You could say that the kitefoiling fever got us pretty much. We love it, just like our home spot the Neusiedlersee. The lake has a fine standing area and is very shallow everywhere (especially when there has been hardly any rainfall, as it is now). Has its advantages, but not for foiling.
That is why we often have to deal with the subject of "How do I repair my foil". Mostly you are on a 60cm mast and even then it sometimes happens, especially in the lowest wind range, that your foil or wing kisses the ground.
Therefore: Tips and tricks for repairing KIitefoil at home.
Care for your hydrofoil
Protect your foil. You will feel even the smallest cuts and damage to the wing or mast. At first the foil will slide noticeably worse and when the damage gets bigger you will also hear a “singing” of the wing and feel vibrations. Sometimes you get foils delivered "singing", that is another topic.
Therefore always use the enclosed protective covers, especially when transporting. Even if you have your foil on the beach, we advise you to use the protective cover.
We recommend coating the screws of the mast, fuselage, front and back wing with a copper paste and replacing them again and again (if you don't screw the foil apart regularly). Durch das Salzwasser und Korrosion passiert es sonst sehr schnell, dass sie sich nicht mehr lösen lassen. Auch wir mussten schon mal mit der Bohrmaschine ran.
We have had good experience with the copper paste from “Nigrin”. You can actually find it in every well-stocked specialist shop.
Your wing has a cut?
To repair small cuts on the foil wing, you will need the following utensils:
- 200-1000 grit sandpaper
- small spatula
- duct tape
- HG weld from the bottle
- Alcohol or nitro thinner
We tried all 4 products and glue in the photo. We now only use one and that is the weld from the bottle . Why? Because it can be processed extremely quickly. It is a really great product that we have always used in our repair bag on vacation for a year and have used it very often. It doesn't matter whether the window seal suddenly hangs off in the middle of the autobahn, the pump hose has been torn off or the surfboard has got a hole. You can fix almost anything with it.
We bought the weld seam from the bottle last summer at Upsidedown for € 17,-.
Here you can find this magic product .
That's how it's done
Clean the wing with alcohol or nitro thinner. Then you can make a kind of shape with adhesive tape at the area to be worked on. You have 2 vials. One is a granulate, with which you can fill larger cuts and restore missing parts of the wing. As soon as you add the hardener, the material becomes solid and after just a minute it can be processed and sanded. That is the big advantage. You don't have to let it cure for 24 hours as with the UHU Plus 2K adhesive. In the event of major damage, you can apply the second layer or start sanding straight away.
Depending on how much material you have applied, use different grit sandpaper. You can get that at the hardware store. It is important to sand the whole thing wet. This gives you a better grinding effect and doesn't breathe in the dust. The best way to finish is with 1000 grit sandpaper.
Et voila - done! You will feel a big difference!
In and of itself you have to say goodbye to the idea that this will last forever. No adhesive can replace carbon composite and the next time you touch it, there is a high probability that part of the repair will break off again. Especially on the wing tips.
Aber jetzt weißt du ja wies geht und kannst es echt schnell reparieren 🙂 Wenn du Fragen hast schreib uns!
