Article 27577 of rec.kites: Newsgroups: rec.kites Path: tug!andrew From: andrew@tug.com (Andrew Beattie) Subject: Re: Chevron progress Organization: /usr/lib/news/organisation Date: Sat, 13 Jul 1996 07:19:32 GMT Message-ID: References: <9607100941.aa03230@tug.com> <99uryGA36r5xEwBc@freewind.demon.co.uk> Paul Chandler writes: >[valve vents] >What disadvantages are there, apart from the kite exploding if you hit >the ground too hard? It also makes the kite more difficult to fill in the first place. I have made two kites with valve-vents. First was a soft arch (15mx1.5m), this had a strip of fabric the width of the gauze, which was sewn to the gauze with a single seam that ran down the middle of both the strip and the gauze. This kite failed to inflate until I removed the strip. Some time later, I built a single-line kite which had 6 Sputnik-4 cells, no gauze, but a flap-valve about 2/3 of the way down the lower side (the lower side consisted of two panels, where the rear panel overlapped the front panel by several inches, but was sewn only to the ribs (not joined to the front panel in any other way). At first, this kite would not inflate properly forward of the C-lines. With tuning, I got it to inflate to the B-lines, but failed to do any better than that. I wish I hadn't salvaged the Spectra from the bridle for another project, because I think I could have done better now. So. I have failed to make a valved kite that inflates properly. Also note that a valved kite is a complete pain in the neck to pack away. Andrew -- Please do *not* put any mailing-list addresses in a "mailto:" *anywhere* on the Web - they act as a a magnet for Spam