Forums > Kitesurfing General

Hard to find leak

Reply
Created by patronus 6 months ago, 20 May 2025
patronus
478 posts
20 May 2025 5:52AM
Thumbs Up

Got two leaks in a bladder located from bubbles through strut material when inflated to full pressure. When bladder was submerged in bath I found and repaired one hole which strangely only sometimes bubbled, I cannot find the second and is almost like it only leaks when in the strut at hgh pressure. Any ideas on how to find the second hole?

Froth Goth
1223 posts
20 May 2025 7:00AM
Thumbs Up

bladder in the bucket of water trick is ****ing retarded

just pump the kite rock hard and spray detergent water all over the thing youll see bubbles pissing out then remove the bladder and again pump hard and spray with detergent water again bubbles absolutely going mental pissing out get a marker mark around the area wipe all **** off stick a bitta bladder patch on it pump hard again spray it all again with detergent no bubbles no problem

jamming the bladder into a bucket trick was 2005 crap when stuck on an island weve had detergent for ahwhile now

you need HIGH PSI to detect leaks and having to try fit rigid bladders into vessels of water is nearly impossible so you make it low PSI to let it bend thus defeating purpose of the hole detection.

anyways enjoy not ever having to fill a ****n bathtub again for ya kite and you can literally carry a little spray bottle of soapy water with you kiteing and fix it on the beach/carpark next time or fix someone elses.

i personally would fix the kites in middle of a carpeted store wouldnt even get the carpet wet.

bathtubs are for lemon jelly not for kites

patronus
478 posts
20 May 2025 12:28PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
Froth Goth said..
bladder in the bucket of water trick is ****ing retarded

just pump the kite rock hard and spray detergent water all over the thing youll see bubbles pissing out then remove the bladder and again pump hard and spray with detergent water again bubbles absolutely going mental pissing out get a marker mark around the area wipe all **** off stick a bitta bladder patch on it pump hard again spray it all again with detergent no bubbles no problem

jamming the bladder into a bucket trick was 2005 crap when stuck on an island weve had detergent for ahwhile now

you need HIGH PSI to detect leaks and having to try fit rigid bladders into vessels of water is nearly impossible so you make it low PSI to let it bend thus defeating purpose of the hole detection.

anyways enjoy not ever having to fill a ****n bathtub again for ya kite and you can literally carry a little spray bottle of soapy water with you kiteing and fix it on the beach/carpark next time or fix someone elses.

i personally would fix the kites in middle of a carpeted store wouldnt even get the carpet wet.

bathtubs are for lemon jelly not for kites


Wont pumping bladder hard outside of strut explode?

Froth Goth
1223 posts
20 May 2025 2:39PM
Thumbs Up

i could say absolutely not....

but rather then doing so ....im curious ....

how you believe they do it in the factory ?



for a concreter who never got his pen pass like me its kind of insane that you would ask this because i have alot of experience in tons and tonnes of mass trying to find its way out of the weakest point normally something the new guy formed up.

same goes with kites the canopy is trying to HOLD all that pressure in if its PARTIALLY open then 100% that pressure will all try to escape from that one weak point blowing out the glorified condom that is a kite bladder


remove the kite canopy from the situation and your left with a ENTIRE FREE AS A VANLIFER PISSING IN YOUR DRIVEWAY bladder all on its ownsome nothing trying to HOLD that bladder in therefore no weak place to run to. it just evenly expands all the way around thus revealing..... that little ****n ghost leak thats been plaguing you.

im just trying to imagine a world where they didnt inflate every single bladder before jamming it into a kite. what a monumental ****around as far as factory line productivity.

as an aside stitching itself can be pretty sharp i learnt how to do my own stitches from the age of 8 i had already been takeing my own stitches out by time i was 6 tho alcoholic illiterates on a farm with a pet crocodile and all that jazz

anyways good luck with the bathtubs matey


oh and its always really fun discovering just how god damn big a leading edge is when you pump it up sans kite for the first time. attach ya hoses and lock em all off and expect it to be like 20 meters long like cartoonishly long without the kites canopy holding it it gets reeeeeaaaaalllllyyy big

like filing up a condom with water big so just be aware of that as it may push itself into sharp objects

