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Covering vents


Prawnstar

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Can't see any other topics on this.

Just a random thought, Has anyone retro fitted a full vent/mid vent to make into a full sail.

As in like a velcroed on, strips of icarex, to cover and remove from the vents to make the sail an all wind condition machine?

Or is there something out there that can be bought?

Edit, ignore me, I found some topics - lol

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What did you find ? I thought of doing this, but it's too late. I all ready bought a mid-vent and full sail. I was going to try putting some packing tape over the vents on my full vent, but never got around to it...

I would be interested to hear if any one has done this, and what the results were...

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I've heard of it being done - just not how successful it is!! Idea sounds good until you account for raised seam edges, disturbed airflow, etc!! Might compromise the sail performance overall!!

I can see it now - one panel coming loose and throwing the sail completely out of balance!!

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Not a Rev, but I have a Flying Wings Soul which had been converted to a mid vent when I bought it. I have made it into a variable vent by carefully sewing a 1/4" strip of velcro ( fluffy side) around the edges of the vent and making some panels slightly bigger than the vent with velcro ( hook side) sewn to them. To convert from a full sail to a mid vent just needs the panels removing. Seems to work well with no noticable problems caused by the velcro.

soul1.jpg

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What did you find ? I thought of doing this, but it's too late. I all ready bought a mid-vent and full sail. I was going to try putting some packing tape over the vents on my full vent, but never got around to it...

I would be interested to hear if any one has done this, and what the results were...

Tape is a great thing. I will try it on my mid-vent for sure. Recently got a vehicle that did not have a front tag bracket & the Old Dominion (Virginia) requires one. The car has a nice bra so I bought some black duct tape & carefully taped it on. Looks great IMHO! May eventually make a nice stainless steel bracket but the tape is so clever & very American.
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Be careful when you remove the tape - could leave residue behind, tough to clean off!! :ani_idea:

Wayne's right...........Yep, and that residue will just love grass and/or sand !...........I'd never put any kind of adhesive, on a kite, if possible. Even if you patch with Tedlar tape, you'll get build-up around the perimeter of the patch..........yuk !

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Clear box packaging tape would peel right off, and leave no residue, I think. As long as you peel it off right away, that is... I just have so little time to fly that I never tried it. For me, I found a full sail that I just couldn't say no to. Bought it because I loved the design. Because that kite was so twitchy when I first started flying it, I bought the mid-vent because it was such a good deal I couldn't refuse. If I hadn't found the mid-vent B-series for less than $200, I probably would've tried the tape trick eventually.

All things being equal, I prefer to fly the full vent when the wind will support it. Like today, the wind was a solid 15-20mph. Flew it for 1/2 hour after work... I would've flown longer, but even in all that wind it was too hot to stand out in the sun. Damn triple digit heat ! BTW, the dew point here is 77 degrees ! I hate the summer !

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I will try Rob's suggestion, sounds good to me. By the way, 3M & Ford came up with masking tape. It should also work if you remove it in 24 hours or less. I have cleaned adhesive from previously repaired kites with lighter fluid. It is pretty much the same thing as Coleman fuel. Of course it's a good idea to try any solvent on a similar fabric or small spot first. But my approach to a repair is I can't lose if it saves an otherwise useless item. There are excellent "Moonie" tapes available for permanent repairs. Honor our roots "Keep the old ones flying!"

gray tape trailing edge repair

post-7709-0-22391300-1374414838_thumb.jp

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By the way, 3M & Ford came up with masking tape. It should also work if you remove it in 24 hours or less.

There are excellent "Moonie" tapes available for permanent repairs.

How about that Blue painter's tape, and putting it on both sides of the kite, at the vents ? Anybody tried that ?

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