Prism Zephyr Standoff Repair Help

[dmcneil]

One of the standoffs on my Zephyr came off. I still have it but it looks like I lost the retainer piece that goes on the back of the sail. New parts are on order. Anyone know if the retainer piece just snaps on or is some kind of glue required?

Any help would be appreciated.

Dave

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[hyzakite]

I would think the stand-off screw in to the sail and pop in to the lower spreader, but that could be the different years. Yours may have snapped together and you can remove each stand-off. If one of my stand-offs break I just unscrew the stand-off from the sail the very small silver screw is visible. So I think yours snaps.

[dmcneil]

Thanks. Hopefully it's obvious. I will respond once I get it all together to close the loop.

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[hyzakite]

Its the Zeps I own that has these connections on the trailing edge, my kites are probably older. Help us dual liners! My Zeps have a screw holding the stand-off onto the trailing edge. Someone here must be able to comment within this subject.

[makatakam]

I used to have a Zephyr, but I never noticed. Call Prism Kites directly -- they are very helpful.

[hyzakite]

Dave, What my setup is, may be what is different then yours.

[dmcneil]

I will post pics when I get a chance. And take a closer look at the others (the not broken ones).

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[dmcneil]

The first is the back of the sail with the broken one and the remaining one. The second shot shows the good one with the retaining cap removed. I can pry them off with a fingernail, then push them back on. Kind of hope the replacement version is a screw on.

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[dmcneil]

And just for fun these are my babies.

Left to right: Zephyr, 4D, Hypnotist.

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[RobB]

I would suggest to use 'Jaco' connectors. Whenever I have to replace sail fittings, I use Jacos. They pop into the hole in the sail, and are retained from the other side by a small O ring. These are so much better than the clip type, and the screw type is nice, but in my salt water environment, the screws tend to rust.

http://www.thekiteshoppe.com/products/JACO-Standoff-to-Sail-Connector-3mm.html

Nice Prism collection, by the way, I flew the same combination of Prisms, except I had the 3d, the 4d wasn't released at the time. You have all flyable wind conditions covered with that group.

[hyzakite]

So back to the first questions, I don't know of much glued on/in type standoff fittings, is there any?

[makatakam]

If you glue them in they will become permanent. I would prefer being able to remove them if and when I want. You can just apply glue to any fitting you use. Perhaps you could use a removable/temporary type of glue/cement, like rubber cement or something similar, that will hold the fitting in place but still allow you to remove it if you need to. My concern is damage to the trailing edge of the sail should removal become necessary.

[dmcneil]

Damaging the sail using some kind of glue would be my concern as well. I have owned the Zephyr since Christmas, and bought it second-hand, and this is the first issue. It happened following a bizarre incident. I was flying in high winds (approx 16 - 20 mph), and did not have the bridle adjusted enough. Suddenly the larks-head knot on one of the tow-points let loose. First time that has ever happened. So the kite spiraled downward as I ran toward it holding the remaining line to minimize the impact. The impact on landing was no worse than anything else, so I wonder if the sudden action on the kite due to the line coming off caused the sail to warp in some weird way. The sleeving on the lines I was using is not like my other Prism lines, I believe it is something older. It is thicker and sewn together so you can barely get a finger through the end. My guess is the wind was too much for the setup (sleeving combined with poor bridle adjustment). Anyway, I put the kite and lines away, and put up my Hypnotist with a better bridle adjustment, and a longer, heavier lineset. Had a blast regardless.

[makatakam]

Damaging the sail using some kind of glue would be my concern as well. I have owned the Zephyr since Christmas, and bought it second-hand, and this is the first issue. It happened following a bizarre incident. I was flying in high winds (approx 16 - 20 mph), and did not have the bridle adjusted enough. Suddenly the larks-head knot on one of the tow-points let loose. First time that has ever happened. So the kite spiraled downward as I ran toward it holding the remaining line to minimize the impact. The impact on landing was no worse than anything else, so I wonder if the sudden action on the kite due to the line coming off caused the sail to warp in some weird way. The sleeving on the lines I was using is not like my other Prism lines, I believe it is something older. It is thicker and sewn together so you can barely get a finger through the end. My guess is the wind was too much for the setup (sleeving combined with poor bridle adjustment). Anyway, I put the kite and lines away, and put up my Hypnotist with a better bridle adjustment, and a longer, heavier lineset. Had a blast regardless.

Is the sleeving the same at both ends? If not, then the wrong end may be attached to the handles. When there is a great disparity between the thickness of loop and bridle, the bridle knot can slip through the larkshead when enough tension is applied.

[dmcneil]

I think so, but now that you mention it, I can't be sure. I will double check that and let you know. It's definitely an older model Zephyr. It came with the hard case. Also the handles/sleeving are grey and red, not blue and red. and the sleeving color at the kite end is mismatched from the handle (red handle as grey sleeving at the kite end). The first time I used this set of lines it took me a minute and a couple of failed launches to figure this out. I have been meaning to switch it up, but once I am at the field I just want to fly.

[makatakam]

When I had my Zephyr they had already stopped making it available in the hard case. I would have loved to have it; it's an awesome piece of equipment -- if you ever want to sell it, definitely let me know! The color of sleeving any manufacturer uses depends largely on what's available at the time of manufacture, but each line should have the same color at both ends. Sounds like an "oops" on someone's part, either Prism or previous owner, more likely the previous owner. Either that or the handles or lines are not the original ones.

You can learn to fly cross-handed, left line in the right hand and vice-versa. I might give that a go with my Revs and see if I can wrap my brain around it and make it fly. Could be fun, becoming a total newbie again!

[RobB]

The Jaco standoff connectors attach to the sail by means of an O-ring on the backside. There are no issues with them coming off. I replace all my sail-clip style connectors with these, they don't get snagged on the lines, they're very simple & work well. You do glue the standoffs into them, but wait until the glue dries before inserting them into the sail.

[dmcneil]

Here is what I received from Prism today. Looks like the screw-in type has replaced the snap-on type.

This is the same as on my newer Hypnotist.

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[Tmadz]

I worry about screws coming loose over time (temp chgs, wear, vibrations, etc.) Is there a nylon inside to act as a stop nut or would it be safe to use thread locker?

[dmcneil]

I worry about screws coming loose over time (temp chgs, wear, vibrations, etc.) Is there a nylon inside to act as a stop nut or would it be safe to use thread locker?

That's a good point. The part that receives the screw is nylon and the screw felt like it was biting into something when I put it in. My Hypnotist has the same type and are still tight after 2 years and quite a few temperature swings (32 - 90 degrees F). One thing to note: the standoff and retainer were sold separately. Had I only purchased the retainer I would have been ordering a standoff today and paying for shipping twice (about $14 in this case). Glad I looked at my Hypnotist first. I figured since it was much newer things might have changed.

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[Hadge]

I have these screw in fittings in several kites and never had any problem with them coming loose. It's worth rubbing a little candle wax over the cross head screw as with time they can get rusty which makes them hard to unscrew if you need to remove them especially if you fly on the beach a lot.

[KiteNinja]

One of the standoffs on my Zephyr came off. I still have it but it looks like I lost the retainer piece that goes on the back of the sail. New parts are on order. Anyone know if the retainer piece just snaps on or is some kind of glue required?
Any help would be appreciated.
Dave
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They have these new ones out with a rubber O-rings Way better


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