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Repeated torn Blast sail


ozcomert

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Earlier this evening I flew my Blast for perhaps the 4th time since purchasing it this summer. After a couple of frustrating attempts in the summer, I got the hang of it, only to have a tear occur in the sail. I could not determine what caused it, and after months at Rev I paid $49 in repair charges. It appeared to the vendor, and to me, that the sail was a brand new one, and that a replacement was provided rather than a repair made.

After about a half hour of flying with my repaired kite, I notice it starting to get noisier, and landing it I discovered this new or repaired sail has torn in *exactly* the same spot, with no discernable trauma (I was flying on a maintained athletic field).

Have their been other problems like the one I describe? I am convinced a flaw is present in a lot of Rev Blast kites.

John

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What a Downer that is.I would speak to Rev again and ask them to relook at the sail,im sure they themselves will be puzzled.Ive no probs with mine,but ive only flown the kite very breifly.I havent herd of this happening to anyone else.

Sounds just like bad luck,i wouldnt dive in until i knew how deep the problem[if any]is.I know its not probably what you want to hear,but one kite or two unlucky events with the same kite doesnt sound like a major issue[i KNOW IT IS TO YOUR GOOD SELF].I certainly hope its not.I am sure Rev will help solve the mystery.

Good luck and please post the result.I am sure you will be sorted.

BRIAN...

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Where was the tear?

My theory: The blast can generate a goodly amount of pull. If you fly it without much brake, the trailing edge will flutter quite bit which might cause a tear between the mylar and ripstop.

Or, you just got unlucky. Twice.

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Where was the tear?

My theory: The blast can generate a goodly amount of pull. If you fly it without much brake, the trailing edge will flutter quite bit which might cause a tear between the mylar and ripstop.

Or, you just got unlucky. Twice.

It does produce a lot of pull, and yesterday it jerked me around solidly in the gusty Chicago winds. I am just suprised it can't take it, and the location of tear is such that the edge between the reinforcement that connects the ripstop to the mylar separated on the riptop side. I will post what happens, but will revert back to flying my SLE.

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Earlier this evening I flew my Blast for perhaps the 4th time since purchasing it this summer. After a couple of frustrating attempts in the summer, I got the hang of it, only to have a tear occur in the sail. I could not determine what caused it, and after months at Rev I paid $49 in repair charges. It appeared to the vendor, and to me, that the sail was a brand new one, and that a replacement was provided rather than a repair made.

After about a half hour of flying with my repaired kite, I notice it starting to get noisier, and landing it I discovered this new or repaired sail has torn in *exactly* the same spot, with no discernable trauma (I was flying on a maintained athletic field).

Have their been other problems like the one I describe? I am convinced a flaw is present in a lot of Rev Blast kites.

John

I also never had a problem with my Blast, it was one of the first manufactured.

Did you hit the ground at any time or were all the landings smooth and controlled?

Do you have a photo of the tear so we can look at it?

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I also never had a problem with my Blast, it was one of the first manufactured.

Did you hit the ground at any time or were all the landings smooth and controlled?

Do you have a photo of the tear so we can look at it?

I will take some photos tonight and post them tomorrow. I definitely put the leading edge into the ground several times, so there was a jarring to the sail as well as the tension stress of flight. What there wasn't was an impact with the ground or anything else by the sail in vicinity of the rip.

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Usually a good solid slam into the ground leading edge first under a lot of power will put a tremendous amount of stress on the opposite side of the sail right in the center where the mylar is. What will happen is the mylar will rip out where it connects on both sides of the kite to the ripstop. On the speed series, it will usually blow open the center of the kite right where the "V" is at. This point is heavily reinforced with Kevlar and stitching but with a hard enough impact, even the Kevlar won't hold up.

I don't know if this would be considered a warranty issue as it is caused by aggressive slamming of the kite into the ground. The nice thing is that is fairly simple and cheap to repair. Usually you can patch the area that is torn out. In worst case situations you replace the entire panel that is ripped with a new piece.

I have a couple Blast's and also two Power Blast 2-4's and one 4-8 that I use regularly with a buggy. I have buggied with my Blast in winds over 30 mph. and with the 2-4 in winds well over 20 mph. I find it very unlikely that the sail would tear out from the wind. They are built pretty bullet proof. I did slam my first 2-4 into the ground hard enough to shatter all four verticals, two of which punctured the sail (which prompted me to purchase a second one). The first one was repaired with double sided sail tape and new rods and is still flies flawlessly. The sail held up just fine other than the punctures.

Best bet....talk to your retailer or Rev once again and see what they can do for you. They should be able to repair your kite again but I am not sure if it would be under warranty. That would be their discretion.

