if I was going on too lightly or too heavily. At first I was holding the can further back and misting the material (might be another reason for the lint like appearance) and then I moved closer and really soaked the material. Not sure if that was entirely necessary but in the flat, gray, overcast light, on black material, it was tough to tell what the appropriate amount of spray to apply was.

I didn't notice the smell so much until I brought it inside to dry. Then I noticed it quite a bit. The smell totally reminded me of a spray-on water repellant I have used in the past on work boots. It was almost identical but stronger (though there is quite a bit more spray on a sail than a pair of boots). The smell lingered for a few hours while the material dried and aired.

When dry, the material looks as good as new. Even without being washed the flat, old, worn black now pops like a gloss / satin black finish and though it’s not any cleaner, it looks it. The material feels stiffer to the touch and was crispy again. Not like a potato chip but if you've ever owned a FlysSurfer, well my newly sprayed material felt like my Pulse II the day I opened it. If you haven't owned a FS, then let me tell you their standard sails feel heavy and coated and crisp. That's exactly how mine felt after being sprayed. I flicked water on it and it ran off nicely. Work and travel and soccer tournaments are preventing me from getting out but I have no doubt any kite sprayed with this material is going to become more lively and inflate much better.

Now that I know there is a bag in the bottle and no shaker marble you can totally tell that there is a bag in the bottle. I thought it sprayed fine and didn't take too much pressure to apply. But I only sprayed a 1.5m. I don't really know when I'm using too much or too little. The directions say each bottle is enough for a 10m. I don't know if I would have been able to cover my 10m given my spray technique but I guess you could if you misted it at first and then went back with a second coat if you had enough spray left in the bottle and didn't drown every cell as you went along the first time.

The spray will add noticeable weight to the sail. Or maybe it will just make the sail feel heavier per my FS remark. I don't know. It felt heavier when I was done but it may just have been a feeling since it was more rigid.

Overall I am very pleased. The true test is in the flight performance but that will have to wait for me for now.

Thanks Jeff for allowing me to demo this product. Seems like a real winner if the price is right and there are better instructions on whether you are to soak or mist the kite.

nice review B-Roc.

I took the double coated Century out for a spin today and laughed at the kite. Made me think of a pair of shorts I wore for 2 weeks on a camping trip, They could stand up in the corner with out any help.
The kite kept its shape much better than before, this was most obvious when I would prosperously over fly the window making it luff or trying to make it luff. After the 4th time gave it a bit of a go at a 360 and was quite a bit easier than with a softer kite. I did complete the 360 on the 2nd try. Not bad for a 4.2m in 6mph wind.

The field where I was was wet from the morning dew and putting the kite away noticed the water that you could shake off the kite was wet on the lines but not the kite. I wouldn't recommend double dipping the kite, as 1 coat is good, 2 is a waste.
The shampoo is good also, not sure if it will remove tire tracks, tar balls, or your daily list of sins, but for general cleaning, its Good. I have used the shampoo on new kites to get blood and duck poop and some other brown stuff off the kites with great success.
If the kite is newer and is still crispy to some degree and water runs off most of the kite, a lite coat(mist) of Refit would work well to bring it back to a new state. Works on all types of kites, but where is shines is on older limp kites that you would think of selling to your most hated friend to get it out of your hands-did I say that out loud? I WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
The stuff makes the fabric crispy, waterproof, and air proof, along with making the kite fly cleaner, and holds it shape a bit better than before.

Overall I would give this song a 5 because of the beat and the words........oh, wait, that was something else.
The overall synopsis of the product "Kite-Refit" better yet, :bigok:

It sounds like Kite-Refit is what I need for a couple of tired kites, but I have a question...
What is it about Kite-Refit that makes it different from more consumer oriented products like Scotch Guard?

Quote:

Originally posted by hiaguy It sounds like Kite-Refit is what I need for a couple of tired kites, but I have a question... What is it about Kite-Refit that makes it different from more consumer oriented products like Scotch Guard?

from what I can tell after looking at the MSDS and the ingredients of the scotch guard it is a generic water repellant. The Kite-Refit is a water proofing, specifically designed for nylon type materials were the scotch guard is for any and all types of fabric.

scotch guard Ingredient C.A.S. No. % by Wt
Acetone 42%
Isopropyl Alcohol 37%
Light Alkylate Petroleum Naphtha 22%
Carbon Dioxide 6%
Fluorochemical Urethane Trade Secret 3%

Kite-Refit is up around 49% for the good stuff, with out the use of a propellant that will deplete the ozone.