?si=K66PlhsXMAQ3H_W9&t=457


i used to charge 80$ STRAIGHT UP if i needed to pull a leading edge bladder from a kite. not cause pulling it out and finding the holes and repairing them was hard but because it was such a **** around getting it back in properly and all lined up. i developed a few llittle trade secrets over the years to make the process almost fool proof but i still have nightmares of octopus valves

i actually disagree with some the stuff in the cab video mostly that i pump the bladders HARD when outside of the kite its not my kite and time is money this speeds up finding the stupid leak way easier so dunking isnt even possible or necesary also i spray a literal ****tonne of soapy water like im trying to windowtint a bottle of whisky in darwin but i do it all in a envirnment i have ensured poses no hazard to the bladder so no sharp things / plenty of room etc

anyways just google XXXXXXXX brand bladder repair every companys got its own video some of them like to add or take away bull**** in interest of trying to seem unique or better but reality is its a ****n balloon a very strong balloon if our parents wore one we wouldnt be here

timmybuddhadude
WA, 862 posts
21 May 2025 8:32PM
Thumbs Up

Nothing wrong with bucket... was using buckets baths pre 2012 and still do even without detergent ..

Yes it can explode outside of canopy

I had a kite once that kept having a leak only on #one# strut on big gusts...took me a while to figure it out ... Diameter of that hose was v slightly too big . It only leaked on mega-gusts&only one one strut!
.
You'll figure it out just do it over and over again (obviously at high pressure)

timmybuddhadude
WA, 862 posts
21 May 2025 8:42PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
Froth Goth said..
bladder in the bucket of water trick is ****ing retarded

just pump the kite rock hard and spray detergent water all over the thing youll see bubbles pissing out then remove the bladder and again pump hard and spray with detergent water again bubbles absolutely going mental pissing out get a marker mark around the area wipe all **** off stick a bitta bladder patch on it pump hard again spray it all again with detergent no bubbles no problem

jamming the bladder into a bucket trick was 2005 crap when stuck on an island weve had detergent for ahwhile now

you need HIGH PSI to detect leaks and having to try fit rigid bladders into vessels of water is nearly impossible so you make it low PSI to let it bend thus defeating purpose of the hole detection.

anyways enjoy not ever having to fill a ****n bathtub again for ya kite and you can literally carry a little spray bottle of soapy water with you kiteing and fix it on the beach/carpark next time or fix someone elses.

i personally would fix the kites in middle of a carpeted store wouldnt even get the carpet wet.

bathtubs are for lemon jelly not for kites



Since when did U become my 'brethren'' ??!

?si=d_inh_uBeZ3XMRBa

..nice weather for ducks!!

Froth Goth
1223 posts
22 May 2025 6:02AM
Thumbs Up

Hahahaha matey i started that journey when my mates hipp? sister gave me a mix cd that had rambln man on it and also the orbs fluffy clouds iw 15 and was gearing up for some lantana clearing at my first doof jumped onto oztrance.com afte that and. Yeah

Still see paul abad around every now and then and no idea how but also psymon

25 yea?s ago and still ramblin man gets a spin

matey im amazed you havent read my rants about building prisons and only drug i could be on was lsd otherwise the dogs sniff ya so i ended up nearly going full wook met bear the band manager for the grateful dead and went to a rainbow family gathering out near where he lived at the walsh etc

RAL INN
SA, 2895 posts
22 May 2025 8:48AM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
nothing wrong with the Allman brothers.
as for leak. Make sure you also check inside of strut for pesky spike things. Sometimes the spikey stuff that caused the puncture is still there. So you repair it only for it to puncture again.

Select to expand quote


Froth Goth said..

