Broken spreader bar !

Rigging kite and spreader bar drops down ? Oops forgot to tighten I think, but look down and see the bar has broken at one end ( see pic ). Appears to have corroded and decided to break, at least I was only setting up !

The welds may have been faulty from new and allowed corrosion to start off, it appears to have crystalised metal at breaking points, both sides gave way, the harness straps cover the weld points.

Less than one year old (dakine)

Check your bar, a bar self examination ?

Take it back to where you bought it, I'm sure they will replace it, if they don't send me a PM I have a few spare ones. That break is unusual, but I have seen a few break at the hook.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

Steve, thanks for the offer

Rescueme, thanks for the tech advice, I suspect you are spot on, is it worth welding up ?

And now for the less than technical response........

Dodgy shorts mate

TA-DA

yeh ive had that exact thing happen to my old 09!! cabrinha harness except the actual spreder bar snapped in half (the shaft). i snapped mid kiteloop and wasnt a nice landing.

Surfer62 said...

Steve, thanks for the offer

Rescueme, thanks for the tech advice, I suspect you are spot on, is it worth welding up ?

Prob not as Shane71 said as you will have the same problem. Theoretically you could repair with an alloy with higher pitting resistance e.g. SMO254 or a duplex, and also apply some PWHT (post weld heat treatment) to reduce any residual stresses, then you'd probably be OK for a bit, but it might just then fail in a different area. Coating the area would also solve the problem, prevent the seawater getting in contact with the metal surface, but coatings are **** and would probably just get scratched off.

The other failure mechanism I though to could be fatigue from cyclic stress, as the tension in the lines is always changing and this would change the transmitted stress in the spreader bar. Corrosion environments from seawater simply increases susceptibility to fatigue.

Also cracking normally initiates at a small defect (e.g. a scratch or nick), a highly polished surface could slow crack initiation too.