Ahh the dreaded never ending valve peeling and 'what glue' saga!
I've been repairing valves and bladders on and off for about 5 years now, and to my surprise, the thing that worked the best is how you prepare the surface and apply the glue to the valve, and then HOW you apply it to the bladder. It's not so much what you use, it's how you use it.
To be honest, I run a repair business so I won't give away my secrets, but I did learn them over the years from a lot of trial and error. The one thing to keep in mind is that applying pressure to a bladder at around 5 to 8 psi, is a LOT of pressure. Think of inflating a bicycle tube. Imagine the pounds per sq inch on road tyres up around 120psi!! The forces are huge. So with that in mind, you will soon appreciate the repair job has to be done right from the beginning.
One other tip: never EVER leave your kites in the boot of the car. Put them in the back seat with your air con on, especially now that we're into summer. Heat is a killer for valves and glues.
No need to hop on the internet and boast about your superior secret process. The glue is Tarzans Grip , the prep is acetone. And no not any glue will work there is a heap of glues that dont, I tried them. The easiest way I found to attach them was a small 3mm bead even around the valve then straight on. The glue stays wet for a little while like this so wrinkles can be pull out or bubbles massaged. I then used weighted clamps made out of pieces of 5mm flat wood, another with a hole cut to fit around the valve, a large socket to spread the load and some bricks for weight. You can basically make do with what ever you can find or make to fit over it. If you have balls in the valve you can jam them into the bladder side of the neck so they dont get in the way.
Isn't the internet a horrible place for businesses and their secret processes.
