Hi Peeps,

This is more of a how not to, than a how to. Another customer came in yesterday with a bladder with a persistently annoying slow bladder leak he inherited from the previous owner who save a few bucks and did a glue job on a leaking bladder.

I now have his bladder here in the shop which will go in the bin. It was no longer repairable thanks to the glue job. We manufactured a new bladder for him instead of even attempting a repair on the old one. Please, please, please, don't use glue on your kite bladders. They often leak and then have to be thrown away as the mess the glue makes makes it impossible to prevent further leaks with Tear Aid or bag sealers.

If you did this repair, it's a shocker!

In this first pic, the culprit thought it would be clever to glue AND Tear Aid it. The center of the valve was glued and then the Tear AId skirt was stuck down VERY BADLY. Every wrinkle is a potential leak


Here again the culprit started with glue and then tried to Tear Aid over the top. This is a seam leak which could have been repaired simply and cleanly in seconds with the bag sealer and at no significant cost.


This shows the culprit had a few goes with Tear Aid at stopping the leaks. Poorly done and a disaster to fix.




Seriously, just take your kite in to any reputable shop and ask them to solve your issues for you. No stress, professional repairs and guaranteed.

Just Sayin'
DM

Looks like an ex girlfriends boob job gone wrong.Worked out better,she got warranty and a size bigger....just not sayin.

L

Action Sports, I have an old slingshot that has every valve popped off. It's not worth sending to get repaired, but I just can't put the kite in the bin. What do you suggest?

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bmod said..

Action Sports, I have an old slingshot that has every valve popped off. It's not worth sending to get repaired, but I just can't put the kite in the bin. What do you suggest?

Get some self stick valves

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ActionSportsWA said..
Hi Peeps,

Hi DM,

I agree with your original post above, but I would not discount using glues entirely when it comes to valves. I know this sounds like a half-baked solution, but I've found Sikaflex Pro to be very effective in fixing valves (at least getting them to stop leaks), without needing to replace them entirely. So far I've repaired three bladder valves this way and that was 2 months ago and they're still holding well.

The only gotya with this is when the valve nozzle is cracked or split, then the entire bladder has to be replaced (depending on how close to the root of the valve the damage is - sometimes).

In the end, the repairs I've done look "messy" but they hold air. And the beauty about Sikaflex is that it sticks to the valve (polyutherene based) and can be lightly sanded back to give a more austhetic look. Plus it flexes. However, you have to be liberal with the glue compound and apply heaps to the area (5 times more than the crack or hole itself) to properly seal it, otherwise the air pressure leaks into the glue and bubbles it potentially popping it.

Hi,
I have fixed heaps of valves, found the stick one ones not all that good.
Have a couple of old slingshots and if you leave them in the car on a hot day the valves come loose.
Use aquaseal and cotol-240 primer. You get it from a dive shop.
Slowly ease the valve off, and rough up the surface and prime both the bladder and valve with the cotol.
You can use the cotol as a means to speed up the setting process by mixing some aquaseal and cotol (a few drops) with a screwdriver
lay the bladder on a flat surface and I have made a ring which sits around the valve to press the valve flat against the surface.
Let it set, but you need to check occasionally that the aquaseal has not gone through the hole and sticks the inside of the bladder together.
It takes a while to set so you have some time here and if it does stick you ease it apart but check it about every 15 minutes.
Keep the left over stuff in the beer fridge, missus gets pissed if left in the house fridge!
Good Luck

Hi,
I have fixed heaps of valves, found the stick one ones not all that good.
Have a couple of old slingshots and if you leave them in the car on a hot day the valves come loose.
Use aquaseal and cotol-240 primer. You get it from a dive shop.
Slowly ease the valve off, and rough up the surface and prime both the bladder and valve with the cotol.
You can use the cotol as a means to speed up the setting process by mixing some aquaseal and cotol (a few drops) with a screwdriver
lay the bladder on a flat surface and I have made a ring which sits around the valve to press the valve flat against the surface.
Let it set, but you need to check occasionally that the aquaseal has not gone through the hole and sticks the inside of the bladder together.
It takes a while to set so you have some time here and if it does stick you ease it apart but check it about every 15 minutes.
Keep the left over stuff in the beer fridge, missus gets pissed if left in the house fridge!
Good Luck, Jim