The repair bench
No kite turned away for being badly loved
The standing rule since 1989. Salt, gorse, dogs, thunderstorms: we have re-sewn all of it, and we charge by the honest hour.
What we fix
- Re-sewn seams and patched panels, any maker's
- Spar replacement, spliced and balanced on the point
- Line splices, sleeves and end-loop rebuilds
- Tail and pennant restoration, colours matched by eye
- Vintage paper kites: Japanese tissue, wheat paste, patience
What it costs
$30 bench fee, honest hours at $45 after, parts at cost. A vintage paper rebuild is quoted by the panel after inspection; it is the one job we sometimes decline, and when we do, we say who we'd send it to instead.
Turnaround runs one to three weeks depending on season. Kites arriving before the October gales get priority, on the grounds that they'll need us again soon enough.
Recent rescues
The Ferry Kite. A Gullwing caught in the ferry's halyard at 60 feet and towed to Stornaway Bay. Returned salt-stiff, repaired in three days, flying at the same altitude it was stolen at.
Grandad's box kite. A 1954 cellular with paper cells like burnt toffee. Owner's granddaughter asked for it to fly again at his interment. It flew; the family has stopped calling it Grandad's and started calling it theirs, which is how repair works best.