Hi, I need a bladder for my Slingshot TD14. Im told slingshot dont have any in the country - and it doesnt sound like they plan to get any in the near future They do have generic bladders , but this apparently requires you to make the values in the bladder for the ONEPUMP connections to the struts - ( could this be true? ), and its priced at more than the TD14 bladder itself. ??!!??

So any one out there got any ideas of where i can get one?
any shops out there have one?

mate i helped out a mate with a new l/e 4wks ago we used ustick bladder and valves worked great , it looked to big ie. for a 18m but it fit into a 9m no worries . (one size fits all)just remember to work from the centre out.

slingshot need to sort this **** out . I have 2 kiters sitting in my shed .9mtr fuel and a 13mtr fuel , both kites have valves coming off of the leading edge. have tried the ustick system and cocked it up. costs more to fix than buy a new kite if you stuff it up like i did.
WHERE IS THE BACKUP
I WONT BUY ANOTHER SLINGY

quote:

---

Originally posted by jeff2

I have 2 kiters sitting in my shed .9mtr fuel and a 13mtr fuel
WHERE IS THE BACKUP
I WONT BUY ANOTHER SLINGY

---

What year model are they?

Have you contacted a slingshot dealer ?
If you had no succsess with the dealer have you contacted Slingshot Australia ?

I just fixed a mates slingy with stick ons worked great, my 05 outlet valve peeled off last week, fixed it with glue. I have now fixed all le and struts on my 5 ss kites, what a nightmare. I suggest you try offdalip.com for a bladder, maybe send them an email and talk to Jeff, he might be able to get a bladder in for you.

Bowski

Slingshot are aware of the problem and manufactured a few extra containersful of bladders to correct it. I got a whole new set of strut bladders for mine, but the LE valves didn't give out for about 6 months after that, at which time the dealer had no replacements. He could get one for me in time, but I didn't have any to spare.

Constantly on the move and heading off for a kiteboarding trip that weekend I decided to fix it myself. I grabbed some of those big grey patches that came with another kite, I don't know if they're meant to be bladder patches or kite patches, and some 'contact adhesive', like the rubber cement from bicycle tube patch kits. But a whole lot of it.

For each of the leading edge valves I cut a piece of the grey patch so that it would cover the entire valve and least an inch in every direction around it. I then roughed up the area of the bladder that was to be covered by the patch and applied the contact adhesive, as per a bicycle tyre repair. It made the bladder all wrinkly but that didn't seem to matter. I just made sure I had an even covering all around the valve.

I cut holes the size of the valve stem in each patch and applied it to the valve. I did this on a nice flat surface and took extra care that it bedded down nice and evenly and squashed any creases out of it (I wasn't 100% on this, a few still ended up but didn't effect the repair job). I then applied pressure for a short while as the glue was drying, but didn't bther let it get totally dry before putting it back in the kite and pumping up.

I found it a bit of a mission to get the bladder in straight, so don't go wasting cable ties until you know it's all in and aligned properly. To do this you'll need to pump it up, so just put the hoses back on (with the valves closed so that you don't have to pump much) and they will hold enough air for seeing that the bladder is in properly.

One time I mucked up, was getting tired, and just tried to twist the bladder inside the kite partially inflated. Not good, I pulled off one of my repair jobs by accident. Thankfully the glue was still tacky and I managed to pull the patch right off and put it back on properly to no ill effect.

This is a bit of a dodgy home job but it was cheap and it worked. Dealers may not advocate it since they don't sell any big ticket spare parts on the repair, but they've got to make a living and I don't hold it against them. Also the warranty bladders, they don't make any money off them so won't go out of their way to get them for you, but they were out there, a whole lot. I don't know if they still are, a lot of those kites are being retired now, but speak to your dealer like you know what you're talking about and they should be at least civil in return.

It worked for me, and means I can still fly my favourite kite. And I will be buying slingshot again because they are far and away have the best flying characteristics of any kite I've flown. They also have a bombproof construction, except for one glue recipe from one years model. Everyone makes mistakes, and they have admitted it and done their best to make amends.

Thanks for the suggestions,

My main problem is that the list price for a Slingshot TD14 LE bladder is $AU160. For the generic ustick bladder its $AU225.
The damage to my kite is going to cost 200 bucks to fix.
so Im looking at spending almost $500 bucks to fix my kite thats only 6 months old. so of course i want to save money where i can.

I dont think offering a more expensive alternative - which requires further work, and if you stick the value in the wrong place you comprimise the bladder is an acceptable solution.??

I really like my TD14, so its a pity, because its issues like this that further puts the nail in the coffin on my further business with SS.

no problem with the kite. its a great kite, and excellent build quality. the burst leading edge was totally my fault.
my gripe is that i cant seem to get a replacement bladder?