Orange bladders are thinner, smoother and a much harder plastic. There are some definite bonding issues with whatever the standard adhesive is for replacement kite valves. A school that I worked for in a hot climate had most of their bladders replaced by Airtime themselves, and within a year, every valve (one pump) popped of like nothing. Usually at the start of a lesson, fun!

I think welding is necessary for these bladders, but how easily can you weld a nipple onto a bladder?

This sounds painful..

surrondedbyphoques wrote:how easily can you weld a nipple onto a bladder?

I too have no answer for this but this thread sounded seriously intriguing.....wish I could get my bladder welded, now that would make me a pretty tough guy, wouldn't it

Thread hijack - although the problem of kite valve adhesion to kite bladders is a tough one, let's re-direct back to the topic of repairing kite bladders ( TPU or Airtime Orange ) by wleding on patches of the same material.

I've shown with pictures and some repairs that it's possible to weld a patch in a bladder that's had a blow-out. Now I'm interesting in knowing the impressions of the local / Island kiting community - is this enough for you to have confidence in this repair approach ? How much would it change your perception to see a magnified cross-section of a typical patch weld, or a welded section stretched to 100 or 200% elongation ?

Being an engineer, my analytical side is saying give them data, technical details, stuff that is usually ommitted from the promotion of kite equipment. Hence my question - thanks in advance for your take on this topic.

I would have full confidence of a repair like that since that is the way they were originally welded together. No need to spend a hundred bucks on a new one. It's just a membrane and the kite dacron strength is really what matters.