Looks like a no brainer to me. Besides the scotch guard will wash off in less time because it is not as good as the Kite-Refit.

Just got back from flying in some marginally weakass wind. Found the kite to be "heavier" and slower- Actually checked my lines to see if I attached wrong!

I flew on Sat in crappy winds too and same result.

I am still waiting to see how it flies in better winds but right now

might be worth weighing the kite before and after and the can also to see how much difference there is.
My Century was a bit heavier also, was to occupied with it standing up to think about the weight.

I will weight and fly the kite before and after.
Wanted to do it this week but weather is not cooperating!

I feel bad for taking on the challenge and making you all wait this long for the review.

we can always give you a good flogging at WW if that would make you happy. I wont be able to do anything except this:frog: OK, you've been punished, get to it.

Finally flew the beast (old 10m Pansh Blaze) in just the right winds 3-7mph , flags lifting away from the poles with a little flapping back and forth. I've had 2 high wind sessions with it and this is the 3rd time out of the bag after the restoration. I notice the fabric has the faint white lines that a crispy fabric gets on its way to a not so crispy fabric. It's a strange feeling looking a bright colorful crispy kite seeing the first signs of what will lead to what it was just a couple of weeks ago.
ANYWAYS , lay'd it out in the grass and eased back on the front lines , as it peeled up off the ground it was inflating and nearly fully inflated as the trailing edge lifted off. What was odd was it was able to fly straight up. Normally in light wind the center would somewhat fill but I would be pumping and turning the kite to get it to fill. No doubt the kite was lighter from not absorbing moisture and filled faster than before the Kite-refit treatment. Turning seemed to be quicker with the usual pulling for all I'm worth on the brakes and I by chance was able to spin the kite which before I would not have thought possible. One other flight characteristic that changed was the kite will overfly zenith at greater speed. Before I would hang on the brakes as it approached zenith stall it and in smooth wind it would darn near sit there with little or no input. Now it comes sliding up over the top much faster, and if I stop it then let it go it will ease forward and BAM front edge collapse! Basicly I've restored the most dangerous quality of the original kite, I don't know whether to be excited or concerned.
Kite-Refit restored my old limp porous absorbent beach towel of a kite back to near new condition. When my Vipers start to show there age I will be buying some to restore them. I'm guessing the big pay off for this product is for kites used on the water. Not sure how soggy those kites get but looks like there's an easy fix to that.
Thanks for putting it out there BK ,I like it.

1st off thanks Jeff and the folks at Ultramar for this opportunity .


I have completed the treatment but am stuck in a rain pattern so may be delayed if flight testing. A bit late to the party but here is what I have shown up with.


I am sure I could have done a better job second time around. I feel I used too big of subjects for a 1st timer. Even moved down to a 7m kite from my original choice of 9m.


The 9m has mesh over the inlets and no dirt outs. I am certain that just flushing the cells will have reduced the weight by almost a pound ? Tons of sand came out.


Shampoo : The can says the shampoo is enough for 10 sq. meters. Not sure if that meant 10 total or that I could only do one side of my 9m blade. I wet it and gave it a semi liberal spray and full coverage. I used a soft bristle broom due to the realestate I had to scrub. I got a pretty good lather up and was satisfied that I had used enough ? When I read that it must sit for 10 minutes I had hopes it worked like an Oxi product and does the scrubbing for me. I made sure the whole kite had been scrubbed but with only about 80% effort. After it was rinsed and dry I was disappointed to see that the black parts still showed that I had not scrubbed hard enough and clay like deposits still showed up . Here we go again ! This time I was more thorough on the black areas. With the added effort the black came out looking OK the second time but still not 100% since I missed some folds on tip and tail.

Now I have done the top side of the Blade twice. I am starting to question how I will get good coverage with the refit and chose to go to plan B . I had a bit of shampoo left and felt I could cover my Pulse more easily while filled with a fan. This kite has been to NABX and well used there 4 times. It was all brown. The Black was brown, Red was brown and white was just sad! As bad as any NABX kite can look. I attacked the top side of the pulse with the little shampoo I had left. I gave extra effort and attention to the black areas . Got as much as I could out of a light coating of the shampoo. Then chose to only scrub the back . I was simply amazed at how clean this old sweetheart was becoming ! I was all of a sudden very glad I had moved to plan B ! This kite was looking good! Once dry there was an obvious difference from top to back. It was clear the shampoo was working. Black once again made things most obvious once dry and invisible when wet.