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Usually a good solid slam into the ground leading edge first under a lot of power will put a tremendous amount of stress on the opposite side of the sail right in the center where the mylar is. What will happen is the mylar will rip out where it connects on both sides of the kite to the ripstop. On the speed series, it will usually blow open the center of the kite right where the "V" is at. This point is heavily reinforced with Kevlar and stitching but with a hard enough impact, even the Kevlar won't hold up.

I don't know if this would be considered a warranty issue as it is caused by aggressive slamming of the kite into the ground. The nice thing is that is fairly simple and cheap to repair. Usually you can patch the area that is torn out. In worst case situations you replace the entire panel that is ripped with a new piece.

I have a couple Blast's and also two Power Blast 2-4's and one 4-8 that I use regularly with a buggy. I have buggied with my Blast in winds over 30 mph. and with the 2-4 in winds well over 20 mph. I find it very unlikely that the sail would tear out from the wind. They are built pretty bullet proof. I did slam my first 2-4 into the ground hard enough to shatter all four verticals, two of which punctured the sail (which prompted me to purchase a second one). The first one was repaired with double sided sail tape and new rods and is still flies flawlessly. The sail held up just fine other than the punctures.

Best bet....talk to your retailer or Rev once again and see what they can do for you. They should be able to repair your kite again but I am not sure if it would be under warranty. That would be their discretion.

John here again, attempting to post photos that show the tear. I have put a piece of white paper behind the tear to enhance contrast. The tear initiates (just as my first Blast did) on the edge, with what is an incredible clean separation of the edge seem. All the other tearing is on the ripstop, and is jagged.

As this is a repeat, and I fear entering a cycle, I am going to attempt to contact Rev directly on this, and cut my dealer (who is a very nice guy - David at Chicago Kite) out of the communication loop. If there is interest in the resolution (I was posting only to see if others had experienced this), I can post the outcome.

John

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John here again, attempting to post photos that show the tear. I have put a piece of white paper behind the tear to enhance contrast. The tear initiates (just as my first Blast did) on the edge, with what is an incredible clean separation of the edge seem. All the other tearing is on the ripstop, and is jagged.

As this is a repeat, and I fear entering a cycle, I am going to attempt to contact Rev directly on this, and cut my dealer (who is a very nice guy - David at Chicago Kite) out of the communication loop. If there is interest in the resolution (I was posting only to see if others had experienced this), I can post the outcome.

John

Amazing. I'm no expert on stress but my guess is that Revolution will provide a replacement sail by return. And for sure they will want to make some study of your stressed out replacement.

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Amazing. I'm no expert on stress but my guess is that Revolution will provide a replacement sail by return. And for sure they will want to make some study of your stressed out replacement.

Actually, the worst part for me is that I have come to regard the Blast as fragile. I got an SLE while waiting (and waiting) for the Blast to be repaired, and now I think I should have added more SLE's to get more pull. Ah, well...

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John here again, attempting to post photos that show the tear. I have put a piece of white paper behind the tear to enhance contrast. The tear initiates (just as my first Blast did) on the edge, with what is an incredible clean separation of the edge seem. All the other tearing is on the ripstop, and is jagged.

As this is a repeat, and I fear entering a cycle, I am going to attempt to contact Rev directly on this, and cut my dealer (who is a very nice guy - David at Chicago Kite) out of the communication loop. If there is interest in the resolution (I was posting only to see if others had experienced this), I can post the outcome.

John

I am not an employee of Revolution so my comments are my personal opinion.

After looking at these pictures, you could only have hit the ground very hard. The only stunt kite whether it be dual line or quad line that I know that would survive such a beating would be the REV series. Any other stunt kite would have ripped the sail apart and probably would have broken some rods to boot.

I would suggest you spend a lot of time on REV and really understand how to handle it before you go back to fly a Blast.

I would really be surprised if Revolution were to replace you sail again.

Your comment about the Blast being fragile, I do not agree with you at all. It is tougher then any expensive dual line kite.

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This is Ben and no the Blast is not fragile by any means but what you have is a stress rip from a straight down crash at very high speed and power, put some brakes on my friend......Let me explain what happens, with the rod tucked behind the bungie most times the rod can not just pop out as will a 1.5 vert. so all the force of the blow has to go somewhere and hence the rip your seeing. The kite your flying is both power and speed and is not for everyone, when I got my first Blast before working here I would have milar problems because I'd let the kite beat itself to death but the repair was tape and then when I beat that to death more tape, then I learned how to fly this kite and those problems went away......Control is the name of the game with bigger and powerful kites, I can not tell you how many large celluar inflatable power kites I've seen over the years with blown out sail from this same type of crash. When the energy has no where to go it will destroy something for sure and thats the laws of nature no more no less...... Now to your problem 1st on your last one I just replaced the kite I can not afford this again but what I can do (if I see no defects) is repair this kite for free one time and one time only cause I want you to be happy and learn this kite and the enjoyment that can come with this unit.. So contact me and lets get this problem taken care of my friend. 619-759-8770 or 858-679-5785, send the kite only in and give me a bit of time on the repair.....Ben

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Dont think you can say fairer than that. Well done Ben.

