Hi all,
I have a problem with a loose inflation value on my 10m Blade Trigger.





From the image you can see that it is no longer attached to the fabric of the kite, causing it to occasionally push inwards during flight (well when the LE slams into the water ). On one occasion this completely ripped the valve open and the little stopper ball inside was nowhere to be found, leading to almost instant deflation. On another occasion I noticed the kite slowly deflating, and when I returned to shore I found that the valve had slightly opened up and was slowly deflating. I am wondering what my options are here. I can take the kite in to be repaired but have also noticed that if I double wrap the elastic band thing on the top of the value around itself, I manage to create a pretty strong seal. Any advice for me?

Thanks!

I had a similar problem on an old Bandit, I found if that when I pulled it out it had a lip that sat outside of the fabric, I had to pull pretty hard to get it sitting on the outside though. - I from memory I could only get one half out, then I had to pry the rest around. Hope this helps

Solution:

Find a washer from bunnings that is wide enough to go over the lip of the kite material but has a donut hole small enough to squeeze the bottom of the valve through (the wider part below the nozzle section). The trick is to have a washer thin enough and narrow enough in the center so that it makes a pressure lip around the valve. Your valve will not go back into the kite. You can get even more creative and somehow slip the washer in between the fabric and the plastic ring that was there for that purpose of holding the valve in place.

OR...

Grab some flexible perspex from Bunnings, and make your own "valve washer":

1. Measure the exact diameter of the bottom part of the valve and mark on the perspex. This is the donut ring.
2. Cut the hole on the perspex, but leave four notches on opposite ends a little closer into the center of the hole. Use a super sharp stanley knife or blade to cut the hole perfectly. Practice until you get it 100% correct, but as I said leave four little "taps" on opposite ends of the inner hole. These will be your "pressure" tabs that will hold the valve in place (don't make them too big as you don't want to cut into the valve).
3. Make a bigger circular cut around the perspex to sit nicely over the lip of the kite fabric. This is the outer rim of the donut ring. It's only going to be as big (the outer diameter) as the white stitching you have shown in the above picture, just between the two velcro straps.

Good luck.

Don't red-thumb me until you've tried it goons!

Same issue on a best TS purchased a year ago, i've re-seated valves before no problem. this one doesn't have a lip to catch on to, a pain when pumping but holds under pressure, must be from a dud batch, same kite suffered a canopy tear .5M right on the strut from LE, less than 20 hrs use in a mild LE crash. Best gave no interest.. On the bright side the repair has held up better than new in the hands of a junior at advanced intermediate level

Your bladder has become twisted. Take out, cover in talc powder, line it up, put it back in.

Why place a small drop of aquaseal on the valve to glue it to the fabric? Simple and works on one of my strut valves that had the same sort of issue.

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Whangas said..
Why place a small drop of aquaseal on the valve to glue it to the fabric? Simple and works on one of my strut valves that had the same sort of issue.

That's dump. Sorry but how are you going to pull out the bladder when there is another leak somewhere else?

Thanks for all the replies guys, given me a bit to think about. I was going to go down the road of gluing the valve back onto the fabric but you raise a good point Loftywinds.

I am a bit perplexed as to how this thing was "attached" in the first place. Looking at the release valve it appears to be quite tight, however not completely attached to the fabric. Maybe the opening in the fabric is supposed to grip the valve tightly, and in my case has become loose. Maybe I can get the missus to work a bit of magic with the sewing needle...

On a side note, I have no idea where the little stopper ball inside the valve has gone. There is a little "caged" bit which is supposed to stop it from falling into the bladder, but from what I can see it is not broken at all. Strange.

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rtlm said...
Hi all,
I have a problem with a loose inflation value on my 10m Blade Trigger.





From the image you can see that it is no longer attached to the fabric of the kite, causing it to occasionally push inwards during flight (well when the LE slams into the water ). On one occasion this completely ripped the valve open and the little stopper ball inside was nowhere to be found, leading to almost instant deflation. On another occasion I noticed the kite slowly deflating, and when I returned to shore I found that the valve had slightly opened up and was slowly deflating. I am wondering what my options are here. I can take the kite in to be repaired but have also noticed that if I double wrap the elastic band thing on the top of the value around itself, I manage to create a pretty strong seal. Any advice for me?

Thanks!

Had this drama on my wipikas, I found if I partially inflated , then made sure the valve was aligned and fully through opening before fully inflating, has the valve a rim, if so you need to get that back outside the le,, if it was twisted you'd see it in your le when inflating, if you want a long term solution adhesive Velcro , but that means pulling out the bladder ( partially) a quick fix would be to pull it fully through and place a rubber washer around the shaft or a cable tie, this will prevent it from falling through, might be worth just unzipping your le access and have a feel to make sure it not fowling up as some brands have a double sleeve at inflate deflate , it's just another piece of bladder material loosely fitted over main bladder at these points

Partially inflated and pulled out the valve yesterday at shoalwater. seemed to work a treat and also double wrapped the elastic around it. held up even after a fairly strong crash right on the LE. Think I'm good for now. Cheers all.

The stopper ball is in the ocean. Probably sealed after the valve opened and was shot out next time you crashed your kite.

just get a marble or something

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NickT said..
The stopper ball is in the ocean. Probably sealed after the valve opened and was shot out next time you crashed your kite.

Makes sense. So I should be able to just find another similar sized object and shove it in?

Hi rtlm,

The reason your inflate valve keep disappearing inside the leading edge is because the leading edge bladder is twisted. There is no glue to hold the valve to the opening. You need to remove and re-insert your leading edge bladder so it is nice and straight and properly aligned with the hole and your worries will be over.

Probably find the stopper ball inside the leading edge most likely. The little perforated skin that holds the ball in place often rips and allows the ball to fall out into the bladder. This can't be fixed unless you replace the valve and then the only option is for a squeeze type slit non-return which is hard to pump up with the added restriction.

Whilst you have the bladder out, drop the neck of your inflation valve in boiling water for a few minutes and then let it air cool. This will "reset" the original memory of the plastic neck and make the stopper plug fit much tighter.

Your problems are all fixable without spending a dollar if you do the work yourself. Plenty of you tube video's on removing and re-installing the L/E Bladder. Just make sure you inflate it slowly checking for twists and sort it before you pump it to full pressure.

Have fun! Should take you less than 30 minutes.

DM

Thanks ActionSports, I'll give it a try.
How does a bladder become twisted in the first place, and what are the implications of not fixing it ASAP?
I had a couple of knots in my lines a while back and the advice was to get them sorted out sooner rather than later. Is this also the case with a twisted bladder?

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rtlm said..
Thanks ActionSports, I'll give it a try.
How does a bladder become twisted in the first place, and what are the implications of not fixing it ASAP?
I had a couple of knots in my lines a while back and the advice was to get them sorted out sooner rather than later. Is this also the case with a twisted bladder?

Sort of. Think of the bladders as BBQ sausages. Well, if you twist one in half fully around and then slam your fist on one end, what do you think will happen? The 'pop' will occur where you twisted the sausage. Bladders take a lot of pressure and can be inflated 5 times their deflated circumference. When properly inserted into a kite, the kite acts like the tyres in a bicycle and hold that pressure in. Usually LE bladders can take up to around 8psi. The smaller strut bladders, even more! But if you try and inflate a kite bladder without inserting into the kite first to 8psi, it will pop, twist or no twist.

The best way I've reinserted bladders to avoid twists is to lay them fully deflated, flat and folded like an accordion. Get someone to gently pull the bladder into the kite as you manually feed the bladder into the zip pocket. Talcum powder helps greatly here too.