help Silver Fox 2.3 UL Wing Tip Tension Help??

[JaseRicco]

9 hours ago, makatakam said:

Wow! No kidding? I would seriously check out the method they used to put the leech line inside the velcro and make that modification as soon as possible. Leech lines are a royal pain to re-do when they wear out or break. First one I've heard of designed that way.

Yes, certainly seems like an overlooked design flaw. I can't see any way that I would be able to thread the leech line inside the velcro strap without affecting something else, but I'm not to crafty to begin with. I'll keep thinking about it.

[dragonfish]

FWIW, mine is like kitedad's. It's similar what you show in your picture, but the hole is about 1 1/4" up from the bottom of the spine. Mine is also a 2.5 though. 

Perhaps you can make another hole about an inch higher than the existing hole. You can do this with a soldering iron or wood burning tool as long as you have a tip that you don't mind contaminating with plasticky stuff (that's what you're going to get when the material melts). That will still leave quite a bit of leech line outside the velcro though. However, I never really thought of it as a problem, because if you're looking at the back of the kite, the back of the spine is recessed between the rest of the kite. Doesn't seem like it would be easy to get abrasion there. Having the leech line come out at the bottom of the spine might be more concerning. 

[JaseRicco]

14 hours ago, dragonfish said:

FWIW, mine is like kitedad's. It's similar what you show in your picture, but the hole is about 1 1/4" up from the bottom of the spine. Mine is also a 2.5 though. 

Perhaps you can make another hole about an inch higher than the existing hole. You can do this with a soldering iron or wood burning tool as long as you have a tip that you don't mind contaminating with plasticky stuff (that's what you're going to get when the material melts). That will still leave quite a bit of leech line outside the velcro though. However, I never really thought of it as a problem, because if you're looking at the back of the kite, the back of the spine is recessed between the rest of the kite. Doesn't seem like it would be easy to get abrasion there. Having the leech line come out at the bottom of the spine might be more concerning. 

Interesting that we all have a similar "issue", but the hole on the Standards are a bit higher than mine. Not sure if this is a huge oversight that Flying Wings missed, or if we are looking to deeply on this "potential issue". I agree with what you are saying about the leech line being somewhat tucked into the recess of the wings on the kite. I think this gives a natural protection to the leech line. I'm not sure I am comfortable making a second hole in the velcro strap, nor do I have the tool for doing this, but good suggestion. If I got my hands on a soldering iron, I would make the hole where the velcro meets the V of the sail, which would most likely give the leech line as much protection as possible. But this would mean unknotting the leech line, making the hole, and re-knotting...not sure I want to get into that right yet. 

[dragonfish]

My leech line is larksheaded onto the bungee if I remember correctly. It definitely is on one of my kites, because I've adjusted it, but don't know for sure if it's this one. Really easy to adjust when the standoffs are not in place because there is not any tension on the leech line, thus you have plenty of slack to loosen the larkshead and move it on the bungee. I guess you would still have to take it off if you were to make and use a new hole, but it should be straightforward to larkshead it back on the bungee. It doesn't even need to butt up against the knot at the end of the bungee since the bungee is kind of "soft", so the larkshead just bites into it wherever you want it. 

[JaseRicco]

7 hours ago, dragonfish said:

My leech line is larksheaded onto the bungee if I remember correctly.

Thanks for the suggestion. Ill check to see if the leech line is attached to the bungee using a larkshead knot, if it is, that makes it a lot easier. Then the only decision will be whether or not I want to put a second hole in the kite.

[kitedad]

A less elegant option than adding another hole but probably just as effective might be to use some tape to cover the leach line. I use a special cloth tape used in sound stages to tape all sorts of stuff down called gaffers tape. It's similar to the common cloth tape found in hardware stores. The difference is you can remove the tape even years later and it won't leave any residue. You have to order it as it is a specialty item not found in most hardware stores as far as I could find. It's a little pricey but a 1 in x 60 yds is about 13$ on amazon. I use it on my boys kite in select spots like the wing tips, nose, it comes in very handy. a roll that size is enough for a lifetime of kite use. Maybe covering the leech line with something before you put the tape over it would be a good idea. other tapes could probably be used but the results will vary off course.