Garage Works - 5/16/2025

I was going to parawing this afternoon - but I figured I should get some yard work done first (which would give me an excuse to "rinse off").

I got the yard work completed (and actually a bunch of it) - but then it started to rain hard.  The wind was also gusty and shifting - I figured I should stay back today, get some more rest in and get some progress on the projects I have in the garage.

First up was inspecting the wing I got Brenda to fix.  You can see the dacron patch on the leading edge.  This is where the rear stabilizer brushed up against the wing yesterday. 

I also spent some time filling and sanding said stabilizer - it's better than new now.  I am going to give the SK8 750 another shot when the wind comes back next week.  I think I need to bring it back in the tracks a 1/4" and then it might be dialed in and I can really do a comparison against the AFS foils.

I sanded all 5 areas on Bill's board.  I also trimmed the carbon patch for the underside ding.

I got more fill on the repair, and then laminated the carbon patch under peelply.

Then I went ahead and got another fill slurry on the top deck dings.  I'll sand these tomorrow and get the carbon patches on.

I may also be able to get the pigmented fill coat on tomorrow as well.

And lastly - this came in the mail today.... the Team sticker for 2025!

Fun times!!!

Garage Works - 11/2/2024

Here is the Ezzy all repaired (thanks La!!!)

That was fixed yesterday.

Today I reminded Marlon the Takuma foils are his now.  To make me feel better about him taking these out and using them without me around, I rounded off the shark teeth winglets.  I should have done this when I got these foils - now they are less likely to cut...

And I showed him how to set up the foil on the board - including the foil angle of incidence.

Then I went ahead and prepared the crushed wingtip on the SK8 950 for the carbon patch lamination.

I'll start laminating the different layers on to the wing tip tomorrow (when I also place epoxy into the longboard I'm fixing for Greg).

I don't mind doing this for other people - but I get frustrated when I have to do it on my own foils.

Garage Works - 11/9/2023

Last time I was winging with the 4.7, I noticed a bleed through of air coming from the center strut.  I figured I should fix that (since I may be using this wing tomorrow).

This center strut bladder was pretty challenging to pull out from the housing. 

I found the pin hole.  I have no idea where this would have come from.

I got it patched up and I got the bladder back inside the strut housing.  Getting the two valves to sit properly really sucked.  I had to inflate/deflate about six times to get the bladder to stop twisting.

Now I'm pressure testing the wing.

I'll let it sit until morning.

Garage Works - 6/25/2023

Tim asked if he could come over so I could fix his Ensis V2 6.0

There was a relatively small tear on the leading edge and the bladder was leaking air.

We pulled the bladder, patched that up, and then patched the leading edge.

The repair came out pretty good - looked nice and tight and held air under pressure without herniating.

He also bought the two Takuma RS wings that I had.

Patching Wings

Tim pulled his 6.0 wing across an aluminum sign yesterday.  Roland likely landed his foil through his wing.

Today I helped patch both their wings.  Here's Roland's 3.6 Spin ready to go!

Fixing Roland's Wing

La was in a sewing mood yesterday - so I passed on a prone foiling session to help fix Roland's 4.5 wing.  Here is the rip all taped up.

Knocking it out!

And here it is all done!

Wing Repairs (again)

La and I got our order from Sailrite in today.  Inside there was a roll of ripstop tape - just what I needed to repair the rip I put in my Ensis 5.2 wing.  

Round those edges to prevent lifting of the repair tape.

Taped up both sides longitudinal along the rip.

Tomorrow La will sew this and four of the leading edges seams that have started to wear (wings definitely lead harder lives than kites do).

The winds return on Thursday - repairs done just in time!!!

Licking Wounds - NL160

And here's one of the aforementioned projects - addressing the reef hits on the NL160.

I sanded the hits (two - one on each side) down and had already sprayed primer/filler on to the damaged spots after taping them off.  And this morning I went ahead and wet sanded the excess primer/filler off.

Tomorrow I'll spray blue paint on, let it dry, sand to 1500, clean, spray gloss, sand then wax the wing. 

Repairing Ripped Wing

So this was the aftermath of the paddling out session today - a tall 'S' rip and a single 1" poke.

I got home and watched several youtube videos - then La broke out the ripstop sail repair tape.  I cleaned the surrounding area with alcohol, let dry and applied the repair tape.  Good as new!

This wing is certainly going through the ringer...