How To Build A Sled Kite

Step-by-Step - Page 2 of 3

The MBK 2-Skewer Sled

How To Build A Sled Kite
Making Spars 

For this Sled, you need four 30cm (12") bamboo BBQ skewers. Also, you need to cut off 2 short 0.3SL (8.7cm, 3 1/2") lengths of skewer. The photos show how these are all glued together.

Both pairs of skewers are lined up straight, flat against the table top. These are the vertical spars. Well, almost vertical when this kite is ready to fly! To make sure there are no kinks at the joins, get your head down low and look along the skewers. Shift one a little, if necessary, before the glue dries.

How To Build A Sled Kite
Attaching Spars

• Snip off one point from each spar.
• Line this end up with a top corner of the kite sail, with the pointed end of the spar crossing the corresponding bottom corner of the sail.
• For both spars, attach the bamboo to the plastic with insulation tape, as in the photo up there.

Now for the bottom edge...

• At the bottom corners of the sail, snip the skewers to length so they are flush with the edge of the sail.
• Attach each bottom tip to the plastic in the same way as the top tips. These are the (nearly) vertical spars.
  
  

How To Build A Sled Kite
Bridle

20 to 50 pound strength Dacron line is suitable for all the Skewer Series kites.

All the construction details for the bridle are contained in the large photos below. For a Sled kite, this is rather simple and straightforward. Just use Dacron line for the bridle loop.

( If you purchase the kite line recommended below I may receive a small commission - at no extra cost to you )

Do you need some kite line? This 3-pack of simple winders with 300ft lines from Amazon should be ideal. They are all ready to go with 50 pound line. This strength is good for bridles and flying lines for all the MBK kites up to the 1.2m (4ft) sizes.

My instructions for connecting a flying line don't mention swivel clips, but the swivels included in this product are good and strong. So go ahead and use them if you want to :-)  Otherwise they can just be snipped off.

If you are new to this, you might need instructions on how to tie the following knots...

Loop Knot

Double Wrap Slip Knot

Prusik Knot

ADJUSTMENT:

Once your kite + bridle looks like the photo up there...

Lay the kite on the floor, with the 2 spars touching each other along their entire lengths.

Stretch out the bridle, unlock the Prusik knot and slide it along until both lines are exactly the same length. Then lock the Prusik knot again.

At this point, you've finished making the 2-Skewer Sled!

To attach the flying line, just Lark's Head the flying line to the short bridle line as in the photo.

Step-by-step DIY
Printable

Step-by-step DIY
Printable

As mentioned earlier, there's more kite-making on this site than you can poke a stick at :-)  Want to know the most convenient way of using it all?

The Big MBK E-book Bundle is a collection of downloads - printable PDF files which provide step-by-step instructions for many kites large and small. Every kite in every MBK series.

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