How to seal your own kite bladders
April 10, 2003
Bladder Repair – An Easy Way
Herewith a more domestic type of approach… (Compliments of the Doc - Cape Dr.)
If your bladder has separated at the edges for some silly reason, and all you need to do is melt the plastic to close the hole, then this is what you do – if you don’t have a plastic sealer.
Take a thick glossy kite magazine (it has to be a kiting mag, or else it will not work), and make a fold in the cover page - as shown in the picture below.
Place the unhappy bladder on the fold of the mag.
Close the mag over the bladder-end.
Nosy dog coming to see if all is still in order.
Take a medium hot iron and iron (+/- 1cm) the edge of the folded page. If your iron is too hot, the plastic will melt in with the page, and you don’t want that either, so be carefull!
Open the page and have a look to see if the edge of the bladder is sealed properly.
Inflate bladder to confirm a successful attempt of sealing your bladder.
Viola!!! a happy bladder makes a happy kiter.
