Kite Sail Corner Straps

For The MBK Dowel Kites

Adding corner straps to a thin plastic kite sail is straight-forward. However, it's important not to go overboard with lots of tape, since this will just add weight. Strength is not really an issue, since the straps are just meant to hold a small amount of tension into the plastic. The main function is to attach the kite sail to the spar tip.

DL just means Dowel Length, which for me is 1.2 meters (4 feet).

This page is a reference for all the MBK Dowel kites, so the sail corner in the photos might not look exactly like the sail you are working on.

The short list of instructions below describe how to make just one corner strap. MBK kite designs require anywhere from 2 to 5 straps. Hence, you just repeat this procedure as often as required, and on the appropriate corners of the sail.

Creating A Kite Sail Corner Strap

Before touching the sail, snip off 2 pieces of electrical insulation tape for each corner that needs to be done. Make them about 0.12DL long. Stick them by the corners somewhere handy, for example along a table edge.

Here's the procedure for doing one corner...

1. Lay down one tape underneath the sail corner, so it goes about 0.02DL in from the corner. Then lay the other tape down over the sail, lining it up with the first piece of tape. Press the tape down firmly all over.
2. Using a ruler, draw a line down the center of the top tape as a guide. Then draw in the lines on either side. Don't draw too close to the sail plastic, since there needs to be plenty of tape around the spar tip to keep it in place.
3. Using scissors, cut off the outside pieces of tape as in the photo. The remaining strip should be a quarter or less of the original tape width.

Finally, a handy hint for ensuring straps on either side of a kite sail are identical... Just pull the sail over so the corner you are about to add a strap to covers and lines up with one you have already done. This makes it easy to attach the first tape to the sail in exactly the right spot. Once this is done, you can pull the sail back again and add the second tape. After marking and cutting, both corners should pretty much be mirror-images of each other.

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Last updated: 21 Jan 2009