16 replies to this topic

[Martyjuggles]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to pick people's brains on this subject. I know i've read before about the abrasiveness of sand damaging the LE and generally salt water not doing the sails a lot of good.

Does anyone have any tips or can share their current practise with respect to cleaning/storage of their kites after the beach? I pretty much only fly on the beach so my kites are always sandy and i'm not about to clean them every time - any tips on what you all do would be greatly appreciated especially if you spend a lot of time flying on the beach.

Thanks

Marty

[Sailor99]

Lots and lots of water and preferable a shower/hose. No, repeat no detergents or harsh cleaners, and go easy with the scrubbing - you can easily knock the filler out the cloth.

[antman]

sailor is right ..when you done flying and get home put the kites together in the back yard or where every yo can do it and hose them off the best you can .. after that levem them opend up untill they drip dry

[quaa714]

In addition to hosing down the sail, I make it a practice to also remove the entire leading edge from the sail, break it down and hose through the spars, making sure to also get both ferrules on the center piece. I also make sure to wash out all 6 end caps for the entire frame.

Drip dry when finished.

Sand, especially small amounts of it and salt water, separately or together are kite killers to be sure!!!!!

[Aerochic]

What Ant & Quaa said... in addition I take a q-tip to the rods and ferrules to clean them out after dry. It's amazing how much sand gets trapped inside those rods! Eeeek!

[bobw]

Does anyone have a good method of clearcoating or otherwise protecting the rods?

since I only fly on the sand, doing this every time just doesn't happen.

[Martyjuggles]

blimey! - so my lazy can't be arsed approach just isn't a goer then? Could be why my EXP died, mind you i'd had several years of sand covered fun without ever cleaning it.

Ok looks like i'm going to have to be a bit more vigilant if i want my kites to last - is a weekly clean worth it if i'm flying a lot, or is that as bad as not doing it at all??

[Sailor99]

A gentle weekly clean up sounds good to me OfficerJuggles

[Martyjuggles]

phew! a weekly clean it is then - the perfect balance between conscientiousness and general laziness!?

[jburka]

Wow. There are some obsessive people out there! 19 years of Rev flying, and I'm not sure I've ever washed a sail (other than maybe taking a damp paper towel to it to get rid of mud)...and I've certainly never taken a q-tip to the rods and ferrules!

I've had Revs with over 700 hours of flying time on them, with the most damage/wear coming from the rubbing of spars against the sail and from folding the kites to put 'em away.

[bobw]

Wow. There are some obsessive people out there! 19 years of Rev flying, and I'm not sure I've ever washed a sail (other than maybe taking a damp paper towel to it to get rid of mud)...and I've certainly never taken a q-tip to the rods and ferrules!

I've had Revs with over 700 hours of flying time on them, with the most damage/wear coming from the rubbing of spars against the sail and from folding the kites to put 'em away.

Folding. Im a kite newbie, but an old hand w outdoors gear. Nylon tents always used to get worn out from folding them neatly in the same way, which is why we always recommended to just stuff them into their sacks ad hoc. So it occurred to me that the same thing would happen with kites.

On the leading edge, I've taken to shift the edge back and forth a bit so I don't fold the kite in the same spot each time. I don't have a long history, but it seems to me that it should extend the kites life.

[Robert]

phew! a weekly clean it is then - the perfect balance between conscientiousness and general laziness!?

Take the spars right out of the sail (every time)- sand in the pocket is going to sandpaper the rod. As long as the sail is dry a quick shake before inserting should work fine.

Rob

[Martyjuggles]

hmmmm another question now on cleaning then. being as sailor is saying not to use any detergents, has anyone got any tips for removing oil/ grease . . . .just been for a fly on the beach and discovered a blob of black grease right on the white part of the sail - must've picked it up yesterday. . . . help!

[Sailor99]

For spot cleaning detergent is probably OK. I meant more don't soak it in harsh cleaners.

[pudsli]

hi marty.
what i do on my revs to protect the leading edge, is put spinaker tape on it.
when you side slide across the sand, this protects the dacron leading edge.
also when i have been flying on the beach as soon as i get home it's shower time.
i take out the spars, fill bath with warm water, add a bit of baby shampoo, give a good wash round, turn on shower and rinse off, hang to dry over shower rail.
never had a problem and they smell nice also.
are you the one we are meeting on the 22nd of this month?.
if so i will show you the rev.
all the best steve.

[Martyjuggles]

hey steve - yep that'll be me, i believe the 1.5 SLE i got off Brian had the same LE treatment, although the sand and wet eventually meant the tape has had to come off!! Perhaps i should be bunging my kites into the bath with the kids then?

Looking forward to meeting you on the 22nd

Marty

[Aerochic]

Wow. There are some obsessive people out there! 19 years of Rev flying, and I'm not sure I've ever washed a sail (other than maybe taking a damp paper towel to it to get rid of mud)...and I've certainly never taken a q-tip to the rods and ferrules!

Hehehe. Wellll... I'm not sure what the sand is like out west, but NJ sand can be like cement here! Especially if it gets wet. I was more than a bit alarmed to see how scratched up my rods were after my vacation and other beach outings. Eeek. Admittedly, I don't give my revs as close scrutiny when I'm normally flying inland. Revs are too expensive to replace.