Wingfoil Bladder Repair with Kitchen Appliance/Welder

 

My F-One Swing V2 5m wing popped yesterday when I inflated it — two loud bangs. This post isn’t about why it happened, but how I fixed it.

The wing is only a couple of months old with maybe 15–20 sessions on it, and I take good care of it. Still, after far too many how-to videos, I pulled the bladder (first time ever) and found two issues: a tear in the middle and a blowout at the end.

I patched both with Type A tape, but I knew the blowout was a long shot. Sure enough — no seal.

Enter MacGyver mode: I cut off about 4" from the end of the bladder and welded it with a vacuum sealer (yep, the kitchen kind). Even with cutting off the end, there was plenty of length left to tuck and fold it back into the wing/Velcro.

And… it worked!

L-> R: Repurposed Vacuum Sealer (welder), Happy inflated wing

L-> R: Blowout at end, mid-bladder tear, cut-off defective blown out end of bladder