I've got a rip in my kite and need a patch done by a sail maker, and my usual place (John Hooper Sails) is not open until next week - they are great by the way, very quick, do a great job and not expensive.

This is kind of an emergency, and it happened at the worst possible time of the year. So, does anyone know any place that may be open this week around melbourne? I tried Horizon Sails (but they are closed).

Thanks a lot

it's about 4 inch long rip near then trailing edge. It just ripped when i was packing it up when i applied light preasure with my hand in that area... really weird... but i guess it happens when the kite wears out after excessive use. So the way i see it, is that they need to stitch in a decent patch (about 5 by 5 inch) over it (like that did when i had another similar rip). So not sure that i could really put anyhting temporary to fix it..

I have a similar problem, I'm going up to SHQ in Sandringham tomorrow. The rip is small near the leading edge. Does anyone know if SHQ repair jobs are any good? Maybe this place could be the go for you too superlizard?

superlizard said...

it's about 4 inch long rip near then trailing edge. It just ripped when i was packing it up when i applied light preasure with my hand in that area... really weird... but i guess it happens when the kite wears out after excessive use. So the way i see it, is that they need to stitch in a decent patch (about 5 by 5 inch) over it (like that did when i had another similar rip). So not sure that i could really put anyhting temporary to fix it..

4 inches is short enough for spinacker repair tape. Just put a layer of tape on the back and front. I have a 6 inch repair that has held up fine for the last couple of sessions.

thanks for the replies. I think spinnaker tape will be the go for this week, as there are way too many green arrows this week to miss it completely. Also my wife has a sawing machine, so maybe i try trick Cabstar. In the end, even the professional sail maker did the same thing, put some special patch, and sawn around it. I'm guessing that the only diff is that he uses special machine... and probably some glue too...

Just a heads up that this seems to be the week for pissy little tears in kites as i recently suffered from an ill-fated self launch and a badly placed sharp object on the beach.
After looking at the various options i ended up using a KiteFix kit (~$45) which uses a combination of some glue and mesh. The repair is absolutely faultless and is easily as strong as the undamaged material. The only negative i can say for it is that the white mesh that you cut to size to hold the rip together doesn't go as transparent as i was lead to believe.

Best bit is that the kit comes with bladder repair patches, self adhesive heavy duty material (for struts/LE), and enough of the glue/mesh to do ~4 feet of repairs; should you mess your kit up that much.

Same situation as you superlizard - had i not been in a hurry to get it fixed i probably would've taken it to a sailmaker, but now i've used this i'm actually very happy with the results.

FWIW i've no affiliation to any shop or brand - just rather happy with my first ever DIY repair.

just make sure you tape both sides, and round the corners of your tape when you put it on so there are no sharp corners for it to peel off easily

kitefix it is... going down to RPS or SHQ to look for it today...