Kite Life Span

[Buffomarinus]

What's the life span of a foil kite? I recently read somewhere that with hard use you could get around two years from a kite. This didn't seem right to me, but then none of my kites see hard, continuous use. What experience do others have with this? Other then obvious cell blowouts or rips, what are the signs of a foil that has reached its "used by date?"

[Gog]

I guess the main wear and tear would be stretching of the bridles and the cell material. With constant use i guess that eventually the whole kite will stretch and then loose performance.

If you went out a flew your kite 7 days a week, i would think that after two years the bridles would have stretched a bit. By that reasoning if you're only flying once a week, The same kite should last you 14 years.

Also depends on the quality of the kite. People say the bridles on the Panch kites stretch in the first session.

Gog.

[.Joel]

This is where build quality plays a roll. If you are just a recreational flyer that goes out for 2 hrs on a weekend then something like a PKD for example is perfect and will last you a couple of years. I had my original buster for ages, being used once a week then passed it on.

However last two years in summer I get out for 3 sessions a week, at least 6 hrs a session. So I started picking my kit also around this that was up to scratch. Not to mention what I do with my kites, having them lift you meters off the ground puts a hell of a lot more stress on areas like your bridle then puttering up and down.

I would expect casual flying you would want at least 5 years out of a kite. Heavy flying every weekend for long hours, 3 years. Nigel for example still uses CQUADS, and we still have locals on Peter Lynn nGens which are an old kite too now. So from that perspective, it depends on how often you fly and what you are doing with it.

Regards,

.Joel