Kite Care

Cleaning

Unless you are a) really carefully, and b) only ever fly your kites on a very nice, dry, sandy beach you are going to find that your kite quickly gets mucky. So then you start thinking about how to clean the kites. This is what I do:

• The Golden Rule is: Always Dry Your Kites. Even if they are only a little bit damp it is essential to ensure that the kites are dry before putting them away, otherwise mould will result. To do this I simply assemble them and leave them around my house for a few hours (depending on how went the things got), them pack them away again.
• To get rid of dirt (mud, salt, sand etc.) simply wash with luke warm water - I find putting the smaller kites into the bath and washing them with the shower does a good job. Be very careful about using soap or other detergents - all the advice I have read says never to use soap on the sail fabric as this can cause damage. Occasionally I have used a little bit of mild soap to get rid of a stubborn stain, but that's it.
• I tend to leave the kites to get fairly dirty before actually cleaning them - I prefer to leave well alone unless I have to.
• For the larger kites I usually end up washing these outside with a hosepipe (my bath is not big enough!) - realistically in winter I don't bother (since the kite will shortly get wet again).
• I have read on the forums (at www.flexifoil.com) that some people actually put their parafoils kites in the washing machine on a gentle cycle (putting the kite into a pillow case to keep the bridle lines safe) - this sounds reasonable, but personally I would not risk it!

Other Checks

• Always check the bridle on traction kites before doing anything fun, but dangerous (like jumping), - I guess having a bridle line snap whilst in mid air will not be fun. And it's not even broken bridles - twisted or knotted ones are also a problem.......
• In the same way check the flying lines for sign of wear and tear - don't trust lines that are obviously a bit frayed! I have reused broken lines before now on the stunt kites - they just become a shorter line set. However it is true that old lines become less slippery, so can't cope with being twisted more than a few times without it becoming difficult to control the kite.
• Practice assembling and disassembling the kite before you actually fly it - believe me it's a whole lot easier if you understand it's construction.
• Finally respect the flying conditions - a 12mph wind gusting to 20mph will not do much good with my Revolution EXP (whose top wind speed is 15mph). Exceeding the maximum will increase the risk of either immediate damage (e.g. broken spar), or long term damage (e.g. stretched sail fabric). With traction kites it becomes even more important - you might be able to handle 20mph winds, but when you suddenly get a 30mph gust what then........

Repairs

Sooner or later something is going to get damaged (for specific problems I have had with my kites see the relevant sections in Hints & Tips):

• Small tears in the sail (less than a couple of centimetre) can be patched up using some kind of sail repair tape - I have used a transparent Flexifoil one that does the job well - I put the tape on both sides of the fabric and (so far) it's fine. However after a while sand gets behind the patch and needs to be replaced.
• Larger tears/holes will need a stitched patch - if you are OK with a sewing machine and the sail fabric then you will be able to work this out yourself - as I'm not (yet!) I would take the kite to a kite shop for repair. As to where to find a kite shop the one you bought the kite from would be a good starting point, otherwise ask around, or on the various kite forums/news groups. I get the impression that most tears can be repaired - but cost can become an issue.
• Spars will break at some time - again you can ask at the kite shop where you purchased for a replacement, otherwise you can do it yourself - you can replace spars for most delta kites easily (mine both use 6mm carbon fibre) - all you need is to cut a length of carbon fibre down is some sticking tape (to put over where you want to cut), a ruler, and a hacksaw. Revolution Spars have to be ordered from a dealer, but shouldn't break too often, and C-Quad spars are easy enough to replace so long as you have the replacement, have plenty of space, and plenty of time (and patience as well).
• Always deal with broken spars ASAP - leaving it increases the risk of something else breaking (such as broken bit going through the sail), and you really, really don't want to get carbon fibre splinters in your fingers!
• A useful tip: make sure you have some of that Duct Tape (or Gaffer Tape as it's sometime called) - it's great for ad-hoc repairs to things in the field - for a week in France it held together the C-Quad spars and patched a hole it it's sail. Useful stuff!

Links

• Sail Repair