3 replies to this topic

[timmyz]

i recently broke one of my lines. is it hard to shorten all four ,and what is the proper way? this is my second post and this is all new to me . thanks timmyz

[andelscott]

i recently broke one of my lines. is it hard to shorten all four ,and what is the proper way? this is my second post and this is all new to me . thanks timmyz

If the line was sleeved, it's not too hard. Just little time consuming. You should only need to shorten three lines, of course, I'd sleeve up the broken line first then match the others to that. A violin E string or thin guitar string / wire can be doubled up, poking the looped end all the way through the sleeving and used to drag the (good section of) line back through the sleeving.

I've learned (from another local) that the quickest knot is the figure of eight - with both 'ends' of the sleeved loop held together as it's tied (so it is a doubled figure of eight). Some will add an extra single knot at one end of the sleeving to secure the 'free' end of the line as it exits the sleeving, but it's not really necessary if you leave a good cm or 1/4 inch excess of the flying line for future line adjustments. For now, just set the sleeving to the correct position, leaving a little line poking out the far end, ready for tying.

With that one done, you just need to untie the remaining three sets, one at a time and slide the sleeving back to match the new position of the shortened line. Re-tie each, checking that the sleeving 'begins' the same place for each line before and after tying. The excess line can be trimmed away (leaving a cm / 1/4-1/2 inch excess) once you're satisfied that the lines all match. Easiest on a windless day when you can stake all lines on a single ground stake and extend all the lines, tho' I have performed 'surgery' in an hotel room, just doing the final line equalisation outside.

Alternatively, if this was a 120 foot line set and the break was more than a foot or so from an end (and you have some matching line from a spool), you might be better off making up one new line to keep line lengths consistent for team flying.

Hope this helps.

[timmyz]

these are the original line set i got with my 1.5 sle and theyre about 5 years old. i think they are 85' , and it broke 10' from kite end.

[stroke survivor]

75' will be ok!! Fix that one, then sleeve the rest to that length!!