Andy Blackburn wrote in message ...
I've got my ASW-27B in the shop to have some cosmetic
work done - building up the tip skids and fixing some
minor scrapes.

At the same time I'm wondering if a profiling job is
in order as I can now see spar and rib dimples top
and bottom all along both wings. The shop tells me
that it's going to need filling, priming, maybe microbaloons
- it's shrunk that much while curing. The glider was
manufactured in January of 2003, so it's 20 months
old. I am surprised at how visibly dimpled it is.
It's always been kept in the trailer in a hanger -
but it does live and fly in the Western deserts so
maybe the heat has something to do with it.

I need to tap into some collective experience and advice:

Is it too soon for this? When does all the shrinking
stop? I don't want to go through this twice. Do the
dimples hurt performance - how concerned should I be?

The shop tells me they can bake the wings to accelerate
whatever remaining curing/shrinkage remains prior to
profiling. Is this recommended or to be avoided. I
wasn't quoted a temperature.

In terms of materials - what are the tradeoffs with
Urethane versus Prestec versus the Schleicher factory
stuff?

What should I expect to pay for a full top/bottom filling,
profiling and resurfacing/polishing? I've heard numbers
that are all over the map.

Thanks!

9B

It takes about 5 years to be 90% shrunk from my experience. Seems like
later 27's shrink quicker but no experience with whether this will
continue. My 27 is 7 years old and seems to have stablized.
I suspect the heat your glider sees is accelerating this.
My suggestion is this:
Convince your shop to fill only the spar areas with gelcoat and
contour that.
You will have a slightly different color and sheen but the shape will
be good and it should be much less costly than a full refinish. Then
give it 5 years and see where you are.
If you refinish in Poly, and it continues to shrink, what will you do
then. I strongly suggest you stay with gelcoat.
Good Luck UH