Repair - Kite ripstop 1 inch tear

[cedralpass]

I noticed a small tear in my kite's wing yesterday while putting it away. Any tips or advice or repairing the kite? I have found this site, and itís pretty good, but I can't wait for shipping the item. kitefix.com

My kite came with a few pieces of material to patch with. Are there any glues that are recommended. Are there any fast repairs, so you can get back out on the water, and do a more permanent repair at night or once the kite is dry?

Thanks,

Geoff

[AntiJF]

West marine sells rolls of ripstop tape, it's like 11 bucks or something, but it's a big roll. Make sure your kite's dry and use rubbing alcohol to clean the area. Cut the patch so it has round corners, and slap it on. I do both sides for a tear that size, and make the patch much bigger than the tear.
Use the lightweight ripstop, it looks like spinnaker cloth.

[windhorny]

Sailtape is crazy strong! it just looks bad if its the wrong color.

[elli]

Also never hurts to cut the edges of the patch round instead of sharp corners.

The bigger the tear the bigger the load transformed to the patch, which means it needs to have more surface and distance from the hole. The glue is supposed to be strong enough, but if you have doubts you can always stitch it.

[panzerfaust]

what color kite do you have? I've got black, red, yellow and blue tape. I've used it on tears over an inch long and it works really well.

[Bob]

Line up the material with scotch tape on one side first so that the material lies just flush and flat. It is much easier to get the sail tape on smoothly if you are not struggling to line things up. You will only have one chance to place the sail repair tape in the correct location, its that strong and tenacious. Once it makes contact it is down for good. Flip it back over to the scotch tape side, remove the tape and put another piece of sail tape on and your kite will deterioate around the repair before the tape wears out. I try to leave about one inch of tape on either side of the tear. Obviously having the kite clean and dry with the loose threads trimmed off is a good idea as is giving the tape a rub down with a spoon or plastic bottle cap. As long as it is not in a massive high load area you should be fine forever.

[cedralpass]

Thanks Guys.

I am not too worried on color. The kite is quite discolored already. The Black has blead onto the yellow.

I will head to west marine on Townsand tmrw! Thanks,

I really appreciate it.