Clean Kite Valves: Your Kite Might Not Be Leaking!
Ryan jumps on a facebook live to show you how to clean kite valves and check if your kite really has a leak that needs a repair…
This is a super easy check you can do before spending time and money on having Ryan check it for you (especially like in the video below, he finds there isn’t a leak)!
Tip of the day from Ryan...
Morning everyone!
This is a little free tip of the day from me.
I’ve had a few leaky repairs in recently here at The Sail Doctor kite repairs.
A lot of the time people go out for one session and think
“ooooh my kites gone down a bit…”
But they don’t check anything, give me a call straight away and bring it in.
I try to explain the obvious go-to checkpoints on the phone but some people just want to bring it in any way.
This week I’ve had two or three that have come in having explained about cleaning valves out and doing them up properly.
So I thought I’d just show you what the go-to thing is
[make sure you check out the video above to watch along]
Here, we have a pristine looking 2015 ozone Rio.
Which supposedly has a slow leak.
So I’ve cleaned this valve out, locked the struts off, which is the go-to thing to do.
And then when I’ve come back to it and undone the struts, there’s no noise after an hour and a half, two hours.
There is no leak in the kite.
Clean Kite Valves, Valve Caps & The Rubber!
In this case, what I have done is…
I have looked at my valve cap here (are you watching along with the video?).
And I have taken this bit of rubber off…the rubber seal.
The little bit of rubber in here which you can just get your finger behind, and you’ll find sand in there.
If you don’t put your kite away without sand.
So that’s an ozone one.
This is an air rush or switch one, and you can get that off.
And this is an old school Cabrinha one, and you can get a little flathead screwdriver in behind that carefully.
And you can get that one off as well.
Same way on the modern Cabrinha’s so clean all the crap out (sand, dust etc), clean the thread out here, and in here as well.
And then, if you’ve got one of these power hoses and have an air compressor…
Get the air compressor in there.
Clean them and keep them sand-free when you pack them away.
Put the valve cover back over the valve when you’re folding your kite up.
What I also recommend (when I pump mine up)…
- Pump it.
- Take your hose out.
- Screw this hand tight.
- Take this out.
- Then snug it a little bit more.
If this valve and cap isn’t done up – your kite will leak!
It’s not always a problem with something having gotten your leading edge.
Sometimes it is.
BUT…
These are EASY go-to checkpoint.
If I check these, I will charge you for doing it
(which is fine if you want me to check over your kite for you).
But I don’t want you wasting your time, and it’s an easy go-to check point.
Anyway, take it easy crew!..
So Clean Kite Valves First To Check If Your Kite Is Leaking, Before Bringing It In! 😉
Hopefully a few of you might check these things before bringing them in, and save yourself some time and money.
That one is for free.
Most of all my work isn’t.
Have a good one!