In conclusion. The shampoo works. It's NOT a shortcut. You can use it more liberally than I did. Work those black areas.


Refit : Jeff sent 2 cans of this stuff so I assumed it would need a can per side on my 9m. I think I might have ended up short if I didn't find a creative way to cover all that ripstop fully. Inflating the Pulse eliminated that issue. Even with the kite set for fast thorough coverage and feeling I was doing a 1st pass I JUST got the top covered with enough for touch up with 1 can ? Kind of a shock when I got so much more coverage from the shampoo . Not a problem . I just knew not to make waste when covering the back. Got it covered and very little to spare.


I am almost certian that the material on my Pulse is VERY different than that on my Blade. I wish I had enough to do a little test. With what I had read I had expected this stuff to make the kite extremely stiff and crispy ? The material on the Pulse seems much , much more porous . Sucked the stuff right up ! I would have to describe the results as making it feel and look " FRESH " again. Not brand new but as cleaned up as an old girl from the desert ever could ! IT is clear the added effort in cleaning is needed for best results. I expect my results would have been different with the Blade ? After just the shampoo I would end up saying that it is more " crispy " now. While the final result was different than I expected it is clear that it worked well on FS material.


In conclusion. Coverage is only what is shown on can. ( on FS material ) . It works but I'm pretty sure will have different results on different materials. Follow the warnings about ventilation. Cheap high but you'll never get those brain cells back !


Am I pleased that I did the refit job on my kite . YOU BET I AM.


I have gone from being amazed at how well my Pulse has held up to the hard life. It obviously showed it yet flew so well now I'm proud of how good it can look as well.


I have no reason to think that this kite will fly anything less than great . The added weight of the new finish probably equals the Playa dust that was washed out ? I trust it will only fly and look more " FRESH " !

:bigok:

I'm still not positive on the results on mine- have had some quirky winds so need to fly in "typical" conditions to get a real feel. I hope it gets better since so far kite feels sluggish and is acting "weird" Backflying and unpredictable turns. Time will tell!

It did a nice job on waterproofing my splashguard on the buggy thought!:duh:

Updating my previous Post about the Kite-Refit Review

Quote:

Originally posted by bigkid we can always give you a good flogging at WW if that would make you happy. I wont be able to do anything except this:frog: OK, you've been punished, get to it.

:sniff: Ok!

First Impressions:
KITE - I am applying the kite refit to a 10m Venom MKI. Kite is in pretty good shape, a few stains here an there, the material is definitely no longer crispy.
SHAMPOO - Can feels heavy but instructions state the can will cover 10m, meaning I would need 2 cans.
SEALANT - Not sure what to think about the sealant. Hope the coat is thin and light. If all goes well I may treat my Flysurfer Speed3 when the time comes.

Step 1 (Preparations):
- I did not get a chance to fly the kite before treating it but I still remember my last session on it. May 20th, 20-28 mph winds, kite is very quick and I am not too worried about it becoming a little slower or losing some bottom end until the excess sealant wears off.
- Kite weights in at about 4.6lbs before anything was done.
- Next thing was to test how water-resistant the material really was, pre-inflated the kite and started dumping some water on it. The material absorbed water really fast and some water seemed to be leaking through the seams. Definitely would have been a problem to relaunch after a dunk in the surf.

Step 2 (Cleaning):
- Kite was already wet from the previous step so I grabbed the can of shampoo and got to work. Since the instructions state that the can is good for 10m and I had 20m of ripstop on my driveway I had to be careful to not run out.
- Shampoo comes out as a thin mist(Like solarcaine if anyone is familiar with it). I applied a thin coat on the top skin and used a dish sponge to spread it and scrub the dirt stains. Repeated the process on the other side and let the shampoo work for about 10 minutes, after which I rinsed the kite off with plenty of water.
- After I was done I noticed I had only used about half a can of shampoo to clean both skins of the kite and feel like it was plenty.
- Kite is currently drying and it seems like the shampoo cleaned all of the dirt stains. So far so good! It doesn't seem like the soap left a residue so I would expect the kite to weight the same 4.6lbs. I will update this post tomorrow once I have the exact results.

Sit Tight! I am hoping to apply the Sealant within the next couple of days.


----UPDATE-----
Took me a few weeks to apply the sealant givent he weather conditions(constant rain)

Anyway, after hearing what some people were saying that after the sealant the kite felt very heavy and stiff, I decided that I would apply a coat as thin as possible.

