I bought a used 2001 Cabrinha Black Tip 7m kite on eBay and found all
the strut bladders leaking badly and at least one leak in the leading
edge bladder. I patched 4 of the struts with many patches (maybe 30
patches for the 4 struts?) and now 3 of them hold air well enough to
kite, I think. One needs more patches and I haven't tackled the
longest center strut or the leading edge yet. Reading on www.kite-
surf.com it seems the 2001 Cabrinha black tip kites have a reputation
for fragile bladders.

My question is this--should I patch the bladders and use them, or is
this a futile attempt because they will just develop more holes
again? Were these 2001 kites leaky just because the bladders were
lame or because poor kite design caused damage to the bladders? All
the holes were tiny, most pinpricks that were hard to see. Some of
the bladders had a little sand in them and at least one had a little
sharp burr in it which looks like it came from a plant. Does sand in
kite bladders cause leaks?

My alternatives are to keep patching the bladders and see how well
they hold up, or buy new replacement Airtime bladders (might cost me
$300 to replace them all), or go fight with the seller for a refund
(unlikely to happen, but maybe he will reimburse me part of the cost
of new Airtime bladders).

Any suggestions? Is it true that Cabrinha shipped replacement
bladder sets to many 2001 kite owners? Is there any chance I could
get these if I bought the kite second hand?

--John Kim