The trailing edge, especially on mono or no strut endure a lot of stress, and various design techniques are used to mitigate the inevitable flap, stretch and eventual loss of tension, but can life be restored to these sad edges, or is it moot?!

moot would be a good name for a kite.

My guess would be the way the kites are packed up and stored must help the longevity of the material. Rolling them i would imagine weakens the wingtips the most

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Redman said..
My guess would be the way the kites are packed up and stored must help the longevity of the material. Rolling them i would imagine weakens the wingtips the most

Yeah packing definitely has an effect, but this is more from kites left flapping on the beach and/or have a tendency to flap more in flight. All kites and wings in general will have some degree of excess vibration/flap when powering and depowering, it's more exaggerated in fewer strut kites because there's less support between struts. At least this is my understanding of it... I have applied some stormsure spray-on which should seal the fabric , and I am thinking maybe some thin strips of tough tape along the seams where it's become quite thin. This might be enough to add another season of use to it, I'm hoping.

Hi Guys,

The secret to one strut kites endurance is to fly them within their wind range. If flying them powered in the upper half of their wind range where you depower to the point of trailing edge flutter, then its time to rig down.

One struts are best in their lower to mid range. Used in the right application, they will last fine. Not for kite looping unless on a foil in lighter winds.

Don't leave them flapping in the wind on the beach when not being ridden. Either throw a bunch of sand on them to stop them fluttering, or deflate the leading edge and roll up around the strut.

You can repair the trailing edge, have a sailmaker of kite repairer like the Sail Doctor to apply a sticky back canopy cloth over the last 3 or 4 inches and sew around the edges. It will add a tiny amount of additional weight, but shouldn't really be noticeable when flying.

Hope this helps,

DM

This is Airush Ultra. Correct?

The problem is a strut pressure. On high wind, the canopy smashes sand when on the ground. And that is because the strut is not pressurised enough, so it bends. Its almost flat. Hence this I recon.

I ride Ultra 2 9m only on high wind and TT. No flutter in a sweet point. And man, that thing can jump. It loops just fine. Better than many kites.

The TE on my kite is intact since on grass all the time.

The fix would be a separate valve for the strut. So the pressure can be higher than LE and takes no time to pump. But since no one is selling old style valves with a ball, what can we do...

D.