Its not really all that hard, especially if you've already found the leaks. It is a fair bit of screwing around so it just depends what your time is worth to you. I'd do it myself the first time just so you know how to do it. That way if you're on a holiday or something you can sort it yourself. You could also pay someone and have them show you how it's done.

Kevin Toomey said...

Hey,

I have an old 2008 North Rebel 12m. that has a pin hole quite close to the seam of the bladder and dump valve.

I also have a 2010 North Rebel 9m, That has a pin hole located in a similar position but not near a valve, just on the leading edge bladder.

Just wondering how easy/difficult it is to remove/insert the bladder.
I havent ever had to carry out any repairs to date. just having an unlucky period over the last month.

Once the bladder is removed how difficult is the repair process???
Is this work I should consider doing myself or should i get them fixed at a shop???

Thanks for any advice. Greatly appreciated

They are both dead easy fixes. Both can be fixed with the repair patches that came with the kite or you can purchase some "tear Aid" here
http://www.kitepower.com.au/cart.php?target=product&product_id=17085&substring=Tear+aid

You should not need to remove the whole bladder. Mark the orientation of the valves to the bladder with a pen of some sort, then push the valves into the kite and pull the bladder out from the velcro or zip opening in the centre of the kite, pull enough bladder out so that you can apply some of the patches to the holes, apply the patches and push the bladder back inside the leading edge, refit the valves and test inflate. Inflate to 50% pressure first and make sure the bladder is sitting correctly inside the LE, the fully inflate and test to see if you got the holes patched, by spraying the LE with a mix of water and dishwashing detergent.