Okay.....so I brought the whole quiver home last Sunday with snow here and there. So - I laid everyone out to melt / dry whilst sweeping off what I could see (A GREAT way for the wife to "discover" the collection all at once by the way.....).

Now, my dear brother in law contributed a significant deposit of snow into the Flexifoil - most of which I shook out but couldn't get it all. Don't get me wrong - I got nearly all of it - just not all of it. The end result was a few wet spots inside the chambers. Trouble is - I didn't have it "draining" - it was laying flattish and today - five days later there is still signs of water drops inside!?

Are these things actually so watertight that it would hold onto it? What's the best way to dry them since apparently laying them out isn't quite the solution? Should they be hung - like from a shower curtain?

YES, I try to hang mine. In winter I have to do it inside and the shower rail does the job. Often I have to do it in stages. They dry pretty fast.

I've had fun de-snowballing my Flexifoil as well. On those wet days you crash more picking up some snow. The kite flies poorly because the snow acts like lopsided brakes and it all "snowballs" from there Smashing the snowballs back out in a wet snow storm can be a real bother + takes away from precious fly time.
I wonder why Flexi never went with dirt outs ?

My rage does have outs....the little velcro openings on the very edges of the TE?

My blade also has dirtouts. I find that the snowballs form on the mesh that covers the cells (which I hate). It usually stays there until you pack up.

I don't hang them up to dry - just spread them out in my basement and they've always been dry by the next morning (but my basement may be more dry or warm than yours??).

If the winds are smooth, the kite spends little time on the deck. I find I get the most snow in it when setting up, but if you do crash on loose, very dry snow and need to reverse launch... well open cells act like a shovel and load the kite with tons of snow that can be hard to shake out while flying.

I used to bring the kites in with snow on them and then spread them out to dry for a day or two. Our house is extremely dry and so it doesn't take more than a couple of days. Now I leave them outside in the backpacks over the winter and then dry them out in the spring once it starts to warm up. (Unless one gets really wet) If you have an unfinished or lightly finished basement then you could put up a clothesline or two and hang them by their trailing edge. If it is taking 5 days to dry your kite then you are running the risk of mildew and would be better off leaving them outside if it is below freezing.
When people complain about how much money I spend on kites (usually the boys and sometimes my wife) I explain to them about how their friend's parents spend about $7000 a year on smoking (cigarettes are $10 per pack here) and that would be like burning all our snowkites once a year, inhaling the smoke and then buying another set of brand new ones.
We need a little more snow here and a little warmer temperatures. (-29C right now)

Have a good day,
George

Quote:

Originally posted by macboy My rage does have outs....the little velcro openings on the very edges of the TE?

My Bullets and Blade 2 don't seem to have them. Good to see they have added them. It isn't usually a problem. I agree that when conditions are right Flexi's are a good kite. I have had a couple of days now when conditions were marginal. Both times it seemed the trouble with the snowballs, snowballed and took away from the fun.

Once I have mine lay out on the floor, I use a floor breeze fan, like the kind you would have on a hot summer day, to move air across and into the cells. It seems to really speed up the dry time!

Leafblower in the dirtouts works really well. Or better yet PG MOTOR!~!!!!
woooohooh

I was wondering, Do Surf kites need drying??
I would think the bridals might rot if packed up still wet?? Just wondered..

Also, I like the leaf blower idea

a closed cell foil should be stored DRY..

here's a fast way we dry our water kites.

make a cardboard tube that fits into one of the intake valves. use a fan and blow air into this opened intake. then open both wingtip drains to create an OUT for wet-air.

let the fan inflate and circulate the air.... it dries the kite from the inside out in roughly 30minutes.

dry the bar and lines similarly with the fan blowing air over them.

on newer FS kites put the box fan into the back skin Zipper for faster inflation and drying.

At my mothers I lay the kite out and use the blow end of and old vacume she has. I stick the nozzle in the blow out valve on the back that Flysurfers come with. ( yet another way they go above and beyond ) I stick a bit of cardboard in the other blowout and once it takes shape I sit it on it's trailing edge. Works well, if you have that kind of space.

I haven't used it but expect the fan that we have for the blow-up bed would also work ???

Pablo,
Did that boot dryer that you won not do the job for you ?
Does it work on wetsuits ??

Haven't tried it on the boots or wetsuit yet.

On closed cell kites I'll cram all 4 of the hoses in one inflation zipper and leave the other one at the other end open just enough to keep the kite inflated while letting air out. Kite's dry in no time. Open cell foils, most of the PKD stuff I fly has somewhat limited vents, one hose in each of the 4 centre vents, leave a heavy book or something holding the last couple vents closed and open up the wingtip dirt outs a bit, once again, dry kite in under an hour.

Down side, you have a 10+m kite draped all over your house for 1hr while it dries. With the new puppy I think I'll be using the banister technique more often. it's quite simple, we have a split level entry, I fold the kite over with the tips hanging down from the banister, put a blanket under the kite to soak up any water dripping from it. One day later the kite's crispy dry.