Could anyone explain to me the difference between a kite made of rip-stop nylon, and one made of taffeta? I'm deciding between two kites, but they
are made of different fabrics. Can someone help me figure out which one is better suited for kite-flying? Advantages or disadvantages? And why do you
prefer it?
Taffetta tends to be very, very soft. For kite related uses, the material is very billowy.
Some places you will see taffetta used:
The tails on the HQ Flow Foils:
The tail the Prism Stowaway Foil:
Premier's 34 foot Red Dragon
Powerkites tend to be made of coated ripstop nylon. Generally there are proprietary combinations of nylons and coatings used. Flexifoil uses Sora
nylon, Ozone uses what they call High Tenacity 40D Nylon, other manufacturers have their own fabrics and coating combinations.
I have never seen taffetta that was coated. Generally most of the fabrics used used in powerkite sails are coated to increase their ability to hold
air within the cells of the canopy.
As Maven said, kite details would help.
ATB,
Sam
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 - Jesus, does anyone?" - The Body by Stephen King
Pansh Ace 5.0 X2
North Husky 6.0
PL Guerilla 13, 18
PL C-Quad 2.3, 3.2, 4.2
Home made Rat Buggy
Libre V Max on barrow Plus wider taller sand tires & bigfoot front end
Blades Of Death, \"thanks Fran\"
Taffetta tends to have more stretch than Ripstop, which is the reason that most power kites are made from Ripstop instead. Ripstop is also much more
expensive than Taffetta and the only reason that I have heard that someone would make a power kite from it would be to save the expense. For tails
and streamers, the stretch is not very important but for a power kite where the stresses of the sail could be excessive, it could stretch enough to
seriously effect the way the kite flies and performs.
The above is comparing apples to apples. The problem is that there are so many different variations of each, the main variation would be the weight
of the material. Heavier weights are thicker which are stronger. If you are comparing a 1.5 oz Taffeta to a .6 oz Ripstop the results would be very
different. The .6 oz ripstop will not be nearly as strong as the 1.5oz Taffeta - but it would fly much nicer in lighter winds. The 1.5oz Taffeta
would be heavier - requiring more wind to get it airborne but it would be stronger and be able to handle much more serious abuse (land crashes
etc....). Change everything around and use a .6oz Taffetta compared to a 1.5oz Nylon....total opposite scenario.
It really comes down to the way the kites are produced and made more than the material that they are made out of. Again, knowing the model and make
of the two kites you are asking about would be much more valuable than just knowing the material they are made of.
In addition, there are several great vendors that'll help you find something new (or demo) and the members here will give you enough opinion (based on
experience) to steer you in the right direction.
Go ahead... tell me to "go fly a kite!" Please!
Howard KC67 NAPKA District #12 Representative
Fly: A quiver of Lynx' and Cores (did someone say "Pansh"?), a couple o' Arcs, and a Rev to remind me about control
Ride: PL XR+
Where: 43.857899, -78.941661 and 38.970951, -74.828922
Some guys are ok with pansh, but frequently they require tuning to fly well. We would recommend going name brand as mentioned above to avoid the
hassle of going cheap. You really do get what you pay for in this game. If you want to spend less money, buy used, like the Buster Soulfly afore
mentioned. Even the newer Busters go for less than other new kites but are WAY better quality than pansh or other even cheaper things on Amazon or
ebay.
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