Hi we have puzzled over the best way to repair our 2010 leading edge bladder repair on the rise.  Its one pump so there are all those ^%%$ valves to attach leading lines to.  How the heck are we to successfully pump up the bladder to check it with all those strut attatchments.  I guess we can put some tape over the holes but I am a bit worried about removing said tape and tearing the bladder again, extra glue that could cause probs ................. any suggestions?? Debs aka fluffy

Hi Deb.  To test the LE ,leave the hoses that connect the LE to the struts on the LE bladder valves and then close the hoses with the clamps. Pump up the LE and check.
  Give Kevin a call at 9:00. Yesterday looked good! We went further west .

Are the holes in the kite’s LE bladder pocket big enough to get the nipple, hose, and clamp through, or do you have to re-attach the hoses and clamps after the bladder is removed ?

Pg 24 of the OR SLE kite manual indicates in Step 4 that the hoses and clamps are to be removed before the bladder is removed from the kite.

Owning 3 Rises, I’m not looking forward to the day when a LE bladder needs serious repair ....

On the 2010 kites you can leave the hoses attached to the valves, but you will need to slide the clamp off. The 2010 kites have a larger valve opening and the tubes are held on to the valve with a Zap strap. On the 2009 and older you have to remove the tubing.

I’m currently doing a bladder repair on an 09 Rise 10m. I checked the old bladder by inserting ordinary inflatable plugs into the strut valves.

You can find these 8mm plugs on old beach balls, water toys, etc. I actually found a 5 pack of variable width/depth plugs at a hardware store and scooped them up specifically for this purpose.

The majority of my work waits for Airtime’s Orange LE to arrive.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a bunch .......... I ended up putting a whole new bladder in with good tips from John Z all went well and I am back on the water yippy skippy

D

if you pull out the whole bladder just connect it to the tubes from the struts and close the valves. pump it up and see if there are any holes in.
If you want to put it back again, just reassemble the main valves (inflate and deflate) in the leading edge and fold the bladder (length ca. 40 cm like a accordion) in the right direction to both sides. And slowly but it back to the leading edge with the previous fixed lines from your bar before you pull the bladder out of the leading edge.

I can do that in now time with this tips. Need 5 min. I am trained now. I did it 20 times or even more with my 2010 13m Rise. I put on my baldder now more than 20 patches and I am a little bit pissed off, because there are scratches of several centimeters, without doing anything. No crashes etc. I flew it twice. The second session I go out I have to abort the session after 20 min because of a pressure problem at the leading edge.

I contacted my dealer and he said he couldn´t reach our europe rep. He ordered bladders and it´s seems to be a known issue. But I didn´t got my new bladder (I ordered it 20 days, ago!!!!!)

I feel for you Spumoni.We helped Oregon Steve pull his leading edge bladder out every day for a week at Nimpkish.He kept fixing holes that seemed to be magically appearing everytime he blew the kite up. Day after day he would trudge the bladder down to the water only to find more leaks.After contacting OR and replacing the bladder, he has had no problem.Where on this forum is this “known” problem explained?If I had taken 2010 kites on my recent vacation, the whole trip could have been ruined!

PS missed fluffy and the grumpy guy at Nimpkish