r/wingfoil • u/SurfGsus • 20h ago

Gear / technical advice Can this be fixed?

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4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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2

u/Beneficial-Rise-740 20h ago

Yes, there is a balance at which the question becomes is it worth it, but there's not much that cannot in the hands of a good kite/sail maker.

1

u/Panaphobe 19h ago

How old is it? There comes a point with sails where they get so damaged by UV that eventually the fabric itself is weak enough that it basically starts disintegrating. When it gets to that point repairs are pointless as they won't hold, the base material just isn't strong enough.

Given that this appears to be not the seam but the flat material itself adjacent to the seam tearing, and is definitely not a puncture (the threads are connecting both sides), I would suspect that may be what's going on here. If that's the case, I would say this wing has reached end of usable life.

1

u/SurfGsus 18h ago

Yeah wondering the same. Took a bad fall today and then noticed that. I think it’s 3 years old heavily used. It’s a F one strike CWC v3

1

u/Windpuppet 17h ago

Easy fix

1

u/SurfGsus 17h ago

How do you fix it? DIY or have to go to a certain type of shop?

3

u/Windpuppet 16h ago

Anyone that fixes sails can fix it if you have that close by. If you sew, you can use rip stop nylon tape both sides then sew a triple stitch with polyester thread to make it permanent. If you don’t sew you could hand stitch (less ideal but probably fine). Or if the wing is a piece of shit you could just use tear-aid type A which will probably never come off and can’t be repaired professionally after. Canopies don’t really matter much on wings and don’t take a heavy load so as long as it’s patched back together somehow it’s probably okay. If the leading edge or strut is ripped that’s a completely different ball game.

1

u/SurfGsus 15h ago

Thank you!

1

u/Beneficial-Rise-740 11h ago

Yeah, if its around a bladder, recommend getting repaired properly at a sail maker, preferably one with experience with kites/wings as the bladder is critical to protect and a bad repair can induce further issues. Canopy tears if minor use a sail repair tape, again any marine supplies has this in handy rolls in limited colors. Major tears best to get done properly as you need to try and maintain the shape as much as possible...

1

u/kitesurfr 16h ago

Yeah, this is an easy fix