everettmarm

Just wanted to pop in with my new account and say I started this project up with my Prism Tantrum 220. Since I don't have a sewing machine I hand-stitched the tabs to the bottom of the wing at the point where the baffles between the cells are sewn into the rest of the stitching, so it should be the strongest point. It also helped to evenly space the tabs. I did 5 tabs on each side, but so far I've only bridled the 4 starting at the outer edge and I'm waiting for some wind and time to take it outside and try it. The bridles are 2 pieces per side--24+28" pieces, and 26+30" pieces are single pieces of 200# braided dacron, and they knot up to a main bridle line on each side currently made of paracord (will change this to the same material as the bridles soon. This past weekend there was just enough wind to go out to a field near the house and make a couple of initial adjustments--I wanted to be sure I could bind the original 2-line bridles to the new brake bridles and have the brake bridles be "dead," letting me fly the kite as a 2-line and I was able to get that working. Now I just need to get outside with my little makeshift handles (old broken drumsticks, holes drilled, paracord knotted through the holes) and see if I can make the thing fly as a 4-line. A question: how much weight are we typically putting on the brake lines as compared to the regular attachment points for the main bridle? It looks like the Tantrum has some string that runs through the foil to reinforce it where those lines attach, which won't be present for these brake lines. I'm a little concerned that if the "pull" is the same the foil material may not hold up as well. Anyhow, I attached a picture here. I'm hoping I can get out into the field behind my office today, but right now the lawn service is mowing so I may miss my flying window for today (rain on the way )