Help: wing canopy tear and repair

Sail maker/Sail repairer ?

That is what I used.

Done the same thing give your location and some one will put you in touch with a good sail maker if in Sydney Neil from Barracouta does a very good job.

Thanks all.. err location is Estonia.
Anyone have experience with PSP spinaker tape? Or Dr Tuba (Doc Tuna) kite repair products?

The latter sells a ripstop tape. Is that what would be needed as a temp solution till I find a sailmaker?

I've used spinnaker tape on kites and paragliders for dozens of repairs over the past 30 years. It works very well. There are many threads on the various kite and paraglider forums on how to do it.

In short:
- clean the area well with water and/or a little metho on a cotton ball
- cut some strips to tape both sides
- either offset the patches on either side or make one side smaller than the other so you don't get three layers of fabric lining up and making a hard spot
- round the end to eliminate corners that can peel off
- apply the patches. Smooth down. To set the glue heat with a hair dryer, or roll over the patch with a bottle of hot water (my preferred method).

You want the thinnest possible tape so it doesn't make a hard spot. Spinnaker tape is ideal. Sail repair tape is not.

It's almost impossible to match colours. I use black tape and shape the patches so they look like a feature on the canopy. Super thin white tape can be quite translucent and semi-invisible.

When lining up the torn bit I like to use small pieces of ordinary sticky tape to hold the fabric in position. You only need a few waypoints. Line up the threads of the ripstop reinforcing to be sure everything is straight. Lay it out over a book or magazine. Large tears can be held down with bags of rice or books or weights.

Apply the patch on one side, remove the sticky tape on the other side and apply the patch.

Don't use plastic or mylar tape. It's a completely different material to the nylon canopy fabric and has different characteristics. It looks crap. Think about a nice solid black shape on your wing or a dirty wrinkled bit of plastic.

A professional might oversew the tape edges. That's not necessary. I only sew if the repair goes across a seam. I unpick, tape, then oversew to restore the sewn seam.

Avoid sail makers who don't do a lot of lightweight fabric work. Some sailmakers will just mow their monster sewing machines through your delicate wing fabric with not a lot of thought.