Hahahaha matey i started that journey when my mates hipp? sister gave me a mix cd that had rambln man on it and also the orbs fluffy clouds iw 15 and was gearing up for some lantana clearing at my first doof jumped onto oztrance.com afte that and. Yeah

Still see paul abad around every now and then and no idea how but also psymon

25 yea?s ago and still ramblin man gets a spin

matey im amazed you havent read my rants about building prisons and only drug i could be on was lsd otherwise the dogs sniff ya so i ended up nearly going full wook met bear the band manager for the grateful dead and went to a rainbow family gathering out near where he lived at the walsh etc

patronus
478 posts
22 May 2025 11:20AM
Thumbs Up

Found the ' ghost hole' by inflating bladder ouside strut to high pressure I felt safe wouldn't blister, I couldn't wrestle it into bath. Found 14 tiny marks with a magnifying glass, the ran eye close eack one and felt air on last one. Checke with detergent snd bubble grew slowly.

timmybuddhadude
WA, 862 posts
22 May 2025 3:36PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
Froth Goth said..
orbs fluffy clouds


Little fluffy clouds !! Haha timeless

timmybuddhadude
WA, 862 posts
22 May 2025 3:39PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
Froth Goth said..
orbs fluffy clouds



Little fluffy clouds !! Haha timeless

Select to expand quote
patronus said..
Found the ' ghost hole' by inflating bladder ouside strut to high pressure I felt safe wouldn't blister, I couldn't wrestle it into bath. Found 14 tiny marks with a magnifying glass, the ran eye close eack one and felt air on last one. Checke with detergent snd bubble grew slowly.




Ghost holes !
Ha ..brilliant!
Perseverance is the key you'll be three 3m out on that thing in no time !!
Congrats!!

Froth Goth
1223 posts
23 May 2025 4:56AM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
patronus said..
Found the ' ghost hole' by inflating bladder ouside strut to high pressure I felt safe wouldn't blister, I couldn't wrestle it into bath. Found 14 tiny marks with a magnifying glass, the ran eye close eack one and felt air on last one. Checke with detergent snd bubble grew slowly.


so your saying this ranting mad prick on seabreeze somehow knew what he was on about ay?

mate you should hear my story about diagnoseing a SABOTAGE at a redbull even it was believed that someone had poked hundreds of little holes in a competitors kite!! with a tiny needle!! would you believe

and they all believed it was my friend who did it and he swore it wasnt him so it was upto me to solve this mystery

turns out! if you get excited and spray a can of redbull everywhere like its a bottle of champagne at the grand prix 2 things happens

you realise it aint that fizzy

2 it goes everywhere includieng onto nearby kites


did the redbull melt the bladder?? no

but ants ****ing love suger especially ants in 3rd world countrys and these little ****ers went to town on that redbull sparkled kite and ate all those little holes in his bladder

now i KNOW i KNOW how to check for holes now

but does OP now KNOW ???

next time op just follow this method

pump kite mega hard as would clip off all struts spray all valves with soapy water

then also spray all struts and leading edge take note of all holes etc then pull leading edge HALF WAY or as little as possible if you can as for struts pretty easy to just full remove those and re install pump again once fully out pretty hard you can kinda tell when theyre nearing theyre limit

but yeah thats the most efficient way if i gotto pull a full leading edge 80 bucks in the hand before i do it struts ill just do for a couple beers and a joint or something who cares

anyways glad its all solved just be aware ghost holes are fun whats normally occuring with them is the holes on the other side/another section but it the AIR thats escaping from that weak point giving the illusion that thats where the hole is but the airs actually traveling from elsewhere

thats another reason why leading edges are a nuisance

NorthernKitesAUS
QLD, 1081 posts
23 May 2025 12:13PM
Thumbs Up

jfc this thread has gone off the rails now.

OP - do not take advice from the one with the rabies

Froth Goth
1223 posts
23 May 2025 8:49PM
Thumbs Up

your just upset cause its that time of the year where theres actually wind in townsville so you got no excuse to be under a doonah

timmybuddhadude
WA, 862 posts
24 May 2025 6:24PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
Froth Goth said..
your just upset cause its that time of the year where theres actually wind in townsville so you got no excuse to be under a doonah


...I'm just upset because I can't find my Lemmon jelly cd and that two people on my hammock broke it ...so I had to get another one

Froth Goth
1223 posts
25 May 2025 6:01AM
Thumbs Up

hahahaha hammocks were populated by the record industry to boost sails



Subscribe
Reply

Forums > Kitesurfing General


"Hard to find leak" started by patronus