The other day I noticed the kite keeps losing air during the session.

I did isolate the struts and it is the leading edge bladder.

So I went through the usual troubleshooting, spraying the kite with soapwater and looking for the bubbles, then pulled out the bladder and dunked it in water, which is not that easy because I didn't manage to completely seal the strut valves.

For the life of me, I can't find the bloody hole.

Any ideas what I can do? Kite is from 2010 so I suppose it may be fatigue, but the bladder is in good condition otherwise.

Cheers.

When you remove the LE bladder lay it on top of the kite and reattach the strut valves to get a good seal. For difficult holes I have had success with pumping up the bladder pretty hard and then hover a wet hand over the bladder. You would be surprised how sensitive it is to the rush of air. It can take some time to cover the whole bladder so a cold beer is sometimes useful to keep your hand wet
Also the most common place for the holes is usually the part that is in contact with the ground when you are launching. Cut your patches into a circle so there are no corners to catch.
Good luck.

Gilly3 said..
Maybe it's not a hole?

Try checking the rubber seal under the deflate valve....take it right off and clean it thoroughly or replace if required....

Make sure there is no sand in there either....

Thanks Gilly3. I did notice a bit of sand buildup in there, so got rid of that.

Oh buddy... that's a confession you want to make to your prospective girlfriend on the first date. Not on a public forum.

2stubbon2quit said..
Oh buddy... that's a confession you want to make to your prospective girlfriend on the first date. Not on a public forum.

:)) I was waiting for someone to say that finally :))

Another good trick is to fill your bladder up with gas from your bbq bottle, then run a lit match along the bladder till you see the flame get a bit bigger.

lotofwind said..
Another good trick is to fill your bladder up with gas from your bbq bottle, then run a lit match along the bladder till you see the flame get a bit bigger.

If we use hydrogen...... light wind kiting could get lighter and hindenburg'ing could be more meaningful.

Here's something to check. I have experienced this from time to time.
Recently I had a chat to the guys at Fixmykite when seeking replacement parts and they also confirmed that it can be a "batch" issue from the manufacturer. Seems that the valve material can be too stiff (?) between production runs. Not too common, but can happen.
BTW - I had great service from the guys at Fixmykite.com.au (I am not affiliated, just a happy customer!).

OK - here's my experience.
Whenever I hear the hiss of re-balancing pressure between bladders as I release the valve tube locks after a session, I always check this.
On my particular brand of kite, the strut valves have a 90 degree "elbow" and are made of the usual translucent rubbery plastic and are seated in a plastic "shroud" or "keeper" - effectively the strut valve is encased and you can't see the valve itself unless you disassemble the shroud and the connecting tubes.

As I have found, the valve "elbows" may fatigue and develop micro fissures/cracks that are obscured by the connecting tubes and/or plastic "shrouds" that supports the valve stem. These fissures/cracks (depending upon how advanced they are) seem to hold the pressure if the kite is left on the beach (immobile) , but over the course of a session and depending upon conditions, the fissures release small amounts of pressure and you end up with inconsistent levels of deflation each time.

This drives you nuts because you'll check your kite in the back yard, leave it for two hours and all is well, but after a windy session, the struts are out of balance.

Sometimes the fissures are not immediately apparent. Need to wiggle the valve in every direction to see them. On the brand of kite I use, the fissures look like the cracks in plastic/perspex glassware after it has had too many visits to the dishwasher........... the fissures are usually in the crook of the elbow due to the valve being pushed back on itself, I guess ........ (however the hell that happens??).

Sticky valve replacement has fixed the issue.

Hope this at least eliminates one possibility.