General
Dr.Tuba or doctuba is a family driven brand. Team has more than a decade of experience in building and repairing of kiteboarding products. Dr.Tuba is founded by Gigi;), a passionate custom kite builder and designer (kite-stuff.org). We started by fixing blown bladders with a small hand operated impulse sealer, then we switched to pro machines which we're using for our services and for making of our products. We're establishing distributors & retailers network worldwide. Gigi is still active on world's kiteboarding forum (kiteforum.com) - when he has some free time not working on new projects ;).
If you want to be 100% sure in the repair, if the repair needs to be done on heavy load / complicated area or simply you don't think you have the skills to make own repairs, then you should take your kite to the PRO's. If you need overnight repair, you are on vacations, kite trip and have no access to quality repair service, you are a DIY guy etc... then our repair kits are your best friends! They offer independant, cost effective and also permanent repairs in most cases.
We have been repairing our kite equipment with Dr.Tuba products for many years now and the gear is still holding storng! If you do the repair correctly we see no problems why repairs done on your gear shouldn't be long-lasting.
Not at all if you have at least few self repair skills. Our text and video manuals are equipped with detailed procedures of the repairs and are freely accessible to all. Just follow the procedures described, read FAQ's and Tips and you'll be fine! ;)
If you are learning repairs then we suggest to try on old gear first.
You can check out our retailers / where to buy list. If you can't find a retailer near you, we urge you to visit our on-line store. We also take any suggestions for new retailers. Please do not hesitate to inform us about your local retailer if you can't find Dr.Tuba products there - we will contact them.
Be sure that you are familiar with repair itself (check the manuals) and always prepare items needed for the repair BEFORE you start it!
Check the contents of each repair or refill kit. Also check the manuals to see which products ant tools you'll need.
Time varies depending on the problem, but normally a small tears can be fixed within minutes. You can go back to your activity in 1h after adhesive valve exchange for instance, but if your're fixing something with PU glue then you'll have to wait at least 10-14h.
Be aware that adhesives may have good initial tack, but curing time can be long. The best is to leave the repair to cure at least overnight for best results. In real life, all good adhesives or glues needs 24h to fully cure. Unfortunatelly, shortcuts with fast drying glues on soft structures will make your gear repair too hard and later repair will be costy.
Products
One component PU glues are moisture based. We use aquasure PU glue in all kits. Normal cure time is about 10-14 hours, but full cure time for a quality glue is 24h.
If extra thickness is required extra Aquasure layers may be applied once the original layers are fully cured, but normally requires only one application.
Aquasure is by our opinion one of the best temperature resistant PU glues available on the market to repair probably any gear (and probably many other), kites, wings, tents included.
It doesn't contain any chemicals banned in Europe. Aquasure is Toluene Free. Aquasure can sustain temperatures from -40°C to +200°C which means that will work in really hot places too! Higher temperatures will give faster cure times than higher humidity. Glue will stay clear, strong and flexible once cured.
The glue "fuses" with the repair, and it stays flexible, have great UV resistance and these are the keys to it's quality.
It has limited shelf life once opened, but you can prolong it. Advance contents to tube neck. Wipe clean and cap. Keep in a cool dry place or, for extended life, in a freezer. For thawing or for easier flowing contents, soak tube in warm water for 15 minutes.
You can change the density of Aquasure by soaking the tube in warm water or leave it in a warm room for 30mins. This will make Aquasure floatier and more easy to apply - and the product will still supply the same quality repair.
The key is abrasing (roughening) the surface with sandpaper and then wipe clean dry with alco-swabs before applying Aquasure. For harder to reach repair apply Aquasure using a brush provided with the glue.
Yes, you can!
• for seams apply a 2mm thick bead, overlapping seam edges by at least 5mm. Apply with slight pressure to saturate fabric surfaces.
• for holes and tears create backing with removable tape, and fill void, overlapping void edges by 5mm. Remove tape after full cure.
• for patch application on fabrics and breathable laminate, apply Aquasure, then apply patch over damaged area. Wipe away excess adhesive.
• for high wear areas apply thin layer of Aquasure and apply patch.
You can speed up curing by placing few drops of clean (not salt) water in the Aquasure before application.
Yes. Aquasure is ideal for bonding neoprene, fabrics, latex, trilaminates, PVC, Hypalon, natural and synthetic leather, foams, composites and many plastics. It's specialized formula is ideal for sealing stitching and reinforcing high stress areas on wet suits, dry suits, Hypalon and PVC boats and hundreds of other items. Aquasure also makes an ideal abrasion patch for high wear areas such as knees, seats and luggage bottoms. Seals and repairs made with Aquasure generally last the life of the item.
Mark the position of the valve as described in the manual. Use regular duct tape and stick it to both walls of the bladder. We pre-added some air inside the bladder in the noses of struts and centre of leading edge blanks.
Make a small hole to allow air flow on the position of the valve. Then make a proper hole for the valve as described in manual and follow the rest procedure.
If your kite is behaving strangely, pulling to one side more while it shouldn't or sterring differently then probably the lines are not equal lengths. Kite lines will shrink or extend un-evenly due to dynamich forces on them (jumping, safety releasing etc...). Most importantly is that front and back flying lines or left/right bridle lines are about the same lengths and there are correct line length between front and back pairs so that your kite will fly correctly.
Please check your lines regularly and change them after couple of seasons.
Length tolerance of our made flying lines is +- 25mm.
Note that lines can be manually tuned by pulling on too short one, see few videos on links below.
Tuning Bar & Lines (checking kite lines are equal length)
Source: Kite-Surf-College Tutorials and Tricks
Please also find some trimming tips in the video below:
Different ways of trimming your kite using the knots
Source: DIMITRI MARAMENIDES
Short answer: both.
Kiteboarding lines will stretch when under the load. For instance, if you safety release your kite a lot, then one of the front line will come longer than the other. The lines can also shrink due to mechanical reasons. Rotating the lines a lot, rubbing it against elements (sand, rocks,...), etc... will make lines shorter.
Generally, good quality lines are less affected on stretching/shrinking. We use only top quality SK75 & SK99 flying lines from LIROS/Gremany.
Also make sure to reguralry check your lines for any length differences and overall condition, and replace them in time to avoid injuries.
Other
Yes, we ship worldwide.
All orders are shipped directly from our factory in from Slovenia, EU.
All shipping options, delivery times and pricing are found on this link.
All terms & conditions, privacy any other important informations are found on this link. Please note that you need to agree & confirm them if you will want to buy or use our products.
Our websitew use only essential cookies, which you can confirm or reject. Our website is GDPR compliant and you have full control on your personal data, you can change or delete your profile at any time in your Account.
Contact us and we'll do our best to help you!