Step 3 (Applying the Sealant):
I shook the 1st can and starting applying the sealant. As other people stated, the spray comes out as a fine mist. Using as little as posible without missing any spots, I was left with maybe 1/3th to 1/4th of a can.
Thus I would say a can for 10sqm of sail sounds about right. YOu can maybe stretch it to 11 or 12sqm but it would be pushing it.

Step 4 (Post-Application):
Woah! that thing smells. I would not recommend using an enclosed space for this. I left the kite out for a few hours keeping all zippers open and blowing fans in it to keep it inflated.
After the first 12 hours I left it in the garage still with all the fans at full speed.
Finally dry, the kite definetly felt newer, and a little heavier (may just be psychological). Maybe bulkier?
I wasnt able to get an accurate meassurement for weight but it seems like the sealant added about 0.2-0.4 lbs. Not too bad over the original 4.6lbs.
After the Shampoo/Sealant the kite looks clean, colors look bright and sail material feels nice an crispy!

Step 5 (Test Flight):
After a few disapointing weeks, Hurricane Sandy and WBB brought the perfect conditions (Not quite, winds were 25mph+ cross-shore bute meh good enough)
Unrolled the kite, Put the spars, connected the lines and all seemed well.
Sanded the tip, opened the zipper and she was inflated in less than 2 minutes! =D
Hooked myself in, took a couple of steps back and up she went no issues relaunching, Oh my god what a zippy kite now i remember why I enjoy flying it so much when the winds are right!

After a 2 hour session it was time to pack up. For any of you that have not been to wildwood, Sand in wildwood is usually very moist and sticky. 90% of hte time I pack a humid kite with tons of sand.
Well, not after kite refit. The water-repellant coat seemed to have done its job, rolled the kite in the wet sand and the kite stayed dry, also did not bring an extra 10lbs of sand with it like my 16m Venom-II did the day before.


Conclusions:
All seems well, at the higher end of it's range the kite has not lost any of its qualities(Easy Launch, Relaunch, cruise speed, turn speed).
I am not sure how much low end was affected, I ususally fly a bigger kite when the wind is light so no issues for me there.
The material is definitely more crispy and water repellant and most important, wet-sand repellant =D
would have no problem using this again on my med-high wind kites, not sure yet about my low wind engines. May wait for some other guinea pig for that =P

Thanks again to Jeff and the guys at Ultramar to let me demo the product!

Hey BigKid. Trying to get a hold of ya. Sent a U2U and email ??

Quote: Originally posted by 3shot

Hey BigKid. Trying to get a hold of ya. Sent a U2U and email ??

messed up phone, its overriding my emails and deleting them:flaming:
I will get to you asap.

Thank you Sir!

I put thompsons water seal for wood on my old soft porous flysurfer kite. Do not do this! It made a big oily mess. the low VOC version doesnt evaporate, remains greasy; and adds at least 1kg of weight. Im currently washing it out with Trisodium Phospate. Ive tried Polyurethane wood varnish on a Beamer. It adds weight and crispyness, but it cracks and fractures where the fabric bends leaving faint white lines. Same with Pledge Floor Care acrylic floor polish on a Panch Sprint. Both the polyurethane and floor polish adds water repelancy, but also too much weight for my liking. Silicon clothing and tent sprays work for awhile but wear off quickly, and don't seem to alter the crispness or change porosity.

Do any retailer's JEFF? know if the kite formulation is the same as for "Sail and Spinnakers" I'm surrounded by Sail and yacht dealers and might have them assist me but I'd be willing to bet they're not sure. or will say yes even if its not true. Do you personally think there would be a HUGE difference in weight between 2 products. any info good or bad will save me $$ on bad choice. thx

Do any retailer's JEFF? know if the kite formulation is the same as for "Sail and Spinnakers" I'm surrounded by Sail and yacht dealers and might have them assist me but I'd be willing to bet they're not sure. or will say yes even if its not true. Do you personally think there would be a HUGE difference in weight between 2 products. any info good or bad will save me $$ on bad choice. thx

U2u me and I will get back to you. Busy tryin to finnish movin by friday morning. Then I will have time to think and respond, ok?

will do

7m Beamer with 700ml polyurethane, paint brushed on, drys 200g heavier. Definately crispy. Next test is Krylon Acrylic crystal clear gloss.

I still like what Kite-Refit did for my Pansh. Recently flown off of wet snow , dry and crispy , quite unlike its former self.