Not only replace what looks like a crashed kite with a new on first time round, but taking the time to explain why it happened and affering a FREE repair when it happens again.

I just LOVE this family.

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"put some brakes on my friend"

Well Ben, you have hit the head on the nail! I am very new to Revolution flying. In my early days a few months ago starting with the EXP I had no idea of how to control the kite in winds over 8mph. I enjoyed being pulled around. I then went for the Rev 1 and struggled even more. I broke spars. I wondered in amazement how the pros were able to control and fly with precision.

Then David Ellision personally explained the how to set the lines i.e. breaking and tension and what a huge difference. I just did not understand this very important aspect of flying a Rev. I can now fly in 15mph.

Last week I took delivery of 2 new Rev's. 1.5 JB STD and Vented. Now, if the EXP / Rev 1 were provided with instructions / information about 'breaking' And how to stop the kite doing it's own thing, I am sure it would be a great benefit to newbie's.

I now am the proud owner of 6 Revolution Kites.

Ian

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Hi Ian, you want to fly in 55+ MPH winds. I did this briefly with JB when he visited the UK, flying his B v with 2 leading edges. Put one of my Rev 2's up briefly but popped a bungee on it.

Gets interesting in high wind, wouldnt have been brave enough to do it on my own though.

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Now to your problem 1st on your last one I just replaced the kite I can not afford this again but what I can do (if I see no defects) is repair this kite for free one time and one time only cause I want you to be happy and learn this kite and the enjoyment that can come with this unit.. So contact me and lets get this problem taken care of my friend. 619-759-8770 or 858-679-5785, send the kite only in and give me a bit of time on the repair.....Ben

Ben, the man with the Golden Heart!

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Hi Ian, you want to fly in 55+ MPH winds. I did this briefly with JB when he visited the UK, flying his B v with 2 leading edges. Put one of my Rev 2's up briefly but popped a bungee on it.

Gets interesting in high wind, wouldnt have been brave enough to do it on my own though.

Hi there Baloo. Lucky chap meeting JB. 55+ Gale Force! I don't think I would be brave enough either. I tried the 1.5 JB with 2 Leading Edges last week in 20 + and was pleasantly surprised how well it performed compared to the 1.5 SLE stiff rods.

Good to hear from another UK flier.

Ian

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Hi there Baloo. Lucky chap meeting JB. 55+ Gale Force! I don't think I would be brave enough either. I tried the 1.5 JB with 2 Leading Edges last week in 20 + and was pleasantly surprised how well it performed compared to the 1.5 SLE stiff rods.

Good to hear from another UK flier.

Ian

Hey guys, your drifting off of the theme! Why not start another one covering this?

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Sorry John, just thought it was a natural conversation type thing.

Ian conversing about his experiences, and me conversing about the fact that Revs will stand up to BIG winds. Then Ians' replying comment to me.

Apologies for distracting from the theme.

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Epilogue on the torn Blast:

I received the repaired sail yesterday, and the work is extremely good. Postings on this forum and conversations with Ben at Rev have been illuminating, and I am ready to "restart" my Blast experience, benefitting from all I have learned and my practice with my 1.5.

Thanks to Ben and everyone else who assisted me.

John

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Hi there Baloo. Lucky chap meeting JB. 55+ Gale Force! I don't think I would be brave enough either. I tried the 1.5 JB with 2 Leading Edges last week in 20 + and was pleasantly surprised how well it performed compared to the 1.5 SLE stiff rods.

Good to hear from another UK flier.

Ian

Everytime I hear this story, the wind is stronger... Don't listen to them - the wind was about 20mph and they were all rubbish at flying - 'specially that American bloke, so they hatched a plot to dupe us all into believing that they were all heroes and were flying beautifully in Hurricaine Gertrude.

They even speeded up a vid and posted it on YouDupe!

Pah! :kid_devlish:

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Rumbled at last, all hatched in the pub, surprised it took you so long to work it out........umm no I ain't, after seeing those pics of you folk standing around on some deserted beach rugged up as if on Everest I can see you were well took in.. :P:P

Here is where the plan was hatched, pic by Baloo.

http://kitelife.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1566

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