Gear Maintenance

[MonkeyClicker]

Whats the best plan for maintaining equipment (bar/lines/kite)? When I first started and I would ditch my kite alot I would always set it up back at the house, hose it off, and let it dry overnight in the garage. I would then dunk my bar and lines in a bucket of fresh water.

I still rinse my bar and lines with my other salty equipment, but if I dont drop my kite I usually dont rinse it off. Is this bad?

I visually inspect my kite everytime I set it up. Is there any other preventative maintenance to do on the kite to prolong its life. Like spraying the pigtails with silicone or fabric softener to keep them from drying out?

Thanks for the help.

[bryanleighty]

i can tell you that if you fly in salt water you dont need to wash with fresh..

salt water covered kites will not get mildew. fresh water covered kites will.

i used to wash my kites every session until i read this fact and now (for the past year and half) never wash my kites..

kites would get a mildew smell after a while in my car.. since i dont wash them.. no more smell..

i do purposely set them down in the water on occasion to clean any muck off them.. some areas around here have more mud than sand.

if i kite at a sandy beach i try to shake off all the sand before packing up.

i dip my bar/lines in salt water after session.

so far so good..

some others might have pointers regarding line care.. mine have been fine w/ the above technique.. might be better ideas from others..

definitely investigate the pigtails/connectors/canopy and repair or replace as neccesary.

-bryan

[MonkeyClicker]

Bryan,

Thanks for the info. It never occured to me that a little salt would resist the mildewing. Good tip, thanks again.

Joe