REPAIR ANY KITE SURFING KITE
Kite fix / repair: Even the most durable equipment on the market can be damaged, whether it’s kites or boards. We have a lot of spares stocked in our shop for most brands, but often a professional repair is needed.
Our kite fix / repair service offers the highest quality and great attention to detail with a fast turnaround, all at a great price.
We pride ourselves in making the kite repairs very precise and accurate so that there is no effect on the kite flying characteristics and the repairs are hardly noticeable. The type and color of the material used in the repairs is matched to the original. If we feel the damage may be default and require a warranty claim we can provide details for this as well.
This table shows approximate costs for repairs, please contact us for more accurate quotes and if emailing please include a photo of the damage.
Not able to deliver the kite to our shop! No problem fill out the repair form and we will arrange the pickup with our courier from any location in the UAE.
| Type of repair | Estimated cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kitesurfing Kite Bladder Slow Puncture | 300 AED | These are notoriously hard to quote for as can be quick and easy but equally slow and difficult. We’ll do our best to keep costs down and repair rather than replace where possible. |
| Kitesurfing Kite Leaking Valves Replacement | 150 AED/ valve | Usually, if one valve starts to leak all other valves will start leaking soon (Domino effect) never leave your kite inside the car under the sun (even for 1 hour) |
| Kitesurfing Kite Bladder Replacement | 250 AED | |
| Kitesurfing Kite Leading-edge blowout | 300 AED | |
| kitesurfing kite Tear to the canopy | 100 – 600 AED | The size of the kite has an implication on the price and the way the canopy is attached to the struts & leading edge |
| kitesurfing kite’s Bridle repair/replacement | 100 AED | We can produce any bridle parts to replace worn sections. A whole new bridle replacement isn’t necessary. |
| Replace lines | 150 AED |
Here Below a detailed explanation of the kite repairs based on the type of the damage
kite bladder valve repairs
Valve repairs are quite tricky and usually have a domino effect as all the valves are subject to the same amount of heat in the kite bag, on the beach or if left inside the car, this causes the glue to lose its adhesive ability and start to detach from the kite bladder (sometimes this issue happens a lot with kites older than 5 years) or sometimes the valves tens to change color and this is an indication the valves will get broken soon and this case the best solution will be by replacing the whole set of the bladders of the kite.
In many climates such as Dubai, the issue related to leaking valves is a common problem and we get a lot of these repairs during summer due to the temperatures experienced throughout the summer days and especially in case you leave your kite surfing equipment inside the car under the sun having in mind an after-work kite surfing session, this can be very harmful to your kite valves and tubes.
The procedure followed is that the valves are removed from the kite body carefully (if they were not already detached completely ) and precisely through a heat process to avoid any damage to the bladder. The bladder is then laid out on a flat surface and an alcohol swab is used to remove any excess glue or dirt, the glue should be removed 100%. The kite valves are glued back by using special aqua seal glue. Sometimes it’s not possible to reuse the same valve and in that case, it’s required to use a new valve if the valve is beyond fixing and is being replaced the valve comes with its own adhesive glue already attached to the seal and is just put onto the kite. For all valve repairs once complete it is left for at least 24 hours to dry and seal correctly and then pumped and left for another 24 hours to evaluate the repair.
Kite bladder repair
A bladder replacement is a difficult process and usually is easier with 2 pairs of hands. Bladder repairs sometimes are possible however in some cases it is best to replace the bladder in case the whole is bigger than 10 cm in length or the damage happened very close to the edge of the bladder.
In case the kite bladder is leaking slowly and this is every kite surfer’s nightmare and this might happen due to 3 different reasons:
Leaking kite valves: sometimes the kite starts leaking slowly from the valves because of the glue that started to lose its adhesive ability and in this case not always does the valves get detached completely from the kite and the air find its way out through the glue following a tiny canal between the inside and the outside of the bladder and this is usually the main reason for a slowly leaking kite especially if the kite is a bit old. Repairing this problem requires getting the valve completely detached through a heat process and blue back the valve on the kite bladder.
Tiny holes on the bladder or on the struts: This can happen if the kite is landed on the beach of very tiny thing like a shared corner of a shell or sometimes if the kite gets dragged on the sand or even on the rocks and it might happen if it gets dropped on a bush.
When checking for any punctures in the bladder it is first removed from the leading edge, it gets pumped and checked for leakage either through water and soap or by putting the bladder underwater (this procedure is more reliable, especially in case of very tiny holes) remember that’s almost impossible to see it with your eyes if the bladder doesn’t get pumped and especially in case of one hole only.
We start by opening the wingtips on both ends of the kite and pulling out the end of the bladder and attaching a line to the end so that we may use this line to pull it back through the kite. All pump systems and inflate deflate valves are either released or pushed into the kite. Once the bladder is out it is pumped up so that we identify the area of the puncture. Once found the bladder is dried off and a bladder patch is put on it. When putting the bladder back into the leading edge it is very important to make sure that the valve holes on the new or repaired bladder line up with the holes on the leading edge. Once put back in all valves are reattached to the kite and the wingtips are closed securely making sure the wingtips are closed securely.
Leaking tubes: The black tubes connecting the main leading edge to the struts after some years of usage, especially in the warmer weather countries start to get damaged and they start leaking and sometimes they get completely broken. Between the above 3 cases, the leaking tubes connecting the leading edge and the struts is the easiest to fix as all you have to do is to replace them with new ones and we do have plenty of them available in our Shop provided by Dr. Tuba
Canopy stitching
Depending on the severity of the damage the kite canopy is either patched or stitched with a replacement panel matching or similar in color to the Dacron tape is used. A UV-resistant thread is used when stitching the canopy as this is like the thread used in the manufacturing of the kite. Sail tape is used to align the seams of the damage on either side and a sewing machine is used to stitch it with an identical stitch pattern to that of the kite. When using a patch depending on where the cut is when repairing a canopy, sail tape is used and this is can be a temporary solution for when on vacation and you don’t have any other choice or the cut is very small less than 0.5 cm then it better not to stitch it and to stick to a patch by Dr. Tuba. Usually in this case need to swab with alcohol the area around the cut as it needs to be cleaned from dirt and salt or else this might cause the patch not to stick to the kite canopy. We do recommend sticking the patch on both sides of the canopy for maximum resistance and then you are ready to go.
Leading Edge stitching
The stitching on the kite leading is more complicated than the embroidery of the kite canopy for the simple reason that any repair on the kite leading edge no matter how small is the cut requires the opening of the main embroidery on the leading edge as for sure it can’t be repaired while the bladder is inside.
After the opening of the leading edge the damage is fixed with Dacron tape on both sides of the leading edge (Inside and outside) then we stitch them together, after that we stitch back the leading edge. Sometimes some cuts on the canopy require even the opening of the leading edge if a small part of the canopy torn from the leading edge and stitching it back to the leading can’t be done with a bladder inside.
Another problem related to leading-edge is the issue related to the leading edge original embroidery, in case you see the kite leading edge embroidery getting lose like in the below picture then it’s better to avoid using the kite or pump the kite as this might create damage even for the bladder inside and over-inflating the kite might cause the bladder to explode causing even the leading edge to explode too.
In all cases, we recommend that you drop your kite at our kitesurf shop in Dubai for a check to determine what’s the issue and what’s the best way to fix it.
