WHERE IS THE RUPTURE?
Sometimes the glider gets stuck about trees, bushes and other obstacles around starters and landings. Occasionally, the canopy will pick up a stone or root on the starter, and a hole will appear there when we inadvertently strike it on the rocky ground and cause more. The vast majority of these situations will definitely not end our summer holidays if we have a sufficient supply of self-adhesive Skytex (or Dokdo, depending on what your paraglider is).
WHAT TO DO WITH THIS?
Put a small hole, 2-3 cm, with a patch, preferably from the inside of the canopy (it will be less visible and less affected by the boundary layer). The patch should ideally be large enough to extend beyond the borehole edges as much as the hole is large. This is the answer to the question that has not been identified so far: How can I make big holes with a patch? It depends on how big a sticker I have available. Larger holes will be patched on the other side (on the outside), so the result will be a bit firmer. If we have a half-meter whole in the canopy, we will not be making meter and a half overlap. There will be an overlap of about 10 cm.
HOW TO DO IT?
For bonding, we need, besides the patch, a suitable solid surface to stretch the glued part. For small holes, just a palm or knee is enough, an ideal table, bench or padded backpack, etc. And we will need a total of at least four, but rather six hands ? If we want to stick on the inside of the canopy we must first turn the glued part out, That is, Pull it through the filling opening of the chamber. We straighten the glued part on the work surface so that we hold the edges of the hole tightly together, but the fabric is stretched out without wrinkles and wrinkles. In this position, the hands of two assistants are just holding him. From a patch that we measure and cut out with rounded corners, we remove the paper covering the adhesive, but not all of it – at one end we leave it to manipulate the patch without sticking to our fingers. We will focus on the patch on one side and press on the glued surface at one end and then proceed with the gradual smoothing of the finger from one end to the other (gradually remove the glue cover paper) and glue it so tightly without wrinkles and bubbles.
IS IT SAFE?
We have talked about the ruptures in the open material. When the canopy is ruptured along a seam, the patch repair is more complex and the result, especially from the viewpoint of the resulting strength, is rather uncertain. Be aware that the material is being stressed in all directions. During a steady flight, it is only a few decagrams, but in dynamic maneuvers (and not to mention pure acrobatics), or in rapid recovery from collapses it can be multiples of kilograms. Will it keep our glued work? Where there are multiple parts of the fabric at different angles in the seam, the patch bonding is not reasonably feasible. Even if we manage to keep a rupture at least so that the glider is held together and the air does not run out of it with caution, it will be a reasonable solution to send the manufacturer / importer without delay. But do not worry about sticking – where the patch is on a flat surface, then the fabric is stronger and with a much better porosity.
We wish you never had to use this manual 🙂