BayAreaKiteboarding.com

I had my first day at Third on Sunday, after a bunch of lessons in the bay + Alameda sessions. Things were going great - did a few waterstarts with short rides - and then one of my foot straps popped out.

After body dragging in, I noticed that a handle screw had also come a bit loose.

I know to check for loose screws now, but I'd like to prevent 'session interruptus' from happening again. Between cranking down on the screwdriver, adding lock washers, and using a dab of loctite, what do you guys recommend?

Thanks,
-brandon

PS props to the lady kiter who asked if I was OK and dumped my board off on shore, whose name I didn't catch.

don't use locktite.
it can eat away at plastics
your best bet is crank 'em down pre-session every time.
you could try a slightly longer screw,but don't blow through the bottom

believe me,you're not the only one with a screw loose :)

i have a screwdriver set in my car and try to tighten all board screws every 3 or 4 sessions. I find that there is room to tighten every time, which means in theory if i let it go for 15 sessions without tightening, things would start coming loose as they did for you.

brandonh wrote:I had my first day at Third on Sunday, after a bunch of lessons in the bay + Alameda sessions. Things were going great - did a few waterstarts with short rides - and then one of my foot straps popped out.

After body dragging in, I noticed that a handle screw had also come a bit loose.

I know to check for loose screws now, but I'd like to prevent 'session interruptus' from happening again. Between cranking down on the screwdriver, adding lock washers, and using a dab of loctite, what do you guys recommend?

Thanks,
-brandon

PS props to the lady kiter who asked if I was OK and dumped my board off on shore, whose name I didn't catch.

kief wrote:don't use locktite.
it can eat away at plastics
your best bet is crank 'em down pre-session every time.
you could try a slightly longer screw,but don't blow through the bottom

believe me,you're not the only one with a screw loose :)

Haha, yeah :-)

Even if Loctite eats away at plastics, since the screws and the threaded board inserts are both metal, a proper dab of loctite on the threads should never touch the plastic. I guess I'd worry more about whether loctite would see seawater and lose its grip.

-b

I use loctite all the time on my snowboard and there is never any problem with the plastics. Just use it judiciously and not slop it all over. Couldn't tell you about my kiteboard as it has no straps :mrgreen:

I bought the Dakine Cool Tool from BoardSports in Alameda. It's a nifty little hand screwdriver:

http://www.dakine.com/ski/accessories/tools/cool-tool/

Easy to use and does a great job of keeping everything nice and tight. Always a good idea to check on a regular basis, though I haven't done so in a while.

A little finger nail polish on the thredes
if you ever want to move them you can bust the nail polish lose
some times loctite stays locked
and nail polish is cheep

what color charlie?... :mrgreen:

http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/10/15/ ... ue-242.htm

Blue Loctite

tomerp wrote:i have a screwdriver set in my car and try to tighten all board screws every 3 or 4 sessions.

Ditto.