DIY Kiteboarding Kite Repair for Major Damage

[@alexr3831]

Hi Steve, Thank you for your excellent, meticulous, and very well-explained video.

[@donatoeramo3809]

What kind of sewing thread did you use? Nylon one?

[@testacc9321]

Hey Steve! First of all, greatest thanks for your video! Just did my first kite repair, almost as yours. All learned from you, works perfectly for the repair. I can only recommend this tutorial to others! Great quality video! And some know-how sharing from my personal experience: - it could be quite a pussle to connect a non straight rip on the silicone coated sail. But repair tape holds great even on it - if the edges are fringed, got to remove all unstable cloth and leave right size gap for removed material. Common sense to use again the rip-stop squares as reference and a long rulers as a straight guide if needed - OMG!!!! please use the stitch Nr.6 of the same size as the rest of the kite!!!! And repair will look really professionally, not to mention the triple zig zag stitch is less gummy and more durable than a single step one😉 Thank you for skill sharing! Keep on going!

[@stevevanpelt4475]

Thanks so much for your comments and tips!!

[@Fereday]

Hey Steve, thank you for your video's showing how you repair your kites. I have a kite that has similar repair needs to yours, but there is no lip where it ripped and separated from the leading edge. Before I agree to tackle this repair, I was curious if you could give me your insights on how I would go about attaching the canopy to the leading edge material. Thanks again man, really appreciate your work.

[@justinbrunjes6619]

Nice, thanks! That looks almost exactly like the rip I'm going to try to repair on my kite. Hope it works out as nicely as yours did. On a side note: rarely do you see someone take the time to paint their whole house between clips on a youtube video - that gave me a good laugh. Bravo

[@stevevanpelt4475]

I think these type of rips are really common. I've done 4 repairs and all of them have been almost exactly like this. Hope your repair turned out well!

[@jimmyjames1411]

Hey Steve, I have a question. My LE is torn, I stupidly overinflated and the le blew. The seam did not split but it tore horizontally 1/4" below the seam. Can you let me know how I should go about sewing this back up?

[@REDboardriders]

Nice work. I have repaired a few for myself. But value a real sailmaker for my good gear every time. How about a bladder welding video?

[@stevevanpelt4475]

Totally! Pretty much all my gear is older and cheap, so I've got nothing to lose by fixing them myself. But I know if I ripped a $1000 kite I probably wouldn't be fixing it on my home sewing machine either! I have a few bladders sitting around, so I'll consider making a bladder welding video. I've got a food sealer that I've tried to weld plastic with and it was hard to get the temperature/timing correct. Much easier to just use tear aid if possible I think. But it would be cool to 100% diy a bladder sometime. Weld the ends, glue in the valves etc. I've used aquaseal for valves with good luck. Thanks for the comment!

[@trimaranchuck]

@@stevevanpelt4475 I have had good luck with a pencil soldering gun pressing through parchment paper to repair bladders

[@stevevanpelt4475]

@@trimaranchuck That's a cool idea. I'll have to give that a try. Sounds like that would potentially offer more control. Thanks for the tip 👍👍

[@widmarkeloo6812]

What stitch setting did you use for sewing this kite?

[@JeroGarciaASD]

Bro, you fix everything!!! hahaha nice channel. Do you know any other name to get that tape, or a similar cloth to sew? because I'm in Argentina and I cant get that

[@stevevanpelt4475]

Haha! Thanks! I do enjoy fixing things. You might find that tape as ripstop tape, sail tape, insignia tape, kenyon tape (brand). Alternately, you could do this repair similarly with regular ripstop fabric and basting tape. Basting tape is just a double sided tape used for joining fabric together.

[@JeroGarciaASD]

@@stevevanpelt4475 Thank you man! I will try to repair my 09' liquid force

[@matsim007]

HI Steve, I've never done sweing but I'll deff try to repair my kite using your video ! I was wondering, how do you end your stitches when you sew ? Don't forget, I've never done that hahah Also, how do you deal with the original stitches at the beggining of a tear ?

[@malakoulinos]

I am a beginner in sewing too, but by the looks of it, i would say the technique he used, was to reverse the sewing direction at the begining and the end of the stitching. So going forward, reversing and going forwards again (passing three times from the same place) is a rather usual technique to secure the ends.

[@1N2345]

It seems like you are using zig zag and not 3-step zig zag. Otherwise, nice video! The packing tape trick with the clamp was definitely worth it

[@lovetofly32]

I had to watch to see how the heck he got the side of the kite stuffed under that little sewing machine. I was trying to decide wether to try and fix my frieds kite or let him send it to a repair shop.

[@compucenter33]

as you do when the seam is against the front of attack, show us soon, greetings and thanks

[@stevevanpelt4475]

Hi Enrique! I think you're asking about how to repair a tear that is right on the leading edge? If there's nothing to attach to, it would be a much more invasive repair. Probably remove the bladder, remove the stitching on the leading edge seam, add ripstop or Dacron fabric, re-sew the seam. I did a kite a few years ago where the leading edge had exploded open when the bladder popped on a tomahawk. The bladder was removed and patched with tear aid, then I did as much sewing/repair as possible from the inside of the kite (sewing mostly by hand), then had to finish the seam from the outside by hand. It was a much more difficult project than this. Thanks for your comments! I hope I don't end up with a kite in that condition again, but if I do, I'll make sure to video the repair!

[@compucenter33]

@@stevevanpelt4475 Thank you very much, you are my teacher, excellent channel

[@compucenter33]

exelent!!!!!

[@stevevanpelt4475]

Thank you!

[@ffrreeddyy123456]

I got “Dacron” tape from Airtime, but your video tells me they sold me sail tape as Dacron tape. Just trying to fix my wing so I can use it on land. Not easy and no one cares.

[@stevevanpelt4475]

Hey! What kind of damage are you repairing? Probably both dacron tape and ripstop tape could be considered sailtapes. If you're repairing a large canopy rip, dacron would probably work fine. I'm not sure how much the added weight matters (honestly I'm not even positive that it does weigh extra). It's just stronger. Good luck. I'm happy to help with my limited knowledge!